Gay people often have older brothers. Why? And does it matter?

[KrisParr]

This story was on NPR this afternoon - sorry, I’m traveling and just barely was able to get the title. Perhaps some kind member can post the link.  Interesting story about gays (both men and women) and the frequency of having older brothers. The more older brothers you have, the higher the chance of the youngest male/female being gay. I have two older brothers, both straight.  My gay cousin has 3 older brothers. And several friends all fall in this category. 

[KeepItReal]

3 minutes ago, KrisParr said:

This story was on NPR this afternoon - sorry, I’m traveling and just barely was able to get the title. Perhaps some kind member can post the link.  Interesting story about gays (both men and women) and the frequency of having older brothers. The more older brothers you have, the higher the chance of the youngest male/female being gay. I have two older brothers, both straight.  My gay cousin has 3 older brothers. And several friends all fall in this category. 

I have seen similar studies. The number of pregnancies (including those that are not carried to term) appear to be statistically impactful on the likelihood of producing a gay child.  So yes, the more older brothers you have, the more likely you are to be gay. It is a fascinating area of study and certainly there is more to be discovered. 

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

46 minutes ago, KrisParr said:

This story was on NPR this afternoon - sorry, I’m traveling and just barely was able to get the title. Perhaps some kind member can post the link.  Interesting story about gays (both men and women) and the frequency of having older brothers. The more older brothers you have, the higher the chance of the youngest male/female being gay. I have two older brothers, both straight.  My gay cousin has 3 older brothers. And several friends all fall in this category. 

I have seen similar stories, and it has to do with the mother's built up resistance to a protein made by the Y chromosome from the previous sons.  Mothers build up antibodies with each male fetus.  The presence of those antibodies in later pregnancies affects the development of the male's brain to become homosexual.

We may know why younger brothers are more likely to be gay

WWW.NEWSCIENTIST.COM

---

An immune response in some pregnant women’s bodies may explain the “fraternal birth order...

 

Edited April 16, 2024 by Vegas_Millennial

[+ sniper]

I thought it was also hypothesized that maternal testosterone levels, which increase with age, might play a role.

[pubic_assistance]

Maybe it's because you grow up with your older brothers using you as a cum rag ? 🤔..and you learn to dig it.

[+ WilliamM]

I didn't have an older brother 

[soloyo215]

9 hours ago, pubic_assistance said:

Maybe it's because you grow up with your older brothers using you as a cum rag ? 🤔..and you learn to dig it.

Not in my case (gross). I have an older brother who is a hardcore Trunp supporter, retired Army Captain, and has children all over the world. I guess I just didn't want to be him. My two youngest brothers, one of them came out to me (only me) as bisexual. He says that he likes men, but he loves his wife and son with down syndrome more than venturing getting involved with men, but he talks to me about men he finds attractive and things alike, and I'm happy that he has me to feel safe talking about it.

I have heard of similar stories about gay men having older siblings, but I also know many gay men who are only-child in the family, or who are the oldest in the family.

Personally, it's good to research and study, but I don't need any scientific explanation for me baing gay. I am, and I love it.

[caramelsub]

I don’t believe there is any correlation. I’ve known too many gay men that are oldest, only children, have sisters, are twins, etc. 

[+ Lucky]

3 older brothers here.

[Peter Eater]

Are there studies exploring why some brothers turn out to be straight?

Using heterosexuality as the benchmark, from which gay people deviate, is a problem.

[pubic_assistance]

25 minutes ago, soloyo215 said:

I have an older brother who is a hardcore Trunp supporter, retired Army Captain, and has children all over the world.

He sounds hot.

[marylander1940]

11 hours ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

I have seen similar stories, and it has to do with the mother's built up resistance to a protein made by the Y chromosome from the previous sons.  Mothers build up antibodies with each male fetus.  The presence of those antibodies in later pregnancies affects the development of the male's brain to become homosexual.

We may know why younger brothers are more likely to be gay

WWW.NEWSCIENTIST.COM

---

An immune response in some pregnant women’s bodies may explain the “fraternal birth order...

 

Interesting!

I wonder if with smaller families less kids will be born gay in the future. 

[marylander1940]

4 minutes ago, pubic_assistance said:

He sounds hot.

Most guys in the military put on weight right after leaving service. Children all over the world.... lack of family values isn't sexy to me...

Back to subject.

2 sisters, 1 younger brother. I was the 2nd born to my parents and the only gay.

Edited April 16, 2024 by marylander1940

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

To be clear, the gay younger child phenomenon is scientifically observed, but accounts for a very small amount of the cause of being gay.  Having gay relatives on the mother's side of the family is a much larger contributing factor.  Being a younger son increases the odds of being gay only by about 1-3%.  I'm sorry I don't have the article to cite where I read this.

[pubic_assistance]

5 minutes ago, marylander1940 said:

Interesting!

I wonder if with smaller families less kids will be born gay in the future. 

I know a lot of gay men who are only children. The more common correlation I witness with the vast majority of gay men is a distant father, not an older brother.

Edited April 16, 2024 by pubic_assistance

[wsc]

4 minutes ago, pubic_assistance said:

I know a lot of gay men who are only children. The more common correlation I witness with the vast majority of gay men is a distant father, not an older brother.

As a gay only child, I just assumed it was a case of great good luck.

[marylander1940]

 

12 hours ago, KrisParr said:

This story was on NPR this afternoon - sorry, I’m traveling and just barely was able to get the title. Perhaps some kind member can post the link.  Interesting story about gays (both men and women) and the frequency of having older brothers. The more older brothers you have, the higher the chance of the youngest male/female being gay. I have two older brothers, both straight.  My gay cousin has 3 older brothers. And several friends all fall in this category. 

 

Gay people often have older brothers. Why? And does it matter?

WWW.NPR.ORG

---

Studies worldwide show that queer people tend to have more older brothers than other kinds of siblings. Justin Torres, a queer novelist and the youngest of three...

 

10 minutes ago, pubic_assistance said:

I know a lot of gay men who are only children. The more common correlation I witness with the vast majority of gay men is a distant father, not an older brother.

The article says something different. 

Were those gay men born before or after the widespread use of the contraception pill? Nowadays being the only child is not as uncommon considering most women prefer to have less children and start having them later in life. Average 1.98 kids under 18 per family as of 2024.

 

 

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

20 minutes ago, marylander1940 said:

Interesting!

I wonder if with smaller families less kids will be born gay in the future. 

These studies have only focused on the number of children (fewer children or more children), not their value (less or greater).  😉

 

[Kenny]

35 minutes ago, pubic_assistance said:

He sounds hot.

He sounds like a jerk.

[+ DERRIK]

I prefer to focus on things I can control

Cannot spend time trying to figure out what if or how come

Its likely we're not meant to know all answers

[MaybeMaybeNot]

I will check out the article later when I have time. It does seem I know a number of younger sons who are gay, but I also have known plenty of older and middle sons who are the gay ones. Plus, the number of children varies-- youngest of 3, 7, 6. Why was son 3 is one family gay but not son 3 in another?

[caramelsub]

56 minutes ago, pubic_assistance said:

I know a lot of gay men who are only children. The more common correlation I witness with the vast majority of gay men is a distant father, not an older brother.

A lot of people speculate this. But ironically my mother was very distant growing up, at least to me. My father was the more nurturing parent. 

[soloyo215]

1 hour ago, pubic_assistance said:

He sounds hot.

Well, in all honesty, he's not a bad looking guy. When we were young I was happy that girls were trying to get his attention and not mine.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

2 hours ago, caramelsub said:

A lot of people speculate this. But ironically my mother was very distant growing up, at least to me. My father was the more nurturing parent. 

My father, too, was very present and very nuturing.  My mother was very controlling and narcissistic.  For years I didn't think I was gay solely because I was attracted men; but, rather, I thought it was because I was repelled by the idea of being with a woman such as my mother.  Yuck! 🤢

Edited April 16, 2024 by Vegas_Millennial

[+ Charlie]

My spouse is the oldest of four brothers; he and the next oldest are both gay. The two younger brothers are the straight ones. I always found it interesting that the two older brothers had a much stronger physical resemblance to one another than to the younger brothers, while the two younger brothers strongly resembled one another. A stranger seeing a photo of the four of them together as adults is usually surprised that they are all children of the same parents. The older two look more like their mother (small and slender), while the younger two look like their father (big football linemen).