-=> On 02-20-98  15:06, Jean Halverson did testify and affirm <=-
-=> to Robert Craft concerning So THAT'S why! <=-
 
 RC> Well, that would rule out a genetic etiology. Neither
 RC> maternal or paternal DNA record the sex of preceding
 RC> births.
 
 JH> Well, what they were saying IIRC is that the female
 JH> reproductive system would attack a male dominant chromasome
 JH> after repeated male offspring. To me, highly unlikely
 JH> still. 
OTOH, the immune system certainly has a memory and there
are cases in which women have become allergic to their
husband's sperm. But an autoimmune disease involving the
ova? I'll have to check the literature.
 JH> The researchers came to the conclusion that the more older
 JH> male siblings a male had, the higher his chance of being
 JH> homosexual. Of course, the researchers did not look into
 JH> the possibility of sexual assault by those same older male
 JH> siblings.  I read it in our newspaper. 
 
 RC> I suspect it might be more a case of the youngest boy being
 RC> mother's darling... and a substitute for the daughter she
 RC> never had. 
 JH> IIRC, the families studied included female offspring. I
 JH> don't think that your assessment is correct. From the
 JH> homosexuals I have heard it's more of a lack of a
 JH> father-masculine figure in the family. Maybe an overbearing
 JH> dominant mother and either no father or an ineffective
 JH> father. Regardless, I still am a firm believer that it is
 JH> a _choice_to be that way.
Well, it's certainly not completely genetic - otherwise,
there would be a 100% correlation on the twin studies.
 JH> The same way that it is a choice to be a philanderer. I
 JH> always highly suspect any reseach that is done to try to
 JH> explain the way people behave. For instance, several years
 JH> ago there was astudy done on incarcerated males. The
 JH> researchers conclusion was that violent criminal  behavior
 JH> was a result of the male child receiving two specifically
 JH> male  genes or a double dose of male dominance. The
 JH> researchers did not study men who were _not_ incarcerated.
 JH> Can you see a problem with this???
You're referring to those with Klinefelter syndrome - the
XXY complex. While the percentage of the prison population
with XXY *is* higher than that of the general population,
the theory that XXY leads directly to criminal behaviour
has been discredited. 
 JH> I can. Imagine a world where this would be included in
 JH> prenatal testing... every male child with this double shot
 JH> of masculinity would be aborted because they _might_ become
 JH> violent. And as a result, a world full of wimps.  That's
 JH> why I refused all genetic testing when I was pregnant. 
A decade or more ago, that was a reasonable decision for
those opposed to abortion. At that time, the only measure
available in the face of genetic abnormalities was that of
abortion. However, there are a wide array of theraputic
modalities nowadays, ranging from intrauterine cardiac
surgery for formerly lethal cardiac abnormalities to
intrauterine bone marrow transplants for cystic fibrosis. 
Given the increasing range of therapies beyond abortion,
I'd not hesitate to recommend prenatal testing. 
... Happiness is seeing Bill Clinton's face on a milk carton.
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