ANT 3541 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Digit Ratio, On Human Nature, Gilbert Herdt
Document Summary
Digit ratio means if you take your 2 digit and your 4 digit and you find the ratio between the two measurements it is an indication of androgen ratio. Prenatal androgen levels are one of the factors of sexual orientation. Social learning, conditioning, and environmental factors also plays a role on sexual orientation. Interviewed 773 people in finland - basically asked people how homosexual they were in this survey. After the surveyees would be asked about their homosexual tendencies, they followed up with their 2 digit 4 digit ratio, and their amount of siblings. Woman in general are introduced to lower levels of androgen in the prenatal stage - the number of siblings doesn"t affect sexual orientation. Gay men have less androgen while in the prenatal stage - they also have less younger siblings in general than straight men. Speculates there may be an evolutionary basis for homosexuality. Evolutionary process takes place on multiple levels (controversial)
