I Woke up Gay
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There were so many "holes" in the story you could have shot peas through it!Thanks, Kyle! Sounds to me like he was a closeted gay man with a hyper-straight persona to help himself keep his "dirty" little secret. And his stroke was a good opportunity for him to break out of the prison he'd put himself into.
Who knows, though? The human brain is a mysterious thing and perhaps he really did fundamentally change.
It starts with this very gay man explaining how he was a 19st (270lb) beer swilling, rugby fan from the Valley's ( a very rural, yet industrial part of Wales) until one day he was doing a head roll down the embankment of a rugby pitch which caused him to have a stroke and when he awoke from being in a coma, he had no memory of his past life and his personality had changed and he came to the realisation that he was gay.
Now the whole premise of the documentary was that strokes and other brain injuries can cause the brain to re-wire itself and in doing so result in personality changes. The protagonist, Chris, believes that's what turned him gay.
Now, that might indeed be the case, but as in his own words "he has no memory of his old self" and is basing his opinions on the anecdotes he has gleaned from his friends and family that he was "the most un-gay bloke you have ever met" it is nigh on impossible to know for certain whether or not he was a fat poof so far in the closet he was in Narnia, or indeed the effect of the stroke took him on a different path in life.
Now as we know, there is no definitive answer as to why one person is attracted to members of the same gender, opposite gender or indeed both, it is also perfectly plausible that old-Chris' was predominately attracted to women and now after the stroke he finds himself more attracted to men.
Th trouble was, the documentary was too focused on Chris and his search for his former self, rather than the science behind his possible condition. This was even more pertinent given that Chris seems perfectly happy with his new personality, even if it has possibly caused a rift within his family (although the reason for the rift was never fully explained, especially as they mentioned how close he was to his mum and how she nursed him through his initial recovery from the stroke. They inferred that it was linked to his new lifestyle choice, but it was never really specified.)
It's a fascinating subject, it's a pity the programme wasn't a fascinating as the premise itself :ohwell:0 -
hum a stroke, wat was he stroaking...lol were all born gay, bi, str8, transgender , but that sounds like a load off bs to me0
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It would be interesting to know how many older brothers he has. (The present theory being that the greater the number of older brothers, the greater the chance a man will be gay. Something to do with maternal hormones in utero.)
I also wonder about the length of his fingers! (Or has that whole theory been debunked?)0 -
This reminds me of another documentary that was shown on the BBC a few years ago. It looked at various people and asked the question: what makes me a good athlete, what makes me a rocket scientist and what makes me gay. The latter was presented by John Barrowman and he looked into both these theories.It would be interesting to know how many older brothers he has. (The present theory being that the greater the number of older brothers, the greater the chance a man will be gay. Something to do with maternal hormones in utero.)
I also wonder about the length of his fingers! (Or has that whole theory been debunked?)
I know there does seem to be some credence in the youngest brother theory: I'm the youngest of three, as is my husband (although he also has an older sister). I did however have a boyfriend whose younger brother was also gay, although his elder brother wasn't. Not sure how this works with lesbian's though?0 -
I'd only heard it for gay men. Possibly something to do with a woman's hormonal response to having an alien being inside of her!One possibility, [Anthony F. Bogaert of Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada,] suggests, is a maternal immune response to succeeding male fetuses. The mother may react to a male fetus as foreign but not to a female fetus because the mother is also female.
It might be like the maternal immune response that can occur when a mother has Rh-negative blood but her fetus has Rh-positive blood. Without treatment, the mother can develop antibodies that may attack the fetus during future pregnancies.
Whether that’s what is happening remains to be seen, but it is a provocative hypothesis, said a commentary by Breedlove, David A. Puts and Cynthia L. Jordan, all of Michigan State.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13555604/ns/health-health_care/t/men-older-brothers-more-likely-be-gay/#.T5SD5dVUQ8k
I've got two older brothers myself.0 -
Good for him! I'm already gay, but I'd love to wake up with Foreign Accent Syndrome.
Where's the like button?0 -
It would be interesting to know how many older brothers he has. (The present theory being that the greater the number of older brothers, the greater the chance a man will be gay. Something to do with maternal hormones in utero.)
I also wonder about the length of his fingers! (Or has that whole theory been debunked?)
"It has been suggested by some scientists that the ratio of two digits in particular, the 2nd (index finger) and 4th (ring finger), is affected by exposure to androgens e.g. testosterone while in the uterus and that this 2D:4D ratio can be considered a crude measure for prenatal androgen exposure, with lower 2D:4D ratios pointing to higher androgen exposure. The 2D:4D ratio is calculated dividing the length of the index finger of the right hand by the length of the ring finger. A longer index finger will result in a ratio higher than 1, while a longer ring finger will result in a ratio of less than 1.
The 2D:4D digit ratio is sexually dimorphic: in males, the second digit tends to be shorter than the fourth, and in females the second digit tends to be the same length or slightly longer than the fourth."
Taken from Wikipedia, but this is what I had always heard! I don't know if I believe it, but I use it works for me and is amusing. My ring finger is significantly longer than my point, allegedly indicating high levels of testosterone in utero which has been correlated with gayness.
Seems a little far-fetched, doesn't it? I personally file this alongside the big nose/big feet/big hands theory, palm reading, and phrenology.0 -
Interesting. According to this one study ( http://www.unl.edu/rhames/courses/readings/homofinger/homo_finger.html ) anyway, it's only in woman that finger length is correlated with sexual orientation.The right-hand 2D:4D ratio of homosexual women was significantly more masculine (that is, smaller) than that of heterosexual women, and did not differ significantly from that of heterosexual men. Thus finger ratios, like otoacoustic emissions, suggest that at least some homosexual women were exposed to greater levels of fetal androgen than heterosexual women.
2D:4D ratio of homosexual men was not significantly different from that of heterosexual men for either hand. . . .
Nevering having heard of otoacoustic emissions, I googled that.Click-evoked otoacoustic emissions (CEOAEs) are echo-like waveforms emitted by normal-hearing cochleas in response to a brief transient. CEOAEs are known to be stronger in females than in males. In this experiment, the CEOAEs of homosexual and bisexual females were found to be intermediate to those of heterosexual females and heterosexual males. A parsimonious explanation is that the auditory systems of homosexual and bisexual females, and the brain structures responsible for their sexual orientation, have been partially masculinized by exposure to high levels of androgens prenatally. No difference in CEOAEs was observed between homosexual and heterosexual males.
http://www.pnas.org/content/95/5/2709.full
Would you like to come back to my place and see my CEOAEs?0 -
I'm wary of any "study" of a small number of people to determine causes because it's really all just guesswork. The "maternal hormones" theory sounds to me just as silly as the "overbearing mother and distant father" theory.It would be interesting to know how many older brothers he has. (The present theory being that the greater the number of older brothers, the greater the chance a man will be gay. Something to do with maternal hormones in utero.)
Anecdotally: I'm the oldest of three boys, and my partner is the oldest of four siblings (the other three were girls).0 -
I don't know about this. I'm no neurosurgeon though.0
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Treetop - I remember reading about this older brother theory in a book a few years ago... Genome by Matt Ridley. It was only a small chapter in the book, but worth reading if you're interested.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Genome-The-Autobiography-Species-Chapters/dp/185702835X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335258361&sr=8-10 -
I'll take a look. Thanks!0
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Interesting... very very interesting. I love documentaries anyways - so this is right up my alley.0
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It would be interesting to know how many older brothers he has. (The present theory being that the greater the number of older brothers, the greater the chance a man will be gay. Something to do with maternal hormones in utero.)
I also wonder about the length of his fingers! (Or has that whole theory been debunked?)
"It has been suggested by some scientists that the ratio of two digits in particular, the 2nd (index finger) and 4th (ring finger), is affected by exposure to androgens e.g. testosterone while in the uterus and that this 2D:4D ratio can be considered a crude measure for prenatal androgen exposure, with lower 2D:4D ratios pointing to higher androgen exposure. The 2D:4D ratio is calculated dividing the length of the index finger of the right hand by the length of the ring finger. A longer index finger will result in a ratio higher than 1, while a longer ring finger will result in a ratio of less than 1.
The 2D:4D digit ratio is sexually dimorphic: in males, the second digit tends to be shorter than the fourth, and in females the second digit tends to be the same length or slightly longer than the fourth."
Taken from Wikipedia, but this is what I had always heard! I don't know if I believe it, but I use it works for me and is amusing. My ring finger is significantly longer than my point, allegedly indicating high levels of testosterone in utero which has been correlated with gayness.
Seems a little far-fetched, doesn't it? I personally file this alongside the big nose/big feet/big hands theory, palm reading, and phrenology.
It does seem like a load of bunk. That being said, I have to laugh because my 4th digit is longer than my 2nd on my left hand and they're the same length on my right hand, and I'm bi. :laugh:0 -
So i googled the story and read it... I want to call BS on it. I think it's a "closeted, lifes to short to hide who i am after a traumatic incident.." but this comment cracks me up! Trolling done well!
Been banging my head on a brick wall since I read this. I hope I wake a up a millionaire tomorrow.
- Boshboy, Weybridge, UK, 09/11/2011 20:170 -
Wow! Fascinating.0
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So i googled the story and read it... I want to call BS on it. I think it's a "closeted, lifes to short to hide who i am after a traumatic incident.." but this comment cracks me up! Trolling done well!
Been banging my head on a brick wall since I read this. I hope I wake a up a millionaire tomorrow.
- Boshboy, Weybridge, UK, 09/11/2011 20:17
:laugh:0 -
I watch this programme and it annoyed me - I wasn't gay until I had a stroke like it's some sort of brain damage or a disabilaty.
Some people are gay........get over it. X0
