The Gay Smoking Gene

[Ignoto]

The 8% of teen-agers who report any same-sex attraction are more likely to be smokers, researchers found.

 

Anyone who has visited a gay bar could have told them to expect those results.

 

So is it genetics, or environment?

 

From a recent study:

 

Add Health surveyed over 12,000 adolescents in grades 7-12 to assess health status, causes, and contexts of health-related behaviors.

 

The study found that eight percent of participants indicated any same-sex attractions or same-sex relationships. The study found that youth who reported any same-sex attractions or relationships had significantly higher rates of smoking compared to youth who reported only opposite-sex attractions or relationships. Nearly 45% of females (44.7%) and 35% (34.9%) of males who reported any same-sex attractions or relationships reported smoking. For youth with opposite-sex attractions or relationships, that figure is about 29% for both males and females.

 

“As a pediatrician and as president of GLMA, I am deeply concerned about the Add Health Study findings,” said Kenneth Haller, MD {Gay and Lesbian Medical Association}.

 

“The time is now to take action to prevent more LGBT youth from initiating smoking, and to help LGBT youth and adult smokers to quit,” Haller said.

[duke37]

Are gay men and women more likely to start smoking as young people because in the most important parts of life they are already in "rebellion"? Considering the barely concealed hostility in most traditional institutions in this country to homosexuality its probably surprising the number isn't higher.

 

Jeff

[giovoni]

It should be obvious.. Nicotine helps schizophrenics deal with their mental illness because it lessons certain types of symptoms associated with the condition. Obviously nicotine must also help gay men and women deal with the serious mental illness that accompanies having same sex attractions. When is the church going to pick up on this?

 

Go in Denver

 

"I do not love the bright sword for it's sharpness, nor the arrow for it's swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend."

[+ deej]

I always thought it was phallic, except that doesn't explain it for the dykes.

[Trixie]

I myself am a moderately heavy smoker, having taken up the vice as a late teen. Certainly there was a "crazy-dangerous-cool" element to smoking then. As there is now, I'm sure. Especially amongst the disenfranchised, not giving a damn goes a long way in alleviating the many pressures facing young adults (young, smooth, randy adults...mmmm... oops!). Of course it's not that you really don't give a damn... it's a show (even if you don't realize it yet). And the cigarette is a major prop in this kind of drama.

Some of us drop the smokescreen once we get tired of being angry/depressed all the time. Others, like myself, find themselves stuck with it. When I find a new acquaintance telling me "I can't believe YOU smoke!" (with the same sort of dire tone as if they were saying "I can't believe YOU walk the earth at night, feasting on the blood of the innocent!!"),

I simply tell them it's a leftover vice from my youthful days as a disaffected youth.

Then, of course, it's " can't believe YOU were a disaffected youth!!!"

 

Some people, especially non-smokers, can be terribly lacking in imagination.

 

La Trix

[giovoni]

(with the same sort

>of dire tone as if they were saying "I can't believe YOU walk

>the earth at night, feasting on the blood of the

>innocent!!"),

 

You do that too?? I used to but then I started chewing hemo-ret gum.. mmmm mmmmmmmm.

 

Gio in Denver

 

"I do not love the bright sword for it's sharpness, nor the arrow for it's swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend."

[Trixie]

Ok, so I have 2 vices left over from my youth...

 

 

 

Trix

[Guest gentle guy]

Two little words

 

>I always thought it was phallic, except that doesn't explain

>it for the dykes.

 

Penis envy. :+ Explains it for all women!

 

Of course, men are more envious of other guys' penises than women could ever be... Why else does every escort's penis shrink when he gets a bad review?

[+ Charlie]

When I was young,smoking was a sign that one was masculine--it was femme to be a non-smoker. So, of course, I started smoking at 16. Once I was completely out and comfortable with my identity, I had no trouble stopping.

[+ deej]

> I had no trouble stopping.

 

Oh, now that's just plain MEAN! :9