Researchers in Europe have revealed what has long been suspected - brains of homosexuals have structural and functional differences from those of "straight" people. Two studies have concluded that while lesbians have a lower proportion of grey matter in their more male-like brains than straight women, the brains of gay men have structural similarities to those of heterosexual ladies.
In fact, gays also exhibit the same powerful response as straight women to the sex hormones released in male sweat, according to the studies.
In one study, a team at University College London used magnetic resonance imaging to look at the brains of 80 men and women, including 16 gay men and 15 lesbians.
They found that lesbians had a "male-like" proportion and distribution of grey matter in their brain when compared with heterosexual women.
"In homosexual women the perirhinal cortex grey matter displayed a male-like structural pattern. The perirhinal area is associated with social and sexual behaviour," ’The Sunday Times’ quoted the British researchers as saying.
In another study, researchers at Karolinska Institute in Sweden questioned 12 gay men, 12 heterosexual women and 12 heterosexual men to smell hormones found in male sweat.
The researchers measured their brain responses and found that the anterior hypothalamus, an area linked to sexual behaviour, responded strongly in both heterosexual women as well as gay men.
However, straight men showed little response - this implies the brains of gay men have functional similarities to those of straight women, according to lead researcher Ivanka Savic.
The team from Sweden also measured the brain responses of 12 lesbians who were asked to smell male and female hormones. The participants actually responded much more strongly to the female hormones.
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