Michael Craven Christian Blog and Commentary

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The "Big Brother Link:" More Pseudo-Science

Once again the media has thrown itself unreservedly behind the latest "scientific" claims of inborn homosexuality. Recently the media reported on a study (referred to as the "Big Brother Link") by Canadian psychologist, Anthony Bogaert. Bogaert studied the family structures of more than 900 homosexual and heterosexual men claiming to find a correlation between the number of older brothers and sexual orientation.

According to Bogaert, chances of a boy being gay increased by one third for each older brother he had. This prompted Bogaert to postulate that "the explanation could [emphasis mine] lie in changes taking place in the mother's womb with each subsequent male birth." Bogaert theorizes that "an evolutionary mechanism may [emphasis mine] be at work that encourages an equal mix of male and female children." The theory goes like this, "when a woman gives birth to a boy, she produces antibodies that fight off future male embryos. If a male child is conceived anyway, those antibodies may alter hormonal patterns, resulting in homosexuality."

Even though this conclusion is highly speculative and there is no evidence to support this notion whatsoever; the Los Angeles Times, quoting neuroscientist Dr. Marc Breedlove reported, "Right now, it's the only plausible mechanism we can think of." Of course that is the only plausible mechanism if you presuppose that homosexual behavior is biological in origin and not related to any other environmental and/or psychological factors. The Los Angeles Times concluded by parroting the researchers who said "the study adds to the growing evidence that homosexuality is biologically based, and not primarily a product of a child's emotional environment or a lifestyle 'choice'." This is pure nonsense and one more example of the press' eagerness to report unfounded and fallacious claims in order to advance the homosexual political agenda.

Psychologist Gerard van den Aardweg, Ph.D., a leading expert on the subject points out in response to this particular study, "This is going on for about eighty years now: a correlation between homosexuality and a presumably 'biological' factor found in some sample is launched as if a great breakthrough in the search for a cause has been made. Over-attention and simplification in the media create the impression that homosexuality must be somehow inborn. After some time and a number of replications, it becomes clear that the original correlation cannot be generalized, that is, was tied to the original sample. Then a new star, a new biological 'fact' appears at the firmament, to die out equally after it has run its cycle. And so on."

Such was the case when in 1991, Dr. Simon LeVay of the Salk Institute claimed to have "proven" homosexuality to be a biologically predetermined behavior based on size differences that he supposedly measured in the hypothalamus region of the brain. Then in 1993, Dr. Dean Hamer of the National Cancer Institute following his study of 40 pairs of non-identical gay brothers claimed that 33 of the pairs had inherited the same chromosomal variant in their DNA, thus indicating a genetic cause for homosexuality. In both cases, the results were never replicated and in fact subsequent studies actually contradicted Hamer's conclusions and it was later revealed that LeVay's results were not uniform as previously believed.

Dr. Aardweg adds, "The 'circumstantial evidence' which is believed to have 'accumulated' and which would 'suggest that some people are really born to become gay' is imaginary today. To proclaim that it is virtually certain that 'some people are really born gay' is not only scientific nonsense but coming from the pen of academics such language is irresponsibly cheap and unscientific."

Aardweg points out, "Either implicitly or explicitly, both researchers and therapists have been familiar with the 'more-older-brothers' effect for a long time." There are a plethora of studies going as far back as the 1930s which bear this out. However, Bogaert theorizes a biological cause while every prior study has demonstrated the obvious and self-evidential environmental influence.

Summarizing the established understanding of the "more-older-brothers" effect, Dr. Van Den Aardweg describes the typical scenario, "In effect, the homosexual man who was one of the younger children or one of the younger brothers, or the 'afterthought,' is a familiar 'type.' His father was often somewhat distant, his mother was the real significant person in his childhood. The boy was brought up softly, overprotected, maybe feminized to a degree, and/or dominated by mother in other ways, and/or infantilized ('babied')." This overbearing maternal influence is also often accompanied by the classical psychological "father factor": the disinterested and/or, to a lesser extent, negative or hostile father, the lack of father-son confidentiality. These environmental conditions coupled with their unmet need for male affection produces a strong sense of isolation within these boys; isolation from their male peers, their brothers and their fathers.

Aardweg explains, "The common childhood and pre-adolescence frustration and grief of these men had been their not-belonging to their contemporaries, to be unable to get friends (the peer factor), maternal over-bonding and overprotection, weak fathering, regular conflicts with him and emotional isolation from the same-sex community: these are precisely the significant predisposing factors in the childhood of the vast majority of same-sex attracted men. These parental [familial] factors invariably characterize male homosexual samples and are the highest correlations that have systematically been found (next to childhood 'same-sex peer isolation')."

In essence, all of the established science overwhelming points to environmental factors and not biology as the cause of homosexual attractions despite routine claims to the contrary. The tragedy is that as long as those who are motivated by purely political purposes continue to press their pseudo-science and the public continues to be persuaded by their propaganda; we will not address the real and destructive causes of homosexual behavior. As one former homosexual friend of mine put it, "homosexuality begins in pain, exists in pain and often ends in pain."

To those who claim that "tolerance" or better stated, legitimizing homosexual behavior best serves the homosexual man or woman I would say that you are only appealing to a surface desire on the part of gay men and women who are desperately trying to persuade themselves that their lifestyle is natural and normal, against some stubborn uneasy feeling they constantly must suppress. This is not true compassion! They need healing from damaged relationships and affirmation as human beings who are valuable because they are made in the image of God. They, like all of us, need Christ!

Copyright S. Michael Craven 2006

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S. Michael Craven is the Founding Director of the Center for Christ & Culture, a ministry of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families. The Center for Christ & Culture is dedicated to renewal within the Church and works to equip Christians with an intelligent and thoroughly Christian approach to matters of culture in order to recapture and demonstrate the relevance of Christianity to all of life. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture, additional resources and other works by S. Michael Craven visit: www.battlefortruth.org

Michael lives in the Dallas area with his wife Carol and their three children.