Homosexuality, male

The value of spotting the unusual has been demonstrated by a number of infectious disease outbreaks in the United States. A classic example is the initial reports of the human immunodeficiency virus epidemic. Alert clinicians in California and New York City noted clusters of rare illnesses, Kaposi s sarcoma and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, among homosexual male clients in their practices (CDC, 1981a, 1981b). In May 1993, a New Mexico medical examiner reported two deaths from acute respiratory failure 5 days apart (CDC, 1993). 

These drugs are used recreationally in dance clubs where patrons sniff them on the dance floor to increase their enjoyment. Combining the beat of the music, rhythm, light shows, and dancing with inhalant use makes the experience more enjoyable for some users. Nitrites were also commonly used in sexual pleasure, particularly by homosexual males during sexual activity to intensify the experience." Unlike other inhalants, nitrite use has decreased considerably since 1979 among high-school students. 

Statistical analysis suggests that in approximately i in 7 homosexual men, their homosexuality is related to the fraternal birth order effect. There is no such effect in female homosexuals. Homosexual males with older brothers also have significantly lower birth weights compared to heterosexual males with older brothers. One possible reason for this phenomenon is that as mothers become progressively immunized to male-linked antigens produced by successive male fetuses, the mothers produce antibodies against these antigens. The antibodies then divert the development of the fetal brain from heterosexual male to homosexual male. But this maternal immunity theory remains a speculation. 

Whitam, F.L. and Zent, M. (1984) A cross-cultural assessment of early cross-gender behaviour and familial factors in male homosexuality. Arch. Sex Behav. 13, 427—439. 

Five of the 83 (6%) males in the whole ejaculate study were involved in homosexual activities and all five had previously also had sexual relationships with women and so... 

Bailey, J. M. and Bell, A. P. (1993). Familiality of male and female homosexuality. Behavioral Genetics 23, 313-322. 

In view of the high level of infection amongst male homosexuals, it is of interest that lymphoid follicles, equivalent to Peyer s patches are abundant in the human rectal mucosa. 

The acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first recognized in the U.S. in the summer of 1981 when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the unexplained occurrence of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in five previously healthy homosexual men in Los Angeles and of Kaposi s sarcoma in 26 previously healthy homosexual men in New York and Los Angeles. Within months, the disease became recognized in male and female injection drug users (IDUs) and, soon thereafter, in recipients of blood transfusions and in hemophiliacs. 

Studies on the precopulatory behavior of males, at close range, have been reported and a basal level of male-to-male homosexual activity has been described (31). This work, however, will have to be re-examined under free-flight conditions especially in light of the possibile involvement of "short-range" pheromone components. 

A sex pheromone was first demonstrated in the housefly by Rogoff et al. (1964), identified as (Z)-9-tricosene (muscalure) by Carlson et al. (1971) and shown to attract males in an olfactometer at doses as low as 0.07 pg by Adams and Holt (1987). Cis-9, O-epoxytricosane, (Z)-14-tricosen-10-one (Uebel et al., 1978) and methylalkanes (Uebel et al., 1976) are also components of the sex pheromone (Figure 8.1). Adams and Holt (1987) showed that each component has a different role in male courtship behavior. (Z)-9-Tricosene increases male mating-strike activity toward females. The epoxide and ketone decrease the number of homosexual mating strikes, thus acting as sex-recognition factors. The methyl-branched alkanes act as an arrestant and increase the amount of time a male spends with a treated model. 

McRobert, S.P. and Tompkins, L. (1988). Two consequences of homosexual courtship performed by Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila ajfinis males. Evolution, 42, 1093-1097. 

The use of the male pronoun is not Inappropriate, given Aristotle s discussion in the Rhetoric (1373 35, 384 0) which may refer to homosexual as well as heterosexual rape. 

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