April 13, 2006

MALE NIPPLES SERVE A PURPOSE


Are male nipples vestigial? Hogwash. In a recent survey, over 2,800,000,000 sperm were observed and interviewed, and the findings are very surprising.
It seems that when the male nipple is touched just prior to, or during intercourse, sperm swim up to 3 times faster in the vagina than the sperm that was ejaculated by men who didn't have their nipples touched. And because of the increased speed, the load from a nipple aroused male was 5 times more likely to impregnate an egg, as more sperm sped past all the dangerous obstacles in the vagina.
Surprisingly, the reason the sperm was faster, was because they were frightened and just wanted to get away from the male who had his nipples touched, in fact they were homophobic about it. 79% of the sperm interviewed stated that they were freaked out. One sperm was quoted as saying, "it scared the hell out of me that this dude was springing into action because his nipples were being rubbed. How gay is that?, I just swam as fast as I could to get away." Another sperm said "I thought for sure I was gonna die a smelly death in some dark hairy butt."

OK, now for some real science. 'During the early stages of human development all humans, both male and female, have the same initial body structure. This includes both sexual organs (although not yet fully developed) and nipples. In the later stages of development specific hormones are added to our bodies that will change the fetus's development to either male or female. Depending on the hormone, the other sexual organ is abandoned, and the dominant one develops fully.

Nipples, on the other hand, are developed prior to the body choosing its sex and are not effected by the new hormones. This means that nipples are not a sex organ, even though they seem like they would be. With that stated, you could ask why do men have arms and legs. But the problem remains that men don't use their nipples.

The real question should be, why do men still have nipples? Why haven't our bodies evolved to the point where men no longer have nipples? Well, evolutionary changes usually only occur to adjust to the environment. As far as breeding is concerned it doesn't matter whether males have nipples or not because women don't seem to look at nipple size as a type of attraction, thus men never evolved to the point where they would be removed.

Most mammals have a few vestigial body parts that haven't been removed yet by evolution. It's nothing to get worked up over, just remember that evolution is a very slow process.'

And continuing along these lines, author of The Puzzle, Louis Berman, has a pretty good theory on how this actually relates to homosexuality: "male homosexuality results from an interaction between inborn and social factors, and that an important inborn factor is low brain masculinization. Why do male brains have to become masculinized at a given stage of embryonic development? Because for the first six weeks of life, all embryos are proto-female. Afterwards, some male brains become more thoroughly masculinized than others. Males whose brains are masculinized to a lesser or minimal extent, are more likely to display gender-discordance, or to drift toward homosexuality as a way of correcting or accommodating to their felt deficit....At that early stage of prenatal life, there is a fork in the road of development. If there are no hormonal changes in the prenatal environment, the embryo developes into a female. If, however, the embryo is destined to become a male, its Y-chromosomes trigger the production of testosterone (the male hormone), which masculinizes the brain and genitalia (internal as well as external) of the embryo. But it takes no female hormone to produce a female infant. (Only at age ten or later does the female body begin to produce the hormones that transform the girl into a woman.)...But, there is some direct evidence, and lots of indirect evidence, that there is a wide range of variation in the degree to which the male brain is masculinized. The Puzzle argues that the low-masculinized brain shades the inner life of the individual with female thoughts, feelings, and wishes. This tendency, it is hypothesized, underlies gender-discordant behavior, fear of homosexuality, and homosexual behavior. "

This kind of stuff really blows the Fundies argument that homosexuality is a choice.
In fact, it makes me wonder if the men who are most opposed to homosexuality are also those whose brains didn't fully get masulinized, and they are fighting their own demons. Can any Fundies relate to this?

13 comments:

  1. "the load from a nipple aroused male was 5 times more likely to impregnate an egg, as more sperm sped past all the dangerous obstacles in the vagina."

    LMAO

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  2. All this information is doing my head in.
    And now I hear that catfish are walking around on shore in search of food. Oh, evolution. You mighty seductress.

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  3. Given enough time, some of these catfish may actually develop legs.
    It might take a very long time, too long to convert any Fundies who are alive today.
    A species has to do what it has to do to eat, stay away from predators and seed future generations in ever changing environments and eco systems.
    Too bad Fundies close their minds to the amazing new discoveries happening every day.

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  4. People always seem to divide everyone up into two distinct groups of hetero and homo. There is clearly a whole spectrum of people ranging from the totally gay to the totally straight. Maybe it is a circle like the communism fascism thing where the two extremes are not that far from each other. I have always thought that to be extremely straight was as odd as extremely gay. We all have a bit of this and that in unequal proportions.

    Who wouldn’t change their orientation given the right incentives? In my case it would have to be an Adonis like person who could give me power and riches beyond anyones wildest dreams. It’s a high price although maybe I wouldn’t be being completely honest here. Wouldn't do it with anyone hideous though - they'd need to be beautiful even at this price.

    And then there is the downright perverted and we all probably fit somewhere into the spectrum of the perverse as well. To be totally not perverted would be a little dull I imagine. Yet who is to say what is perverse and what is not? Not so long ago (maybe even still) oral sex was a jailable offence in some US states. It's a cultural thing I guess.

    Religious belief could certainly assist people with being less perverted I think as it is a form of mind control. Thoughts can be evil, not just actions. Not thinking about perverse things and thinking about, other spiritual things, would suppress the naughty inclinations. And there we have the whole point of religion.

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  5. I would assume that lesbians get a dose of testosterone after they have had their sex determined. Those who get a little bit are more bisexual and those who get a full dose have a tendency to where really short hair oversized jeans and a plaid shirt.

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  6. Here's a short essay I wrote on homophobia a few months back, when Brokeback Mountain was stirring up debate:

    Brokeback Mountain’s terrific reception has brought all the homophobes out of the woodwork. So now, here are three excellent counterarguments to present to homophobes and others who disapprove of homosexuality (Bible-based disapproval or otherwise). The first is Leviticus’ moral bankruptcy; the second is some homosexuals’ tendency to act homophobic; the third is homosexuality’s presence throughout nature.

    1. Leviticus is morally bankrupt.

    Here are two oft-cited passages from Leviticus that condemn homosexuality:

    "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination."
    Lev. 18:22

    "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them."
    Lev. 20:13

    However, Leviticus also contains many more commands:

    ”As for your male and female slaves whom you may have--you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you.
    Then, too, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain acquisition, and out of their families who are with you, whom they will have produced in your land; they also may become your possession.
    You may even bequeath them to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. But in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with severity over one another.”
    Lev 25:44-46

    ”If there is a man who marries a woman and her mother, it is immorality; both he and they shall be burned with fire, so that there will be no immorality in your midst.”
    Lev.20:14

    ”Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by harlotry, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.”
    Lev.21:9

    "Speak to Aaron, saying, 'No man of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect shall approach to offer the food of his God.
    For no one who has a defect shall approach: a blind man, or a lame man, or he who has a disfigured face, or any deformed limb,
    or a man who has a broken foot or broken hand,
    or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or crushed testicles.
    No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to offer the LORD'S offerings by fire; since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the food of his God.
    He may eat the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy,
    only he shall not go in to the veil or come near the altar because he has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries. For I am the LORD who sanctifies them."
    Lev.21:17-23

    By the way, Leviticus also has some flat-out factual inaccuracies…

    Leviticus 11:6 states that rabbits chew their cud.

    Leviticus 11:20-23 speaks of four-legged insects, including grasshoppers.

    2. Homophobes might be overcompensating.

    "The most manifest heterosexuals may have homosexual tendencies, too. Homophobic male heterosexuals showed more arousal to homosexual images than did nonhomophobic heterosexuals (Adams et al. 1996). Societal condemnation of homosexuality may contribute to its genes being propagated by causing latent homosexuals to behave heterosexually."
    Source: http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CB/CB403.html

    3. Homosexuality and bisexuality are pervasive.

    "It should be noted that the question of explaining homosexuality is not limited to humans. Homosexuality exists in hundreds of animal species (Bagemihl, 1998)."
    Source: http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CB/CB403.html

    The research of Bruce Bagemihl, PhD:

    *Silver gulls (females)*
    percent homosexual: 10
    percent bisexual: 11
    percent heterosexual: 79

    *Black headed gulls (both sexes)*
    percent homosexual: 22
    percent bisexual: 15
    percent heterosexual: 63

    *Japanese macaques (both sexes)*
    percent homosexual: 9
    percent bisexual: 56
    percent heterosexual: 35

    *Bonobo chimpanzees (both sexes)*
    percent homosexual: 0
    percent bisexual: 100
    percent heterosexual: 0

    *Galahs (both sexes)*
    percent homosexual: 44
    percent bisexual: 11
    percent heterosexual: 44

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  7. Totally off subject, but have you seen this link on the human "Missing Link"?

    http://dsc.discovery.com/news/afp/20060410/fossilhuman_arc.html?source=rss

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  8. Thanks Lynne, yep saw it. The discovery doen't really fit in with the literal bible so Fundies again are deceitfully doing the evolution cha cha.

    Pimpette, that has to hurt.

    Frances, surely there has to be one straight bonobo on this planet.

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  9. Speaking of vestigial organs: the sperm of male homosexuals are vestigial, as are the wombs of lesbians. Come to think of it, from a strictly evolutionary perspective, homosexual "sexual" intercourse is vestigial: it certainly isn't helping them to make more of themselves, at least as much as molesting minors.

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  10. Maybe it's that I'm tired from working on a couple of particulairly stubborn servers all day but I can't tell if that is sarcasm or if you actually tried to say that homosexuality leads to molestation of children.

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  11. Frances, surely there has to be one straight bonobo on this planet.

    I'm sure he was just recording the activities of a single population. However, from everything I've learned about bonobos, they are highly sexually active in general. Sex plays a crucial role in the functioning of bonobo society. Therefore, I'm not at all surprised to see pervasive bisexuality among that population.

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  12. Papagator, homosexuals have kids all the time. Many fundies pretend they are heterosexual, have families, but cruise downtown for male prostitutes.

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  13. papa gator: don't think of homosexual sex as vestigial. Think of it as nature's way of controlling population growth. There is only room for so many people on this planet. If everyone was breeding, there probably wouldn't be any room left to walk around.

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