A group of researchers from the University of Portsmouth conceived a new theory that homosexuality helped humans form beneficial relationships with each other in the earliest hunter-gatherer communities to ensure survival reports City A.M. Charles Darwin's laws of natural selection state that unless a trait is passed on reproductively from generation to generation, it eventually disappears – yet the percentage of the population that is gay, whether female or male, has remained roughly the same. Diana Fleischman, head author of the report, said sexual behavior and relationships encompass much more than just the act of it.
Said Fleischman:
"From an evolutionary perspective we tend to think of sexual behaviour as a means to an end for reproduction.
"However, because sexual behaviour is intimate and pleasurable, it is also used in many species, including non-human primates, to help form and maintain social bonds. We can all see this in romantic couples who bond by engaging in sexual behaviour even when reproduction is not possible."
To test this theory, researchers examined the "Social" hormone progesterone, produced in the ovaries of women and adrenal glands in men, that encourages people to engage with others in positive, constructive ways. They asked participants in the study questions such as "The idea of kissing a person of the same sex is sexually arousing to me," and, "If someone of the same sex made a pass at me I would be disgusted." Researches compared the answers to the level of progesterone in the blood.
Final results published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behaviour, show that the people with higher levels of the hormone are more inclined to have homoerotic thoughts. Heterosexual men and women, for example, were more open to the idea of engaging in homosexual behaviour when progesterone levels were high. Also, men who produced more of the hormone felt more homosexual if they were reminded of a societal need to be friendly with other males.
However, researchers found that in order for this advantageous trait to pass on to next generations, the individual must be bisexual. Essentially, an individual passes on their genes through heterosexual sex and reinforces group connections with fellow hunter-gatherers through homosexual sex to ensure both reproductive and social survival. Other studies of fellow members of the great ape family already show a link between a need to form intimate relationships and homosexuality, but this was the first time the trait was revealed in humans. However, expect the angry Christian woman to tackle and debunk this theory after she finishes her "thesis" on her trip to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
