Scientists speak out to discred 'gay veman' media reports

Contents:

• THE ALLURE OF GAY CAVEMEN
• 'GAY VEMAN' THEORY GETS A ROCKY RECEPTN
• THE ALLURE OF GAY CAVEMEN
• 'GAY CAVEMAN' FOUND BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS NEAR PRAGUE
• CAVE-MYTH BTERS: WAS THERE REALLY A ‘GAY CAVEMAN’ AFTER ALL?
• 'GAY CAVEMAN' STORY OVERBLOWN, ARCHAEOLOGISTS SAY
• SCIENTISTS SPEAK OUT TO DISCRED 'GAY VEMAN' MEDIA REPORTS
• WHAT THE "GAY CAVEMAN" STORY DON'T TELL US ABOUT SEXUAL VARIABILY

THE ALLURE OF GAY CAVEMEN

- EMJ & DD*___The Allure of Gay CavemenThird genrs, two spirs, and a media whout a clueby Eric Michael JohnsonIn 1993 the reputable German weekly Der Spiegelreported a mor that Otzi, the 5, 300-year-old ozen mummy disvered the Otztal Alps two years earlier, ntaed evince of the world's earlit known homosexual act.

The orig of the mor, as Cecil Adams disvered, turns out to have been an April Fool's prank published the Atrian gay magaze Lambda Nachrichten.

'GAY VEMAN' THEORY GETS A ROCKY RECEPTN

The problem lay not wh the scientists, who were scribg prelimary fdgs that previewed some tantalizg rults, but a media culture that emphasiz sensatnalism over accuracy and beg first over beg all acunts seems that the UK Telegraph had the dub honor of beg first this se, and so dog mted two wrongs jt as many words: "Gay Caveman. Sendly, an alternative sexual orientatn do not make a person gay.

THE ALLURE OF GAY CAVEMEN

" The genr rol that we've e to know as homosexual, lbian, bisexual, and transgenr were all reprented the societi, but ways that were culturally specific and likely to have been que unfaiar based on our fns. Gay vemen, ed. However, spe the ial siari between the gay vemen sndals of 1991 and 2011 there is a very important difference.

In ten untri (cludg where I s Canada, though not where I'm om the Uned Stat) gay marriage has the same legal regnn as straight marriage.

'GAY CAVEMAN' FOUND BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS NEAR PRAGUE

The popular allure of the gay veman story is jt one ditn of this ongog change. Archaeologists Prague say they've unvered a Stone-Age man buried a posn ually rerved for women — but media claims of a "gay veman" may be exaggerated, acrdg to some rearchers.

Not gay, not a vemanVova and her lleagu told reporters that the man may have belonged to a "third genr.

The skeleton has been tmpeted the media as belongg to a "homosexual veman, " but some archaeologists are skeptil.

CAVE-MYTH BTERS: WAS THERE REALLY A ‘GAY CAVEMAN’ AFTER ALL?

For one thg, the plexy of the third-genr ncept mak llg the skeleton "gay" an oversimplifitn, wrote Krista Killgrove, an anthropologist Chapel Hill, N. "If this burial reprents a transgenred dividual (as well uld), that don't necsarily mean the person had a 'different sexual orientatn ' and certaly don't mean that he would have nsired himself (or that his culture would have nsired him) 'homosexual, '" Killgrove wrote.

"The realy of this is gog to be far more plited than, 'This dividual was gay, '" Dobson told LiveScience. Not only is "gay" an oversimplifitn, "veman" is flat-out accurate, said John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the Universy of Wisns, Madison. Top 10 Weird Ways We Deal Wh the Dead 5 Myths About Gay People Debunked Top 10 Mysteri of the First Humans.

The followg post origally appeared at Nron Culture hosted by Wired after the origal report last 1993 the reputable German weekly Der Spiegel prted a mor that Otzi, the 5, 300-year-old ozen mummy disvered the Otztal Alps two years earlier, ntaed evince of the world's earlit known homosexual act.

'GAY CAVEMAN' STORY OVERBLOWN, ARCHAEOLOGISTS SAY

Rearchers Dig Up 'Homosexual Or Transsexual' Caveman Near Prague: The Two-Way The body of the veman was buried an untradnal way — the way women were ually buried. Time reports the way the body was buried might mean the man was gay, bee the burial is nsistent wh the way women were buried. "Far more likely is that he was a man wh a different sexual orientatn, homosexual or transsexual.

A team of Czech archaeologists claim to have unearthed the remas of an early gay man om around 2900-2500 B. Acrdg to the Telegraph, the "gay veman" was found buried a way normally rerved only for women durg the Copper Age.

SCIENTISTS SPEAK OUT TO DISCRED 'GAY VEMAN' MEDIA REPORTS

"Far more likely is that he was a man wh a different sexual orientatn, homosexual or transvte. In addn, she noted Siberian shamans, or latter-day wch doctors, were buried a siar fashn to the "gay veman, " but ually wh richer funeral accsori to pict a higher social stat, the Daily Mail is reportg. "But this later disvery was neher of those, leadg to believe the man was probably homosexual or transsexual, " Semeradova is also quoted by the Telegraph as sayg.

Archeologists the Czech Republic have disvered what they're llg the first homosexual veman: The male body – said to date back to between 2900-2500BC – was disvered buried a way normally rerved only for women of the Cord Ware culture the Copper Age...

Prevly, a female warrr om the Molhic perd was found buried the style of a man, aga suggtg that she was a homosexual. " If Semradova is right, not only do we have evince that morn culture isn't makg people gay—as some nservativ would have believe—we've got proof that at least some veman cultur treated gays and lbians wh rpect.

WHAT THE "GAY CAVEMAN" STORY DON'T TELL US ABOUT SEXUAL VARIABILY

Jt last year, 43 percent of Amerin adults said they believed homosexual relatns are "wrong. " And gays are well aware that that tolerance n lead to vlence: In 2009, nearly 1, 500 members of Ameri's LGBT muny were attacked bee of their sexual orientatn, and those are jt the s about which the law knows. Elsewhere, around the world, many gays and lbians are murred as a matter of route (a vile brand of hatred to which the Uned Stat is certaly not immune).

In other words, not only n many people still not fd wh themselv to believe that a man lovg another man is not "wrong, " many n't fd wh themselv to not want to h or kill a gay person.