Homosexuality and Hormone Levels

Much of the early work in research papers on homosexuality and hormone levels states that research regarding the effect of hormones on homosexual attraction was done on rats. Roger Gorski of UCLA injected female rats with testosterone and male rats with estrogen and then paired them with uninjected rats of the same sex. The results of the research on homosexuality and hormone levels revealed the following:

• The female rats that received the testosterone tried to mount the females who did not.
• The male rats who received testosterone offered themselves to the uninjected males in the same manner as females do.
• The males without the estrogen mounted those who had received it.

Testosterone Levels In Homosexuals

Of course the behavior of rats cannot be construed to indicate the behavior of humans. In fact, there is some criticism regarding the use of animal studies to gain useful insights into homosexual attraction. But, Gorski's work led other researchers to test testosterone levels in homosexuals to see if male homosexuals had elevated levels of estrogen compared to heterosexual men and if female homosexuals had elevated levels of testosterone compared to heterosexual females. These studies sought to determine if hormone levels in adults had an impact sexual attraction. In 1984, a neurobiologist at Columbia University, Heino Meyer-Bahlburg, examined twenty-seven of these studies and their results.

Studies on Hormone Levels

Twenty of the studies showed that there were no significant differences between the levels of either estrogen and testosterone in homosexual and heterosexual men. The other seven studies were considered to be either flawed or invalid. Unfortunately, this is a common problem with studies regarding Homosexuality and Hormone Levels. But, Meyer-Bahlburg's analysis (1997) seemed to cast in doubt any theory that attributed homosexual attraction primarily to adult hormone levels.