Family Size in White Gay and Heterosexual Men

King, Michael; Green, John; Osborn, David; Arkell, Jamie; Hetherton, J; Pereira, Elizabeth

doi:10.1007/s10508-005-1006-8

Cited by 116 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…It should be noted, however, that other investigators have reported a generalized fecundity increase in other members in the pedigrees of male HS probands, independent of the maternal or paternal line (King et al 2005;Schwartz et al 2010), and Rieger et al (2012), based on the dataset by Schwartz et al (2010), found excess fecundity in brothers of male HS. Subsequently, the data by Schwartz et al (2010) were reanalyzed by Camperio Ciani and Pellizzari (2012), highlighting, also in this dataset, a previously unnoticed larger maternal-line female fecundity.…”

Section: Human Homosexualitymentioning

confidence: 80%

Human Homosexuality: A Paradigmatic Arena for Sexually Antagonistic Selection?

Ciani

Battaglia

Zanzotto

2015

Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol

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Sexual conflict likely plays a crucial role in the origin and maintenance of homosexuality in our species. Although environmental factors are known to affect human homosexual (HS) preference, sibling concordances and population patterns related to HS indicate that genetic components are also influencing this trait in humans. We argue that multilocus, partially Xlinked genetic factors undergoing sexually antagonistic selection that promote maternal female fecundity at the cost of occasional male offspring homosexuality are the best candidates capable of explaining the frequency, familial clustering, and pedigree asymmetries observed in HS male proband families. This establishes male HS as a paradigmatic example of sexual conflict in human biology. HS in females, on the other hand, is currently a more elusive phenomenon from both the empirical and theoretical standpoints because of its fluidity and marked environmental influence. Genetic and epigenetic mechanisms, the latter involving sexually antagonistic components, have been hypothesized for the propagation and maintenance of female HS in the population. However, further data are needed to truly clarify the evolutionary dynamics of this trait. Sexual conflict, the general theme of this collection, has emerged in the last decades as a main research topic in evolutionary biology. Its possible ubiquity and key role have become clear in many phenomena, from speciation to genetic diversity maintenance in populations, sexual phenotypic dimorphism, asymmetric mating and parenting strategies, antagonistic coevolution, and others (Bonduriansky and Chenoweth 2009;Rice et al. 2013; see also Gavrilets 2014). A most interesting example of sexual conflict is given by homosexual (HS) behavior and mate preference in humans, a topic whose societal impact is widely felt at present.Homosexuality is not confined just to our species, but is also occasionally present in numerous animals (Bagemihl 1999;Sommer and Vasey 2006), with permanent, long-term samesex pair bonding having been reported in some birds and ungulates (Bagemihl 1999;Ngun et al. 2011). The presence of not solely sporadic and opportunistic HS behavior has also been observed in nonhuman primates, which suggests our hominid ancestry might also have had HS individuals (Vasey 1995).The main evolutionary questions about HS in our species do not concern occasional HS behavior, which might have, in various con-

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Section: Human Homosexualitymentioning

confidence: 80%

Human Homosexuality: A Paradigmatic Arena for Sexually Antagonistic Selection?

Ciani

Battaglia

Zanzotto

2015

Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol

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“…Another study found the same pattern for aunts in a sample of white men in England-but the pattern was reversed in nonwhites and extended to more categories of relatives and in both sexes (Rahman et al 2008). A second study in England found more relatives for homosexual compared to heterosexual men on the paternal side of the family lineage and the same but nearly significant pattern (P ϭ 0.058) on the maternal side of the family (King et al 2005). Another study found that homosexual men have more siblings (of both sexes) compared to a sample of heterosexual men (Blanchard and Lippa 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 85%

Homosexuality as a Consequence of Epigenetically Canalized Sexual Development

Rice

Friberg²,

Gavrilets³

2012

The Quarterly Review of Biology

114

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“…Studies examining the degree to which monozygotic, dizygotic and adopted siblings share their sexual orientation indicate that the tendency to be gay or lesbian is heritable and can run in families [40], and might confer a reproductive fitness advantage to the relatives of gay men [50][51][52][53]. However, such studies are limited in their ability to elucidate the genetic architecture of traits such as sexual orientation.…”

Section: Box 2 Insights From Studies Of Human Homosexual Orientationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Same-sex sexual behavior and evolution

Bailey

Zuk

2009

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

224

200

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Same-sex sexual behavior has been extensively documented in non-human animals. Here we review the contexts in which it has been studied, focusing on case studies that have tested both adaptive and non-adaptive explanations for the persistence of same-sex sexual behavior. Researchers have begun to make headway unraveling possible evolutionary origins of these behaviors and reasons for their maintenance in populations, and we advocate expanding these approaches to examine their role as agents of evolutionary change. Future research employing theoretical, comparative and experimental approaches could provide a greater understanding not only of how selection might have driven the evolution of same-sex sexual behaviors but also ways in which such behaviors act as selective forces that shape social, morphological and behavioral evolution.Why does same-sex sexual behavior matter? Same-sex sexual behavior in animals has long fascinated scientists as well as non-scientists. Previous work has emphasized the apparent paradox of selection acting on non-reproductive individuals [1,2], but little is known about the evolutionary consequences of such behavior, whether it occurs as exclusive life-long pairing or as a part of other sexual interactions. The variety and ubiquity of same-sex sexual behavior in animals is impressive; many thousands of instances of same-sex courtship, pair bonding and copulation have been observed in a wide range of species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, mollusks and nematodes (Table 1). These observations are likely to be underestimates of the frequency of such interactions, partly because researchers assume that pairs in sexually monomorphic species that are engaging in sexual behavior must be opposite sexes.From an evolutionary perspective, same-sex behavior has been viewed as a puzzle requiring a special explanation, rather like suicide or adoption of unrelated infants [3]. Why would animals engage in sexual behaviors that do not directly result in reproduction? It is clear that lifelong same-sex orientation is unlikely to evolve and, indeed, few examples of life-long pairings in wild animals exist, but the persistent and well-documented occurrence of same-sex sexual behaviors across nearly all taxonomic groups of animals is worth exploring.The purpose of this review is to expand our thinking about the evolutionary implications of same-sex behavior in animals. We suggest that the phenomenon needs to be Review Glossary Alternative reproductive behavior: different methods, mechanisms or strategies for attaining matings found within a single sex. Most often studied in males, alternative mating tactics might be purely behavioral, or might be associated with different morphologies. Cooperative breeding: social structure in which individuals forgo reproduction and provide care for others' offspring, such as feeding, grooming and protection from predation. Gay/lesbian: terms describing homosexual orientation in humans. In typical usage, implies a stereotyped set of lifestyle ch...

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Family Size in White Gay and Heterosexual Men

Cited by 116 publications

References 10 publications

Human Homosexuality: A Paradigmatic Arena for Sexually Antagonistic Selection?

Human Homosexuality: A Paradigmatic Arena for Sexually Antagonistic Selection?

Homosexuality as a Consequence of Epigenetically Canalized Sexual Development

Same-sex sexual behavior and evolution

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