Oct 09 2008
A function for “gay genes” after all?
In a previous post, I scoffed at the theory that eating soy would make someone (mainly men) become homosexual. I argued that homosexuality had been present through the ages, even before the tofu-eating fad. Come to think of it, there are no more homosexuals among Asians than elsewhere, and they sure eat a lot of tofu.
Now World Science reports that there may be a function for “gay genes” after all. The studies were done with a Samoan tribe whose men have sex with men. Since homosexuality makes “little evolutionary sense,” it has been a puzzle as to why it persists.
There are two competing theories. One is that gay relatives help raise other people’s young, therefore strengthening the families and helping the survival of these young. The other is that “gayness” is a genetic aberration that simply occurs without cultural significance.
In the new studies, “Canadian psychologists sought to test some of these competing ideas by visiting Samoa, a relatively un-westernized land. By studying people who they said live closer to the ways of humanity’s “ancestral” past, the researchers said they hoped to assess possible evolutionary functions for homosexuality and the roles of other gender-blurring behaviors.”
It turns out that the first theory was supported by those studies:
Men who habitually have sex with men are socially accepted in Samoa, where they’re known as fa’afines… fa’afines put “significantly” more effort into raising nephews and nieces. The childcare activities that saw stronger input from fa’afines included babysitting, buying toys, tutoring, exposing the children to art and music, and contributing to day-care, medical and education expenses, the surveys indicated.