Born this way? The science of sexual orientation

DW (English)

Why are some people straight, others gay, and others somewhere in between? Science has explored genes, brains, hormones, and even social influences. Here’s what researchers have discovered — and what they haven’t.

Transcript

00:00Why are you gay? Why are you gay?

00:03Is it a choice to be gay? Being gay is natural.

00:06Or is it a social construct?

00:11Sexual orientation is all about the butterflies in the stomach and the dizzy excitement when you think about someone you like.

00:18It usually kicks off in your teens.

00:20And it ranges across a spectrum.

00:23Most research looks at homo and heterosexuality.

00:26So that's what we will focus on in this video.

00:29Sexual orientation is way more than just who we are attracted to.

00:33It also involves behavior and identity, so it's complex.

00:37But how does it develop?

00:39Sexual orientation is something we are mostly born with.

00:43And it isn't something that is affected by our experiences after birth.

00:52Born with. What does that mean?

00:55Let's break it down.

00:56The first thing that comes to mind is genes.

00:59Identical twins share the same genes and the same environment while growing up.

01:04But one can be gay and the other can be straight.

01:07Still, identical twins are more likely to have the same sexuality than fraternal twins.

01:13Meaning that genes could be at play.

01:15No scientific study has found the one single gene that causes people to be gay though.

01:20Also, that's not how genes work in the first place.

01:23You can't say it's just one gene.

01:25It's thousands of genes across the genome influencing traits like sexual orientation.

01:31So, is sexual orientation genetic?

01:34Partly yes, but definitely not entirely.

01:38There is more.

01:40We are also born with what happened to us while we were in our mother's womb.

01:48Here is the theory.

01:50While we're busy growing in our mother's womb, tiny molecules tinker with us.

01:54And predict, for example, if we grow a penis or a vagina.

01:58They also tinker with our brain while it's growing.

02:02And that could influence our sexual orientation in some way.

02:06There's a catch to this idea though.

02:07It has only been tested in animals so far.

02:10We obviously can't perform experiments on fetuses by injecting them with hormones.

02:19Some parts of the brain seem to look and work differently in homosexual and heterosexual people.

02:25But there's no conclusive finding of a specific brain feature that gives away a person's sexual orientation.

02:31So if we can't know between just typical men and women,

02:36it's not surprising at all that we're far behind that in homosexual versus heterosexual men.

02:43So if our genes and brains don't help us solve the mystery,

02:47could our upbringing and experiences tell us more?

02:50Short answer is no.

02:52For now, based on all the evidence we have,

02:56it's safe to say that parents or the experience of trauma or stress does not make people gay.

03:04Especially in countries where homosexuality is prohibited by law, like Uganda,

03:09political leaders state that homosexual people groom youths to become gay.

03:14But there is no scientific evidence to support any of these claims.

03:18Meeting a gay person is not going to make you gay in your orientation.

03:23Some people believe a gay person can be turned straight.

03:27These efforts are called conversion therapy.

03:30But let's check if the following practices can make someone straight.

03:35Exorcisms?

03:36There is no evidence that they work.

03:39Beating, whipping or giving electric shocks?

03:41There's evidence it doesn't work.

03:43So people have tried this in the distant past and they haven't been able to successfully make a gay person straight.

03:50Hormonal treatment?

03:52The answer is no. There is no evidence for that.

03:55Counseling that resembles psychotherapy?

03:58The answer is no.

04:00So that's a pretty clear verdict.

04:02You can't force a sexual orientation onto someone.

04:05There is evidence it doesn't work.

04:07And there is also evidence, even from Nigeria as part of work I've done,

04:11that it can increase mental health distress among sexual minority people.

04:17So anxiety, depressive symptoms, societal ideation, those things can increase the risk among them.

04:25To sum it all up, it's not entirely clear where sexual orientation comes from.

04:30But it seems to be an inert trait, one that can't be changed by force.

04:35If everybody was accepting and it was accepted as being a normal range of behavior,

04:42then we wouldn't even be asking the question, why am I different from the majority?

04:48But it's that there's a difference and people take negatively to that difference.

05:00And that's what this one says.

05:04I can't believe it but I can't believe it.

05:07But it seems that In the news of your public eye will again wear a variety of images offlow qualities

05:14One of our best people note was isasa and a wifi glove that they may sound like a fairy coated guy,

05:16It seems that there's not even an adult reaction that lies about than the edges,

05:21I don't have to consider that if they're the same thing,

05:23Or, if they're safe in place…

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