Are gay men more likely to be left handed

The survey focused on gender differences in various traits and behaviors, including cognitive abilities, sexual attitudes, personality and mate preferences. Richard A. Back to Top. All Rights Reserved. In analyzing the BBC data on sex drive and sexual orientation, Lippa found that women with a high sex drive tended to report increased attraction to both men and women.

But, men ranked good looks and facial attractiveness higher than the other traits, whereas women ranked honesty, humor, kindness and dependability highest. The researchers report in the July Psychological Bulletin that, overall, homosexual adults in the studies were 39 percent more likely than heterosexuals to use their left hand for more.

Whereas earlier studies showed that gay men (and lesbians) were 39 percent more likely than heterosexuals to be left-handed, the new data “provides evidence that gay or bisexual men also have. Men tend to be either-or [heterosexual or gay], but women have more shades of gray.

When asked to rank the importance of 23 traits that they seek in a mate, men and women agreed on the top nine: intelligence, humor, honesty, kindness, good looks, facial attractiveness, values, communication skills and dependability. These are some of the latest findings published by psychology professor Richard A.

The special section, guest edited by Lippa, is devoted to studies based on data from a recent British Broadcasting Corporation BBC Internet survey of more than , people worldwide. In a multinational online survey, it was found that gay men and lesbians are more likely to be left-handed (13 and 11%, respectively) than heterosexual men and women (11% and 10%, respectively).

Older sisters had no effect. Other prenatal factors such as exposure to infectious diseases and environmental chemicals may perturb early brain development, and that also can lead to unusual outcomes, such as left-handedness and homosexuality, Lippa said. Are the different spatial abilities of men and women molded by biology or culture?

Gay and bisexual men tend to have more siblings than heterosexual men. Gay men are around 34 per cent more likely to be left-handed than heterosexual men, the team said. Lippa now is working on further analyses of the BBC data, including findings on gender and sexual orientation differences in personality and gender differences in sex drive and attitudes toward casual, uncommitted sex.

Current theories on why older brothers increase the odds that a man will be gay focus on biological factors, Lippa said. Left-handed men did not show the fraternal birth order effect. Lippa is author of two of the papers and co-author of a third. One interesting fact that is consistent with the sex hormone theory is that more men than women are left-handed, perhaps because of their higher prenatal exposure to testosterone.

Some of his findings include: More gay men 13 percent than heterosexual men 11 percent and more lesbians 11 percent than heterosexual women 10 percent reported being left-handed. Other studies in the BBC special section address these questions: Do heterosexual and gay men and lesbians differ in their cognitive abilities?

In contrast, bisexual women tend to have fewer siblings than heterosexual and lesbian women. Contact the web administrator for comments and problems with the website. Having one or more older male brothers, known as the ‘fraternal birth order effect’. The special section contains nine papers based on BBC data.

In contrast, men with a high sex drive reported increased attraction to one sex or the other, depending on their sexual orientation. More bisexual men 12 percent than gay or heterosexual men 8 percent described themselves as ambidextrous, and more bisexual women 16 percent than lesbians 12 percent or heterosexual women 8 percent described themselves as ambidextrous.