In September a gaggle of medical groups will release guidelines for doctors on the treatment of congenital adrenal hyperplasia, a condition affecting 1 in 15,000 newborns that may result in girls being born with ambiguous/intersex genitalia (among other things), and the increasing use of the hormone treatment dexamethasone that’s shown to eliminate the chances these female babies will be gay or exhibit masculine characteristics. So that should get everyone on the same page!
Interestingly, “Carriers of the gene mutation that causes this form of hyperplasia have roughly a 12.5% chance of having a daughter with the condition. The hormone treatment must be started as soon as possible, before the gender of the child is determined, for it to have an effect on genital development.”
And while no medical group appears ready to recommend research on the drug stop (medical types would never discourage this, of course), it seems like a slippery slope that will lead to the drug, or a variant, being used on boys to cure their homosexuality before they leave the womb.
Ian
Mother Nature doesn’t like being f*cked around with, so my intuition tells me that those hypocrites who would want to change what their God has made (An error? I thought your God made no errors?) will instead wind up with a new sub-classification of trans-sexuality. Those who are given this pill, grow up, then realize their brain was screwed around with and that they are supposed to be gay/lesbian. They will grow up with heterosexual relationships but have this constant mosquito buzz/reminder of what they are supposed to be, and it will make them hate their parents for what they did to them. That’s what my intuition says at any rate.
Sceth
Sex us benign; gender is not. Making women stereotypically feminine is a straightforward holistic stepdown.
Sceth
Sex is benign; gender is not. Making women stereotypically feminine is a straightforward holistic stepdown.
bluenosedive
This is some scary shit O_O!!
Steve
This stuff should only be used when there is a legitimate cause, i.e., never. How is being gay harmful to the baby? It’s not, it’s only harmful to it’s bigoted parents.
Besides, this steroid is being used on girls with CAH, not just a female. Plus, that New chick who claimed this “cure” didn’t actually provide a lot of data for her claims.
Nevertheless, this will certainly open the door to sexuality and medical ethics.
Mike L.
WOw y’all know some African and middle eastern countries will be forcing these sorts of treatments down pregnant women’s mouths in a few years if they are further developed and there’ll be nothing to stop them, unless the UN or some other body prohibits pharmaceutical companies from making them (which they’ll prolly make in 3rd world countries just like some popular cosmetics lines sell skin whitening products in places like India but wouldn’t dare in the US).
This would be some form of eugenics or something, wouldn’t it?
Syl
Wow, never thought I’d live to see eugenics make a comeback-only this time its the anti-abortion, anti-gay Christians who’ll be promoting it! I wonder if this drug will turn out to have horrific long-term side effects and becomes the next thalidomide.
@Sceth: It’s sexism! It’s saying that a masculine female is not a genuine female! Of course, there are idiots who think that-my mother for one (she doesn’t consider Kagan a “real woman” because she’s butch and almost certainly a dyke). Would this drug also make straight tomboys extinct as well? It’s societal programming, eliminating chunks of the spectrum of behaviors and personality just for moral concerns!
SoylentDiva
Those assholes scream about “playing god” except when they’re doing it to bend everyone to their will.
Daez
I know you all are going to be all pissy for me for saying this, but I think if they offered me a pill to cure my same sex attraction I’d have to consider it. If they can safely create people from being gay/lesbian then they should. I don’t think gays are deviant, but I do realize that the life is harder than someone that is straight. Living with guilt and shame about natural human feelings/emotions sucks.
patrick
@Daez: You sound young, so I won’t go ape-shit on you (yet). But you really need to get some help. Being gay is not anything to be guilty or shameful of. It does not have to be a lonely life. I would never take that pill you speak of. You would not be you anymore. Just a stepford wife or husband.
a bi tranny
Daez;
Those issues would not be there for you if society got the stick out of its butt.
I do not know what to say. I understand your angst but it doesnt have to be that way.
Daez
@patrick: I don’t know, is 31 young? I think it really all depends where you grow up and how those around you treat you. I think in my entire life I have had maybe 10 gay friends, and I do still kind of feel a tinge of guilt (probably from my upbringing) everytime I look upon a straight guy (and I tend to assume everyone is straight until I know otherwise).
patrick
@Daez: Everybody deals with it in their own time, I guess. Do you live in a heavily populated city or town? Have you vacationed in Provincetown or Key West, or some other gay destination? If you have even 10 gay friends, that can be enough. Is it possible to move to an urban center where you would be able to be around more gay people?
Daez
@patrick: I’m a country boy born and raised. Don’t really plan on going urban anytime soon (if ever). Actually I had those friends in the past. All of those relationships didn’t really work out for various reasons. I can’t imagine ever going to Provincetown or Key West. Most of my friends are straight now, and the biggest fear with being friends with straight guys is that I could offend them because I know some really hot straight guys I kind of consider friends.
L.
This is the sort of thing that precisely makes me wish the born/choice debate to disappear – or at lest that people start thinking it’s irrelevant.
Because if homosexuality is a choice, then homophobes and religious nuts will try to “cure” us. If it’s genetic, then the same religious nuts will reverse their stand on abortion in a snap.
Either way, we’re fucked.
(And don’t think for a minute that if the technology exists, it won’t be abused: witness the huge “female deficit” in India and China since sex has been easily determined before the time limit for abortion is reached.)
David
How is this even related to homosexuality? The pill addresses an abnormality, not the fetus’ sexuality (aside from the sexuality being ambiguous). I don’t see how the headline (curing lesbianism) relates to the purpose of the pill.
reason
I think this is going to dredge up some fascinating questions and debates. I would think this would be confounding to people that are pro-choice granted they have framed the abortion debate as women having control of their bodies, so if they decide to take control and take drugs that would alter their child’s sexuality what would pro-choice people say? The pro-life argument has not been framed as a woman’s rights thing but a child’s right to life, there has never been an argument from altering the child only terminating it granted that many pro-lifers support circumcision. I personally think that genetic engineering is the thing of the future and there is no stopping it, the question is will the parents abstain from changing their child’s sexuality or will they want grandchildren so much or to avoid getting stigmatized depending on how far along society is on GBLT, that they change it? As far as I know most religious organizations support gene therapy such as cord blood etc including the Catholic Church. The desire to genetically engineer children will be so great that it will overcome any ethical concern or political resistance, imagine being able to choose a child’s eye color, hair color, hair texture, hairiness, eyesight etc. it is too much power for people to resist; that is just my thoughts anyway.
axos
Hold on. Isn’t this something else than natural lesbianism? If there is a condition that causes the baby physical trouble in the future, I suppose treatment should be considered. Efforts to eliminate ordinary gayness – no.
L.
@Daez: I’m country born and raised too, and I was even shipped off to foster care because in my village my (single, unwed) mother was considered like a whore, and so, I can appreciate and emphasize with some of the feelings you expressed.
And yes, there were times I wished I wasn’t gay, because things would indeed have been simpler. (But I only wished I could “change”, not that a drug would be developed – this could only lead to a catastrophe.)
It took me quite some time to realize that whatever doubts I had, they were not my doing, and I could be happy and fine being gay.
I can only wish you will, one day soon, realize you’re a fine person, that no-one can judge you, and live a happier life.
Take care.
Troy Boy
@Ian: your ‘intuition’ ROCKS!
Cam
@Daez: said…
“I know you all are going to be all pissy for me for saying this, but I think if they offered me a pill to cure my same sex attraction I’d have to consider it. If they can safely create people from being gay/lesbian then they should. I don’t think gays are deviant, but I do realize that the life is harder than someone that is straight. Living with guilt and shame about natural human feelings/emotions sucks.
_________________________________
And then one day, you will realize that you are happier than most of your hetrosexual friends and will consider being born gay to have been a gift rather than a curse.
MikenStL
Being born ambiguous, or intersex, is totally different than being gay.
Lesbians are NOT women with extra big clitorises/little penises that were “almost” a male
and
Gay men are NOT physically feminized men that have little penises, no facial hair and enlarged breasts (although that may describe some)
I have not read the original study that this was referring to, but I highly doubt that giving synthetic glucocorticoids to pregnant women will “rid” the population of those pesky lesbians. And besides I thought a lot of straight men are not sexually threatened by lesbians and so I don’t see why there would be much interest in doing this…..
On a positive note, this would be another example of “gay” being something that you are born as, not choose to be….
Daez
@Cam: I can only hope so.
B
No. 22 · Daez wrote, “@Cam: I can only hope so.” … there’s a catch Cam didn’t tell you – you’ll have to come out first (it’s the guys who haven’t who are usually the most unhappy, so please take this as a general, not an individual. comment).
axos
@Ian: Tragic mistakes have been made because gender is supposedly “only a social construction”. It is not, it goes much deeper. I remember reading about a little boy whose genitals had been damaged, so doctors decided to “make” him a girl. I was worried, knowing this couldn’t end well, and it didn’t. He grew up feeling something was wrong, then learned the truth and tried to take his gender back, but it didn’t work. They had played a cruel game with his life to live out their stupid theories, and he chose to end his life himself. My heart bleeds for him.