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Debrah

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13-Jul-10 08:24

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Oh good grief!!

What about the boys?

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The Anti-Lesbian Drug
July 2, 2010, Newsweek magazine

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/02/the-anti-lesbian-drug.html

Genetic engineers, move over: the latest scheme for creating children to a parent’s specifications requires no DNA tinkering, but merely giving mom a steroid while she’s pregnant, and presto —- no chance that her daughters will be lesbians or (worse?) ‘uppity.’ Or so one might guess from the storm brewing over the prenatal use of that steroid, called dexamethasone.

In February, bioethicist Alice Dreger of Northwestern University and two colleagues blew the whistle on the controversial practice of giving pregnant women dexamethasone to keep the female fetuses they are carrying from developing ambiguous genitalia. Dreger and her colleagues pluck numerous brow-raising statements from the writings of pediatric endocrinologist Maria New of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, who has long promoted prenatal dexamethasone. New has indeed argued that prenatal androgens can affect a woman’s sexual orientation, her interest in becoming a mother and housewife, her interest in traditionally masculine careers, and—in childhood—whether she plays with dolls or trucks.

A book that Harvard University Press will publish in September, called Brain Storm: Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences, argues that studies claiming to find innate, sex-based brain differences are seriously flawed.

www.WantToKnow.info

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Debrah

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#2 [url]

13-Jul-10 10:07

This sentence would indicate that someone doesn't agree with you, Jim.

Some scientists are implying that the studies claiming inborn differences are flawed. I took that to mean the studies indicating that lesbians and gays are "pre-designed" are flawed. Is that the way you read it?
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"A book that Harvard University Press will publish in September, called Brain Storm: Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences, argues that studies claiming to find innate, sex-based brain differences are seriously flawed."

Definition from Merriam-Webster online dictionary:

innate

Main Entry: in·nate
Pronunciation: \i-ˈnāt, ˈi-ˌ\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English innat, from Latin innatus, past participle of innasci to be born in, from in- + nasci to be born — more at nation
Date: 15th century

1 : existing in, belonging to, or determined by factors present in an individual from birth : native, inborn

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#3 [url]

13-Jul-10 06:01

I'm sure it will continue to be contested and tested. But the drug was given for the reason of manipulating sexual orientation. There can't exactly be clinical trial; at least not ethically. It will take ridiculous parents who will want to engineer their own child.

New has indeed argued that prenatal androgens can affect a woman’s sexual orientation, her interest in becoming a mother and housewife, her interest in traditionally masculine careers, and—in childhood—whether she plays with dolls or trucks.

- Jim

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Debrah

Posts: 10,305 Site Admin

#4 [url]

13-Jul-10 08:22

Yeah, but that's so bogus (New's statement) it's more than laughable. When I was a kid I played with dolls and dressed the dog up like a baby and pushed it in the buggy, and pretended I was cooking by making mud pies with my Mom's best kitchen spoons and those little pie tins that everyone used to have. Then the next day I was helping the neighborhood boys build a treehouse, a fort out of a huge cardboard refrigerator box, frog gigging, snaring gophers, or shooting pigeons in the hayloft with a bee-bee gun. I loved frilly dotted-Swiss dresses with the can-can slips underneath and patent leather shoes with white lacy anklets, but I also liked wearing blue jeans and a plaid shirt with my favorite cowgirl boots and hat.

So, exactly WHERE do I fit on that scale of rationalization? It is NOT rational to assume that girls will want to become mothers and homemakers just because they're girls. But it is also not rational to assume that because they're girls they won't become astronauts or truck drivers without being lesbian. I don't believe any pill is going to do it either, at least not without causing other problems concurrently.

I have many friends who are not lesbians who have literally no interest in being in the kitchen, and actually had very little interest in becoming Mom's except that it was sorta expected of them once they were married. Given their real choice, I would say several would have chosen a career over being a Mom. My only daughter has no intention of being a Mom, but she is certainly not a lesbian.

On the other hand, I have a niece who was married, had two kids, then decided she was a lesbian and divorced her husband (what a shock). In court, she lost everything, including custody of her kids. I don't seriously think she wanted custody anyhow. But she was in her late 30's when all of this came about and there was never even a hint of it before she decided she wanted a divorce. Many in our family don't even know about the lesbian thing, they only know she's divorced. She is a twin, and the other twin is not feminine at all, but not lesbian. They were both tomboys because that's the way they were raised. Sports, sports, sports.

I still say it's a choice. Not many people agree with me, but that's just my gut feeling.

But this drug is still not a good idea no matter what the intention may be.

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Shoot for the Moon. Even if you miss, you'll land amongst the stars. - Anonymous

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