News
Prenatal Pill May Reduce Lesbianism
A new prenatal medication used to treat a condition which can cause 'ambiguous genitalia' in female fetuses may also reduce the chance that female will be gay.
The condition – a rare genetic disorder called congenital
adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) – causes an accumulation in male hormones and, in
females, can make it difficult to tell what gender they actually are.
A 2008 study in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, carried out
by one of the doctors championing the CAH treatment, Dr Maria New, questioned
143 women with CAH who had not been treated prenatally.
The study found that most of the women were heterosexual -
but that the rates of homosexuality and bisexuality were far higher in women
with the condition when compared to a control group.
The hormone treatment for pregnant women expecting daughters
with the disorder might have the unintentional side-effect of reducing the
chance that the infant will be gay. It also seems to increase the chances that
the child will have what are considered more ‘feminine’ behavioural traits.
The findings have caused concern amongst bioethicists who
worry that medical attempts to prevent homosexuality will arise in the future
if sexual orientation is found to be determined by human biology.