Leroy N. Soetoro
2016-09-01 20:38:12 UTC
http://www.christianpost.com/news/no-scientific-evidence-that-people-are-
born-gay-or-transgender-johns-hopkins-researchers-say-168263/
Distinguished scholars at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland released a
new 143-page report on Monday that argues that there is not enough
definitive scientific evidence available to suggest that gay, lesbian and
transgender individuals are born with a certain sexual orientation or
gender identity.
In the three-part report published by The New Atlantis, Lawrence Mayer, a
scholar-in-residence at Johns Hopkins University's psychiatry department
and a professor of statistics and biostatistics at Arizona State
University, and Paul McHugh, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral
sciences at Johns Hopkins, take on prevailing claims that sexual
orientation and gender dysphoria are caused by natural traits.
Additionally, the scholars challenge the claim that discrimination and
social stigma is the sole reason why those with same-sex attractions or
transgender identity suffer higher rates of mental health problems.
In the first part, the report argues that there is insufficient evidence
to claim that heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual attractions are an
innate trait that people are born with.
The report goes into detail about past epidemiological studies that have
found a modest association between genetic factors and sexual orientation
and behaviors. However, the report states that such studies have not been
able to provide significant evidence "pointing to particular genes."
The report also looks at other other evidence of hypothesized biological
causes, such as prenatal development and hormones but finds that evidence
is also limited.
"Studies of the brains of homosexuals and heterosexuals have found some
differences, but have not demonstrated that these differences are inborn
rather than the result of environmental factors that influenced both
psychological and neurobiological traits," the report reads. "One
environmental factor that appears to be correlated with non-
heterosexuality is childhood sexual abuse victimization, which may also
contribute to the higher rates."
There is actually some evidence that suggests sexual orientation is fluid.
A study by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health
tracked the sexual orientation of children aged 7 to 12 in 1994-1995 and
again in 2007-2008 when they were young adults.
The study found that 80 percent of male respondents who had reported same-
sex attraction and both-sex attraction in their childhood, later
identified as exclusively hetrosexual. Meanwhile, more than half of the
females respondents who reported both-sex attractions as children,
reported being exclusively attracted to males as adults.
"The idea there that sexual orientation is fluid, that people change as
people grow," Mayer told The Christian Post in an interview last Friday.
"There are probably some people that identify as hetrosexual that then
later on identified as homosexual, so it goes both ways. The importance
there is the fluidity and flexibility that these things change in time."
The report also analyzed studies that focused on concordance rates in
twins. One study the scholars looked at was a 2010 study from psychiatric
epidemiologist Niklas Långström and his colleagues that analyzed 3,826
identical and fraternal same-sex twin pairs.
In analyzing twins pairings where at least one of the twins was same-sex
attracted, the report found that only in a fraction of the cases resulted
in both twins being same-sex attracted. There was a concordance rate of 18
percent of identical twin males, 11 percent for fraternal twin males, 22
percent for identical twin females, and 17 percent for fraternal twin
females.
"Summarizing the studies of twins, we can say that there is no reliable
scientific evidence that sexual orientation is determined by a person's
genes. But there is evidence that genes play a role in influencing sexual
orientation," the report explains. "So the question 'Are gay people born
that way?' requires clarification. There is virtually no evidence that
anyone, gay or straight, is 'born that way' if that means their sexual
orientation was genetically determined. But there is some evidence from
the twin studies that certain genetic profiles probably increase the
likelihood the person later identifies as gay or engages in same-sex
sexual behavior."
In the third part of the report, the scholars analyzed a number of studies
that attempt to show the links between transgender identity and
neurological differences.
Although some studies have found that brain activation patterns differ
among people who identify as members of the opposite biological sex, the
scholars hold that "these studies do not offer sufficient evidence for
drawing sound conclusions about possible associations between brain
activation and sexual identity or arousal. The results are conflicting and
confusing."
"The question is not simply whether there are differences between the
brains of transgender individuals and people identifying with the gender
corresponding to their biological sex, but whether gender identity is a
fixed, innate, and biological trait, even when it does not correspond to
biological sex, or whether environmental or psychological causes
contribute to the development of a sense of gender identity in such
cases," the report asserts. "Neurological differences in transgender
adults might be the consequence of biological factors such as genes or
prenatal hormone exposure, or of psychological and environmental factors
such as childhood abuse, or they could result from some combination of the
two."
"There are no serial, longitudinal, or prospective studies looking at the
brains of cross-gender identifying children who develop to later identify
as transgender adults," the report continues. "Lack of this research
severely limits our ability to understand causal relationships between
brain morphology, or functional activity, and the later development of
gender identity different from biological sex."
Additionally, the report took issue with the conditioning of children to
believe that they need to block their puberty or get a sex reassignment in
order to avoid mental health issues.
The report cites the fifth edition of American Psychiatric Association's
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to show that the
persistence of gender dysphoria in children does not often persist into
adulthood.
"In natal [biological] males, persistence [of gender dysphoria] has ranged
from 2.2 to 30 percent," the report explains. "In natal females,
persistence has ranged from 12 to 50 percent. Scientific data on
persistence of gender dysphoria remains sparse due to the very low
prevalence of the disorder in the general population, but the wide range
of findings in the literature suggests that there is still much that we do
not know about why gender dysphoria persists or desists in children."
The Christian Post asked Mayer what his response will be to criticism
received from the Left and from conservatives who might disagree with
certain aspects of his report.
As Mayer's co-author Paul McHugh has spoken out in the past with remarks
that some might consider inflammatory on the subject of gender identity
and sexual reassignment surgeries, Mayer suspects that critics will claim
the report was only issued to serve McHugh's biases.
"That isn't true," Mayer said. "Every line in this I either wrote or
approved of. There is no bias either way. The bias is just towards
science."
"I think we get into these very high volume battles, particularly in this
current environment," Mayer continued. "When science supports our
position, sometimes it is better to tone down a bit. In other words,
conservatives have been highly critical of the report too already because
it didn't support this or didn't support that. The idea is that let the
science speak and then see how they respond to it."
--
His Omnipotence Barack Hussein Obama, declared himself "Pooptator" of all
mentally ill homosexuals and crossdressers, while declaring where they
will defecate.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $19 trillion in the seven
years he has been in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
Barack Obama, reelected by the dumbest voters in the history of the United
States of America. The only American president to deliberately import a
lethal infectious disease from Africa, Ebola.
Loretta Fuddy, killed after she "verified" Obama's phony birth
certificate.
Obama ignored the brutal killing of an American diplomat in Benghazi, then
relieved American military officers who attempted to prevent said murder
in order to cover up his own ineptitude.
Obama continues his muslim goal of disarming America while ObamaCare
increases insurance premiums 300% and leaves millions without health care.
--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ***@netfront.net ---
born-gay-or-transgender-johns-hopkins-researchers-say-168263/
Distinguished scholars at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland released a
new 143-page report on Monday that argues that there is not enough
definitive scientific evidence available to suggest that gay, lesbian and
transgender individuals are born with a certain sexual orientation or
gender identity.
In the three-part report published by The New Atlantis, Lawrence Mayer, a
scholar-in-residence at Johns Hopkins University's psychiatry department
and a professor of statistics and biostatistics at Arizona State
University, and Paul McHugh, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral
sciences at Johns Hopkins, take on prevailing claims that sexual
orientation and gender dysphoria are caused by natural traits.
Additionally, the scholars challenge the claim that discrimination and
social stigma is the sole reason why those with same-sex attractions or
transgender identity suffer higher rates of mental health problems.
In the first part, the report argues that there is insufficient evidence
to claim that heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual attractions are an
innate trait that people are born with.
The report goes into detail about past epidemiological studies that have
found a modest association between genetic factors and sexual orientation
and behaviors. However, the report states that such studies have not been
able to provide significant evidence "pointing to particular genes."
The report also looks at other other evidence of hypothesized biological
causes, such as prenatal development and hormones but finds that evidence
is also limited.
"Studies of the brains of homosexuals and heterosexuals have found some
differences, but have not demonstrated that these differences are inborn
rather than the result of environmental factors that influenced both
psychological and neurobiological traits," the report reads. "One
environmental factor that appears to be correlated with non-
heterosexuality is childhood sexual abuse victimization, which may also
contribute to the higher rates."
There is actually some evidence that suggests sexual orientation is fluid.
A study by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health
tracked the sexual orientation of children aged 7 to 12 in 1994-1995 and
again in 2007-2008 when they were young adults.
The study found that 80 percent of male respondents who had reported same-
sex attraction and both-sex attraction in their childhood, later
identified as exclusively hetrosexual. Meanwhile, more than half of the
females respondents who reported both-sex attractions as children,
reported being exclusively attracted to males as adults.
"The idea there that sexual orientation is fluid, that people change as
people grow," Mayer told The Christian Post in an interview last Friday.
"There are probably some people that identify as hetrosexual that then
later on identified as homosexual, so it goes both ways. The importance
there is the fluidity and flexibility that these things change in time."
The report also analyzed studies that focused on concordance rates in
twins. One study the scholars looked at was a 2010 study from psychiatric
epidemiologist Niklas Långström and his colleagues that analyzed 3,826
identical and fraternal same-sex twin pairs.
In analyzing twins pairings where at least one of the twins was same-sex
attracted, the report found that only in a fraction of the cases resulted
in both twins being same-sex attracted. There was a concordance rate of 18
percent of identical twin males, 11 percent for fraternal twin males, 22
percent for identical twin females, and 17 percent for fraternal twin
females.
"Summarizing the studies of twins, we can say that there is no reliable
scientific evidence that sexual orientation is determined by a person's
genes. But there is evidence that genes play a role in influencing sexual
orientation," the report explains. "So the question 'Are gay people born
that way?' requires clarification. There is virtually no evidence that
anyone, gay or straight, is 'born that way' if that means their sexual
orientation was genetically determined. But there is some evidence from
the twin studies that certain genetic profiles probably increase the
likelihood the person later identifies as gay or engages in same-sex
sexual behavior."
In the third part of the report, the scholars analyzed a number of studies
that attempt to show the links between transgender identity and
neurological differences.
Although some studies have found that brain activation patterns differ
among people who identify as members of the opposite biological sex, the
scholars hold that "these studies do not offer sufficient evidence for
drawing sound conclusions about possible associations between brain
activation and sexual identity or arousal. The results are conflicting and
confusing."
"The question is not simply whether there are differences between the
brains of transgender individuals and people identifying with the gender
corresponding to their biological sex, but whether gender identity is a
fixed, innate, and biological trait, even when it does not correspond to
biological sex, or whether environmental or psychological causes
contribute to the development of a sense of gender identity in such
cases," the report asserts. "Neurological differences in transgender
adults might be the consequence of biological factors such as genes or
prenatal hormone exposure, or of psychological and environmental factors
such as childhood abuse, or they could result from some combination of the
two."
"There are no serial, longitudinal, or prospective studies looking at the
brains of cross-gender identifying children who develop to later identify
as transgender adults," the report continues. "Lack of this research
severely limits our ability to understand causal relationships between
brain morphology, or functional activity, and the later development of
gender identity different from biological sex."
Additionally, the report took issue with the conditioning of children to
believe that they need to block their puberty or get a sex reassignment in
order to avoid mental health issues.
The report cites the fifth edition of American Psychiatric Association's
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to show that the
persistence of gender dysphoria in children does not often persist into
adulthood.
"In natal [biological] males, persistence [of gender dysphoria] has ranged
from 2.2 to 30 percent," the report explains. "In natal females,
persistence has ranged from 12 to 50 percent. Scientific data on
persistence of gender dysphoria remains sparse due to the very low
prevalence of the disorder in the general population, but the wide range
of findings in the literature suggests that there is still much that we do
not know about why gender dysphoria persists or desists in children."
The Christian Post asked Mayer what his response will be to criticism
received from the Left and from conservatives who might disagree with
certain aspects of his report.
As Mayer's co-author Paul McHugh has spoken out in the past with remarks
that some might consider inflammatory on the subject of gender identity
and sexual reassignment surgeries, Mayer suspects that critics will claim
the report was only issued to serve McHugh's biases.
"That isn't true," Mayer said. "Every line in this I either wrote or
approved of. There is no bias either way. The bias is just towards
science."
"I think we get into these very high volume battles, particularly in this
current environment," Mayer continued. "When science supports our
position, sometimes it is better to tone down a bit. In other words,
conservatives have been highly critical of the report too already because
it didn't support this or didn't support that. The idea is that let the
science speak and then see how they respond to it."
--
His Omnipotence Barack Hussein Obama, declared himself "Pooptator" of all
mentally ill homosexuals and crossdressers, while declaring where they
will defecate.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $19 trillion in the seven
years he has been in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
Barack Obama, reelected by the dumbest voters in the history of the United
States of America. The only American president to deliberately import a
lethal infectious disease from Africa, Ebola.
Loretta Fuddy, killed after she "verified" Obama's phony birth
certificate.
Obama ignored the brutal killing of an American diplomat in Benghazi, then
relieved American military officers who attempted to prevent said murder
in order to cover up his own ineptitude.
Obama continues his muslim goal of disarming America while ObamaCare
increases insurance premiums 300% and leaves millions without health care.
--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ***@netfront.net ---