Born Gay
Homophobes often claim gayness is a disease. But might there be real physiological differences between queer and straight?
aka BootBoy, 28 Aug 2008
John Barrowman, the song and dance man who shot to fame as bisexual matinee idol Captain Jack in UK television shows Doctor Who and Torchwood, took part in a recent BBC documentary The Making Of Me, in which he bravely allowed himself to explore the scientific origins of his sexuality. The trouble with research into homosexuality is that it has an unhappy history; we’ve been seen as sick and immoral and criminal for so long, the motives behind investigation have been, in the past, curative, diagnostic, punitive, indeed sadistic, rather than merely explorative.
Given that, the programme was a decent presentation of the latest research, and the subject himself was as genial and anodyne as one might expect from his teatime TV persona, complete with his equally dashing long-term partner Scott.
He checks himself into a Chicago research establishment, where he undergoes a test while viewing all sorts of erotica, a sort of lie detector. A natty little piece of equipment is tethered to Barrowman’s own equipment, a plethysmograph. The penis doesn’t lie, apparently: it twitches. Then he underwent a 90 minute MRI scan, studying blood flow in the brain, again while viewing various pornographic images. The slightest arousal could be seen, in real-time, his brain flashing red when he’s turned on.
Afterwards, the researcher gives him the results, but teases Barrowman first by informing him deadpan that the results prove he’s straight – and he fell for it, in great confusion, the big girl’s blouse. But, whew, to much relief, the tests “prove” what Barrowman always knew.
Tests only prove what they set out to prove: in this case, that a man who says that he finds men attractive is telling the truth. However, the converse is not proven – a man whose brain and dick registers arousal on viewing male images may not identify as gay, or even bisexual. And, a man who, for example, likes getting blowjobs (and it’s top of the list of favourite sexual practices among men) may not need to open his eyes to enjoy the experience. Sex is not only about visual stimulation; sexual expression is not the same as conscious orientation, nor gay identity.
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