Eating soy and Homosexuality
In a perfect malingering type of disinformation, a WorldNetDaily’s article, Soy is making kids ‘gay’, is full of mistakes, misconceptions, and red-neck-like statements:
“I have nothing against an occasional soy snack. Soy is nutritious and contains lots of good things. Unfortunately, when you eat or drink a lot of soy stuff, you’re also getting substantial quantities of estrogens.”
Ahhh…estrogen in soy? Sure, if you talk about phytoestrogen. Babyhopes.com explains the potential effect of soy:
“The type of phytoestrogen in soy is known as isoflavones. These isoflavones come in different forms and have different effects. Some may function similarly to estrogens in the body, producing a very weak effect compared to the real hormone. And others act as antiestrogens, to reduce the activity of estrogen. Evidence is growing that these phytoestrogens may help with menopausal symptoms, as well as inhibits cancer cell growth.
In fact, TransHealth.com, an online magazine for transsexual and transgendered people states:
“It has been speculated that a diet high in soy can have hormonally feminizing effects. This has almost no basis in fact, and really, makes very little sense. The beneficial effects of dietary soy are more related to the fact that it inhibits the action of estrogen, not that it has estrogenic effects itself. These inhibitory effects seem to decrease the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) as well as breast and uterine cancer, but only when taken as part of a complete program.”
To make things worse, the WorldNet article says that soy sauce is okay, “Unlike soy milk, it’s perfectly safe because it’s fermented”, which is completely false. Soy sauce indeed does not contain phytoestrogen because “since it’s the protein portion of soy that contains the phytoestrogens [...] soy sauce does not contain phytoestrogens” (Babyhopes.com). The article quotes no studies, bases itself on no fact whatsoever. It is a pack of wrong information.
It is so pathetic, it’s hilarious. Anyway, what can you expect from a site that advertises the sale of a book entitled “Conservatives are from Mars, Liberals are from California”, and written by the Chairman of an outfit called Megashift Ministries?
17 Responses “Eating soy and Homosexuality”
I’m still laughing.
Its hard not to at least take a closer look at the study, if there is any truth that the consumption of soy or any food for that matter may cause adverse reactions to our body… maybe that is part of the reason that food is regulated by governments etc. just like drugs (I am not saying drugs and foods are exactly the same) look a homeopaths they use alternative medicines that may or may not work. I think we (society) tend to look at things in only one light and when we hear or see things that we don’t agree with we find a web site or article to back up our belief great…but the internet is only as good as its source just like books… So all I am saying is that before we cute up some guy how might be onto something putting the homosexuality part aside, maybe more research should be put into disproving or proving the truth about soy and homosexuality
Dave,
I would have found it more credible if the gentleman had supported his argument with reference to specific research. After all, he is not a scientist.
You are right, though, that we should be concerned with what we eat and not to necessarily trust one view of things. Genetically Modified Foods, Foods with pesticides and hormones, although deemed “safe” may radically affect our bodies, and we still consume them. This is one of the reasons there is a trend –definitely more than a fad– towards organic foods.
While I too am skeptical, considering the source, he does have an annotated version of the article referencing studies and sources for his medical claims http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53507.
Does make me have to ask is there any validity to the health claims. The homosexuality thing is entirely irrelevant to me, the sexual orientation of others doesn’t matter to me. But the health claims, that’s another matter…
The whole concept of any food making a person gay is just stupid. This guy sounds like a religious fanatic playing off of peoples’ fears, preaching fire and brimstone and trying to back it up with made-up “facts.” Unfortunately, my husband is one of the gulible and fearful in this situation, and is now very concerned that our 3 month old son, who has to have soy because of an allergy to cow’s milk, will turn out gay. Needless to say the whole concept annoys the heck out of me, and now I’m going to have to go to our pediatrician to disprove this rediculous theory for my husband.
Jen,
I’m sorry this is happening with you and your son. This concept is a little bit of the same thing as creationism. People use irrationality to explain something they don’t understand.
One of the things you might want to tell your husband is that homosexuality was prevalent from the times of the ancient Greeks and probably before, but that time was the first where it was really documented. It’s not a new “thing”, or a new “concept”. It’s been around for as long as prostitution has (I didn’t see the guy trying to find a food source for that problem).
What’s new(er) is that it’s talked about more openly — you noticed that this guy doesn’t talk about lesbianism either. Somehow, that seems to be okay or more acceptable. With gayness and straight men, the ick factor has a lot to do with their reaction to it (and for a lot of women, too).
There always have been reasons for discounting homosexuality as inherited. Before, it was because mothers coddling their sons too much made them sissies. Now it’s food. Next will probably be pesticides.
There is a strong suspicion that there is a genetic link to homosexuality with not one particular gene but a combination of genes that interact, although they suspect it’s not “hardwired”. In short, they’re not sure what’s going on, but none of the respectable medical community has ever connected any kind of food to homosexuality.
I hate to burst you ‘this is absurd’ balloon, but you may want to take a closer look at the Limbic System of the brain, and what allergies do to effect that part of the brain. It is responsible for many things, including emotions, sexual identity and more. I have two relatives, huge allergy sufferers and struggling with sexual identities.
p.
Do you mean to say that if they succeed in eradicating their allergies they’ll resolve their sexual identities? If I don’t eat soy, or drink milk, or eat mustard, which give me allergies, I’ll know better who I am sexually? Is this reversible? What if I suddenly acquire new allergies? Will that threaten my sexual identity?
Anything’s possible, I suppose, and it may very well be discovered that certain chemicals affect sexual orientation. On the other hand, homosexuality has been around for thousands of years and many of the chemicals we have today didn’t exist then. If we need to find a culprit, I’d be more inclined to look at what a mother ingested at the onset of her pregnancy (did she smoke, do drugs, eat too many strawberries?) when the fetus’s brain was developing.
Being A homosexual man I find this to be a very intresting topic. I was severly sensitive to a great deal of foods as a child. As I recall my mother feed me goats milk as a todler and soy infant formula as an infant. If this is the cause of my sexual orientation then so be it. I’ts troubling to me that there is still such a vast distain for gay and lesbian peoples in our culture. It seems unlikly to me that homosexuality is the undoing of society and human reproduction. That said I belive strongly that the continued fear and disregaurd of homosexuals in our society will greatly degrade our society. The fundemental problems gay people face today are directly caused by such disregaurd. I have been boombarded by social stigma my entire life. I see many of my peers adopting the many negitive gay social morres, the clubs, the casual sex, drugs etc… I doubt this would be acceptibleor normal behavior if they were raised to value themself and had been raised in homes that were more nurturing and supportive of who and what they are reguardless of why they turned out the way they did.
The articles have tons of footnotes now. There is lots of serious thought in that article.
I do not know if soy causes homosexuality in men, (It would be highly unlikely in women). I do know that there are many homosexual men in the Philippenes (they even have a political party to support their needs. My best friend is Filippino and gay, but he was raised in the states. I am not sure as to his consumption of soy as a child.) and they eat diets heavy in non-fermented soy. Also, I don’t know how this plays into it, but Asian and Indian men tend to have smaller penis size. Asians and Indians have diets higher in soy than other countries.
I am concerned about phytoestrogens, but even moreso with Xenoestrogens. BPA, pesticides, plastics, and the level of synthetic female hormone in our drinking water (due to excretion of birth control through urine).
There are several studies that show that BPA interupts the limbic function in rats, and perhaps may be a cause in gender identity. There are also studies that show that fish down-river from pesticide plants are intersexed and have a high level of certain cancers.
We are robbing our men (and women) of fertility and dooming them a life of hormonally caused cancers.
On top of it all, soy also interupts proper thyroid function and increases the liklihood of developing goiter. Soy also inhibits calcium, iron and zinc absorption.
My son doesn’t eat soy, at least not unfermented. When he’s a bit older (13 months now) he will be able to eat tempeh or miso. We eat organic foods. We avoid commercially prepped foods (soy is hidden everywhere).
I don’t care if my son winds up being gay. I just want him to be healthy.
“Tommy! Put away that soy sausage!”
“Why mommy, why? You said Daddy was gonna BBQ.”
“Because Tommy… It’ll make you gay!”
After reading articles like the one titled “Soy is making kids ‘gay,’” I started to seriously question what planet I was living on. While I’m no health professional, nor am I a scientist, I started to have all kinds of hypotheses run through my mind.
Like how a diet that included red meat from angry cows, must be the leading factor in bigotry or that inhaling an average percentage of carbon monoxide from car exhaust fumes at the onset of puberty, must be the leading cause of insensitivity in human beings when they reach adulthood and are incapable of taking responsibility for their emotions including their unresolved hatred.
I wonder if the author of this article has nightmares at night, where he is chased by giant soy beans dressed in drag, with needles full of phytoestrogens ready to be pumped into his veins?
Notwithstanding the legitimate arguments, valid questions, actual evidence, industry-tainted science or natural observations being made about unfermented soy as a viable food, a discussion I take part in daily as a vegetarian who refuses to eat GMO foods or unfermented soy for health reasons, (soy when unfermented inhibits the production of trypsin, an important digestive enzyme for proteins, its high phytate content blocks proper absorption of minerals and nutrients and its phytoestrogen content can, in excess, potentially lead to health complications), since when did we begin to associate the cause of sexual orientation with food?
Now, I wonder what food causes heterosexuality…
Very well said! I find this spurious science very dangerous, for several reasons, the first being that people tend to want to believe things like that, and if it looks the least bit credible, they won’t dig any further.
And yes, why aren’t people more worried about big agri companies genetically changing our food for their own profit and potentially affecting the health of millions? Because it doesn’t tap into homophobia, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and it takes effort to get educated about the topic.
Maybe it has to do w/ not eating meat. Not eating something that had to be killed & being okay with that. Just thought. Probably way off… But it’s these little subconscious decisions that make us.
David,
Are you saying there is a correlation between being a vegetarian and being gay? How about all the gays who do love and eat meat?
Just a guess. I don’t think soy will have any influence on it, so I was looking for some psychological clue behind it. My comment wasn’t intended to state my opinion but more throw out a random guess. Either way, I don’t care too much. I down with soy. And close to homophobic. So, it’s not effecting me =]
I’m*