the awesome/terrifying freedom

i was in barnes and noble yesterday and came across a great-looking book called "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature." the book discusses many sex-based issues - such as why men propose to women and not vice-versa - in terms of biology. he argues that the purpose of sex is to keeps genes shuffling so that they can stay one step ahead of disease. it looks like he covers a lot of ground, explaining the male penchant for polyamory and the female tendency towards monogamy, along with many other biological roots of male/female stereotypes.

i flipped to the index and looked up the passages on homosexuality. there wasn't much, but i was impressed by what he had to say. he concludes that the development of homosexuality is largely hormonal, and takes place before birth. apparently the hormone associated with stress can affect your child's sexuality: he discussed studies on rats that have determined that females injected with a stress hormone during pregnancy are more likely to have homosexual offspring. i like his final analogy that a 'gene' for homosexuality is only as certain as the gene for height: a set of twins may have the have genetic programming to grow to a certain height, but if they are given different diets, the end results can be vastly different.

it reminds me of a case in 'the sissy boy complex' of identical twins, one who was gay and closeted, and another who was straight and had a girlfriend. at first it seemed like cut and dry proof that there could be no gay gene - but five years later the straight brother refuses to 'label' himself and the gay brother now has a girlfriend. it can be fluid. there's just no real telling. unless it's clay aiken. he loves the cock.

i was disappointed that the book did not delve into my big question: the evolutionary purpose of homosexuality, only causes. he discussed purpose quite extensively in regards to breeders, but didn't touch it for homos. oh well. i'll have to look further. i'm still developing my theory.