Gay finger length

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The same study, published in Early Human Development, found that boys with female-type finger lengths are on average more emotional than other boys. Is your ring finger longer than your index finger? In women, these fingers are usually the same length or the index digit is just a bit longer.

Digits are subtly affected by testosterone and estrogen produced in the womb by the fetus (not by the mother).

Lesbians are more likely than straight women to have a masculine finger ratio, says McFadden.

The data in men, however, are more complicated and contradictory. The [sexuality indicators] are most certainly there, but they're not strong enough to allow us to make predictions."

He believes digit ratio is an important, if indirect, tool for studying the fetal brain and the womb, an environment that's off-limits to scientists except for analysis by amniocentesis.

Likewise, males with a typically female ratio exhibit more typically feminine behaviors.

A study of digit ratio in Scottish preschool children between the ages of 2 and 4 found strong relationships between digit ratio and gender-normative behavior. Or vice versa? But the differences between the sexes aren't all that interesting to biologists. Like a bit of prenatal graffiti, a longer ring finger says, "Testosterone was here."

John Manning, a biologist at the University of Liverpool, first identified digit length as a sign of prenatal hormones eight years ago.

Research has indicated that this ratio may be influenced by the levels of testosterone and estrogen a fetus is exposed to during prenatal development:

Lower 2D:4D Ratio: Indicates higher exposure to testosterone, resulting in a relatively shorter index finger compared to the ring finger.
Higher 2D:4D Ratio: Suggests higher exposure to estrogen, leading to a longer index finger compared to the ring finger.

This phenomenon is observed in both men and women and has been linked to various physical and behavioral traits.

The Connection Between Finger Length and Sexual Orientation

Studies have explored whether the 2D:4D ratio is associated with sexual orientation.

Girls with masculine-type finger ratios tend to have higher hyperactivity scores and more problems relating to their peers than do other girls. More telling are the variations within each sex. Manning and others have linked finger length ratios to aggression, left-handedness, heart disease, autism and attention deficit disorder, all traits that are more common in men.

In sheep, males with hypermasculinized brains are sexually attracted to other males.

You may be tempted to draw conclusions from your own fingers. Females with masculine digit ratios have more masculine behaviors, he says. The reigning hypothesis is that testosterone encourages growth in the right side of the brain, while inhibiting growth in the left.

But it's impossible to do so accurately in a vacuum, cautions Manning. Many scientists believe relative finger length—or digit ratio—is a marker for brain differences molded by hormones. Some studies have shown hypermasculine finger length in gay men, while other studies show the opposite, a female-like finger pattern.

Between weeks 8 and 14, tiny fetal testes, ovaries and adrenal glands secrete the baby's own supply of sex hormones.