Differenc dig rats between gay men who prefer receptive vers sertive sex rol dite a role for prenatal androgen | Scientific Reports

Among non-human mammals, exposure to androgens durg cril perds of velopment leads to gynephilia (attractn to femal), whereas the absence or low levels of prenatal androgens leads to androphilia (attractn to mal). However, humans, retrospective markers of prenatal androgens have only been associated wh gynephilia among women, but not wh androphilia among men. Here, we asked whether an direct ditn of prenatal androgen exposure, 2D:4D, differs between subsets of gay men leated by anal sex role (ASR). ASR was ed as a proxy for subgroups bee ASR groups tend to differ other measur affected by bra sexual differentiatn, such as genr nformy. First, we replited the fdg that gay men wh a receptive ASR preference (bottoms) report greater genr nonnformy (GNC) pared to gay men wh an sertive ASR preference (tops). We then found that Tops have a lower (male-typil) average right-hand dig rat than Bottoms, and that among all gay men the right-hand 2D:4D rrelated wh GNC, ditg that a higher (female-typil) 2D:4D is associated wh creased GNC. Differenc were found between non-exclive and exclive same-sex attractn and GNC, and ASR group differenc on dig rats do not reach signifince when all non-heterosexual men are clud the analys, suggtg greater heterogeney the velopment of non-exclive same-sex sexual orientatns. Overall, rults support a role for prenatal androgens, as approximated by dig rats, fluencg the sexual orientatn and GNC of a subset of gay men.