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hand of a heterosexual man. This is the hand of a heterosexual woman, and this is the hand of a lesbian. The length of your index and ring fingers is associated with homosexuality. I'm gay, and I have a "gay " hand, because my ring finger and index finger are almost the same length. In a heterosexual man, the index finger is more often shorter than the ring finger. This sounds like a fabrication, but I'm here to explain how finger length is related to orientation. At approximately 8-12 weeks of fetal development, certain markers of orientation and finger length ratios are formed. Both of these factors are influenced by testosterone levels in the womb. We understand the effects of testosterone on embryos by studying over 100 years of demographic statistics in Norway and
Finland. It turned out that women who developed in the womb with a twin brother were more likely to have "masculine" traits, remained single, and had fewer children. One explanation is that at the 8th week of development, when the Y chromosome is activated , the male fetus begins to produce more testosterone. In the womb, this testosterone can leak to a nearby embryo and affect a female fetus, potentially masculinizing it. Further research has found that prenatal exposure to testosterone does indeed affect finger length and sexual orientation, especially at 8-12 weeks of development. Numerous studies have shown that the length of the index and ring fingers on the left hand of
lesbians is similar to that of heterosexual men-shorter index, longer ring finger, which is likely due to the increased influence of testosterone in the womb, which could increase the likelihood that a female embryo will become lesbian, and also formed a more masculine ratio of fingers. Gay men have a more feminine finger length ratio, as our index and ring fingers are similar in length. The results of the study are most noticeable on the left hand. In these studies, each finger is measured separately. They do not start measuring from the back of the palm, but use this part of the hand, measuring each finger separately. So, in
some people, the shape of the palm may be such that one finger appears taller than the other, but it is important to measure the index and ring fingers to understand the ratio. My fingers are the same length, I'm a man, and it's very gay. This concept that finger length and sexual orientation are shaped by testosterone in the womb is also observed in animals. In sheep, the study found that when a male fetus, that is, a ram fetus, was exposed to lower levels of testosterone in the womb, the ram was more likely to be attracted to males. 8% of rams are gay, and they choose to mate with other males for life. Even when females are available, they still choose to mate with males. And it was found that these rams were exposed to less testosterone in the womb. Also, mice
that were exposed to less testosterone in the womb had shorter certain finger phalanges. So, as a rule, a heterosexual man has a noticeably shorter index finger and a longer ring finger on his hand, similar to the fingers of lesbians, as they may have been exposed to higher levels of testosterone in the womb. In my " gay" fingers, the ring finger is shorter and closer in size to the index finger, like my heterosexual colleagues. But all these studies should be treated with skepticism, because at the stage of development from 8 to 12 weeks, many complex processes occur in the womb, which are strongly influenced by hormones. A connection between finger length and sexuality has been found in a number of studies, but a lot of other
information indicates that everything is too complicated to draw such unambiguous conclusions. And, of course, there are many exceptions. Having a hand like this doesn't mean you're gay, but some studies suggest that the likelihood is higher. But all of this is related to the specific effects of testosterone at certain stages of development. Gay and lesbian adults do not have higher or lower testosterone levels than anyone else. But this is just one of the many ways our biology influences our sexual orientation. There are countless studies and meta-analyses about the thousands of ways in which genes contribute to whether we will be gay, straight, or bisexual. But it's all part of the bigger picture that homosexuality is tied to your
biology and is certainly not a choice. Lady Gaga was right, we were born this way. If you want to jump to our podcast about how bisexuality could be one of the reasons why "gay genes" exist, you can click here. And thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for a new science video, and see you soon. Uh, sir. Peace
