Sexual Desire Is Genetic

This is fascinating - thanks.

Agreed, very interesting, California...Who knew?

Dear Mr. Yankee - Thank you for this enlightenment. One can see it sometimes in the old days. Folks had ten children and each of those had another ten children. Well, maybe this was before birth control, anyway. I agree in a way what Ed is saying but of course just like eating for one's DNA - maybe the same goes for sex.

This is fascinating except I don't even want to think about my parents sexual drive. Now it makes me wonder which one of them it's from and that's not what I want to be thinking about!

Wow, no wonder mine is so high. My mom is a swinger and my dad had a kid back in highscool.

Perhaps this will also help people realize that sex is neither dirty nor immoral. But thats another story.

Interesting. I would lay odds that most personality traits will be found closer to nature than nurture.

Seems only natural to me ;-) I've always believe sex is as natural as any other body urge. We've just made it more complicated by letting religions interfere with how we think about it. I guess I sound like a broken record, but I do believe religion has screwed up (seems appropriate with this subject) the way our society looks at so many things. Thanks for the info.

CY - The question is how much you can hold genes accountable to human behavior. Are the genes rigid blueprints or are they flexible guideposts? Edward has said it better calling it predilection or predisposition without diminishing the role of the environment and the will.

However, the research may stir up some legal and ethical issues. Here is a link to a slightly related article. A Possible Solution to the Registered Sex Offender Problem

Does this relate to Wandering Eye Syndrome? I like pretty women. I know lots of guys do, but it has always struck me that some like them more than others. I can't think of anything particular in my environment when I was growing up that would have made me any different than anyone else in this regard.

Seems related. I have always maintained that this was completely hardwired in me and, while I can try to control it out of politeness and respect for others, I've not really found an effective way to prevent myself from wanting to look at a pretty woman when I see one.

Interesting CY, I guess I won't have to be worried about my kids having any problems -- or maybe I should be VERY worried, LOL!

Hannah, thanks. My wife doesn't always view it quite so charitably.

California Yankee writes: "Your sexual desire, or lack thereof, could be determined by your genes."

That's why I only buy Levi's.

Predisposition does not equal ethical disposition. But this research is a neat development in the issue's greater discussion.

This is interesting. Correlatory research doesn't always prove true, however. I also think we're in a very genetically oriented era. The wheel will bring environmental factors back around again soon. I don't have any personal feelings one way or the other. I just usually blow off any study that says "one gene" because we already know most traits and behaviors to be polyphenic.

"Influence" is a more appropriate word than "determine". As in the article:

".....the presence of a certain gene can make people a little bit less functional in terms of arousal while the presence of another rare gene gives people an edge in those areas...........The effect is SMALL, but significant, as it shows that sexuality is not completely psychologically determined....."

In other words, one can only see the relationship within large groups of people. Among those with the hot gene, more are sexually hot, and among those with the cold gene, more are cold. But one cannot say if an individual is hot or cold just on the basis of his genes: it is a propensity

To illustrate: imagine a line of amplifiers, wired together so the output of one is the input to the next. Some settings are hard wired and cannot be changed; these are like genes. Other settings can be adjusted: these are like the myrid connections between neurons. If one setting is high, and the next low, the effects balance out. If two settings are high, the result could be feedback, noise, or just too loud. This gene is just one link in the chain: the effect of it can be cancelled or amplified by psychological conditioning, or other genes, or any number of factors.

Another note: the gene is for one of the dopamine receptors, and dopamine is associated with thrill seeking behavior. (People who live dangerously, be it sky diving, affairs, or fast driving, tend to have lower dopamine levels--apparently, they need more stimulus to get their dopamine fix. Others need less stimulus).

The article does not say, and probably it is an area of further research, if the gene is just part of general thrill seeking behavior, rather than being strictly sexual. Perhaps people with the hot gene are more likely to skydive as well....

An interesting conclusion indeed.

Oh, dear. This means one of my parents was very, very naughty. I don't want to know. I don't want to think about it. Arggghhhh!!

Since when do all religions think sex is unnatural or dirty? Not mine that is for sure -- sex after life is one of our goals. Maybe the Victorians screwed things up, but don't think you can lay this to all religions.

What a headache to know that sexual desire is genetic! Here is some more headache for those who love to nurse headaches:

"Higher sexual desire in migraine patients: Study

"London: Migraines have been linked to sexual desire in new research that could improve understanding of the crippling headaches."

- The Times of India - June 11, 2006

Yeah, maybe if Bush had it once a day he wouldn't be causing us so many headaches -- actually make that all day.

Iwas under the impression that the 'wandering eye' syndrome was a hard wired species evolutionary trait. keep looking, discretely.

I wouldn't be surprised.