TESTOSTERONE MADE HIM DO IT

Ever been out with a group of gay friends trying to decide
where to eat, what movie to see or where to go and there's one guy in the group
who's being uncooperative just because he can?

Well, research say it's not his fault—
testosterone made him do it!

"Testosterone makes us overvalue our own
opinions at the expense of cooperation," says ScienceDaily.com, citing research from the Wellcome Trust Centre
for Neuroimaging at University College London. 

Dr Nick Wright and his co-authors tested 17 pairs of female
volunteers that had never met prior to the study. On day one they were given
testosterone supplements and a placebo the next. The women were then asked to
pair up and decide on a targets in an imaging game. The study wanted to measure
how cooperative the pairs were under the influence of the hormone. Note: Dr.
Wright used females for the study since dosing males with testosterone actually
decreases the body's production.

While pairs that came to a consensus did better
than individuals overall, the testosterone pumped subjects were all about their
own opinions first.

Dr. Wright found that testosterone made the
participants much less cooperative in the group setting and far more
egotistical than before.

"Cooperating with others has obvious
advantages for sharing skills and experience, but we know it doesn't always
work, particularly if one alpha male or alpha female dominates the decision
making. This result helps us understand at a hormonal level the factors that
can disrupt our attempts to work together," says Head of Neuroscience and
Mental Health at The Wellcome Trust Dr John Williams.

While this particular study finds a link between testosterone and egotism, looks
into the effects of testosterone have been going on for some time. In the past
testosterone studies have been used to try and figure out why gay men like
rubbing on other guys.

Early gay cure treatment doctors often injected
patients with testosterone since it was thought lack of the hormone was the
cause of same-sex attraction. This led to "twin studies" which looked
at the effect hormones levels, specifically testosterone, had on twins. It was
thought that as the twins battle each other in the womb for mama's nutrients,
one could starve the other of testosterone. Low
testosterone is associated
with less masculism.

To anti-gay, especially ex-gay therapy groups, these findings
are gold nuggets of information. Organizations like NARTH often cite twin
studies in attempts to prove that men are born gay. However, their theories
neglect one key observation: little is known about the effect of masculism on
sexuality. It's only assumed that a gay man is less masculine and by default
has less testosterone. NARTH has obviously never been to New York Sports Club.

The testosterone trails continued in a more recent
2005 Oregon State University study that sought answers to why 8 percent of rams
in Australia, so called "shy breeders," wouldn't mate. The controversial study says it found a
region of the brain that was twice as large in heterosexual rams than gay ones.
The gay rams also had lower levels of an enzyme that triggers testosterone
production.

Could there be a hormonal link to homosexuality?

Much like either side of the nature versus nurture
debate, the study never got legs. Why? When it comes to the brain, science
isn't sure what comes first: the chicken or the egg. Meaning, regions of the
brain influence behavior, but behavior can also change the size of a region.
So, did the lack of interest in females shrink the ram's thinker or did the
smaller region make him turn his nose?

The debate will linger on as it's been for many
decades. Until then, the next time you go to order and your friend ends up being the
complicated order, show some compassion. His hormones made him do it.

SOURCE: GAYLIFE