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==Citations needed==
Theres a lot of material being presented as hard facts in this stub. The references are listed but exactly what were they used for? Articles in Misplaced Pages are constantly updated and edited so everything needs to be directly cited.


== Introduction ==
----
Is Ray Blanchard's 1997 paper the earliest?


Could use some discussion of ] (H-Y) antigen hypothesis


I wasn't convinced the introduction was a good summarization of the effect, so I wrote one which essentially covers everything important. It is a little long, so perhaps the last paragraph could be trimmed off and moved into overview. I have seen a lot of people dismiss the FBOE as quackery because they aren't aware it only occurs with biological older brothers. I think an introduction which covers the main points as to why it's thought to be a biological mechanism is important. Let me know if we can improve/trim this or if it's adequate in some form. . Happy for you to duplicate the paragraph in the sandbox, make changes, and then comment here which changes you made and why, or, just leave the comments here. ] (]) 02:14, 8 July 2020 (UTC)
No, there were papers in 1995 (also by Blanchard I believe) and 1996. I will locate the references and insert at least the earliest. ] 00:33, 27 June 2006 (UTC)
:Okay, I made edit in the sandbox. Actually, I see now you didn't invite me to do that specifically, but I have done that in a past collaboration with another editor. You can of course undo my edit and work on it from there if you want. Basically, I don't think we need to go into detail on how the mechanism works in the lead; that sort of thing is article body content. I also noticed that some of the content there does not exist yet in the article body here; that content should also be added to the body, per ]. (Other articles are not always good about following "lead follows body", but they should). Otherwise, it looks good to me. <span style="font-family:Palatino">]</span> <sup>]</sup> 04:57, 8 July 2020 (UTC)
::That's totally fine – striking it is a good start. I *might* add a small extension on the last sentence about sexual differentiation of brain, and it should be pretty easy to fit in there. Agree on body of text. The body is a bit out of date and needs replacing with secondary sources. I'll wait and see what other editors say. ] (]) 05:38, 8 July 2020 (UTC)
:::I have published a '''''' which is more simple but still captures the antigen associated. ] (]) 07:59, 8 July 2020 (UTC)
::::Regarding ? I'll leave it to you two. At least for now. ] (]) 03:57, 9 July 2020 (UTC)
::::Looks good to me. Thanks. <span style="font-family:Palatino">]</span> <sup>]</sup> 05:30, 9 July 2020 (UTC)


== Malicious edits ==
:I don't know if these properly identify older brothers in specific...


There's a user going through and changing the gender and numbers related to the study this page covers. ] (]) 16:40, 3 April 2022 (UTC)
*BLANCHARD, R. & SHERIDAN, P. M. (1992) Sibship size, sibling sex ratio, birth order, and parental age in homosexual and nonhomosexual gender dysphorics. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 180, 40­-47.


== Male Asexual FBOE ==
*BLANCHARD, R. & ZUCKER, K. J. (1994) Reanalysis of Bell, Weinberg, and Hammersmith's data on birth order, sibling sex ratio, and parental age in homosexual men. Am. J. Psychiat. 151, 1375-­1376.


There's an equivalent fraternal birth order effect for asexuality.
] 05:59, 27 June 2006 (UTC)


Biological Markers of Asexuality: Handedness, Birth Order, and
== homosexuality a pathology? ==
Finger Length Ratios in Self-identified Asexual Men and Women
Morag A. Yule • Lori A. Brotto • Boris B. Gorzalka


10.1007/s10508-013-0175-0
There is an underlying problem with this article in that it is premised on the assumption that homosexuality is a disorder of some kind.
While 'fraternal birth order theory' may seek explanations for homosexuality or predictions of homosexuality - this theory is based on the premise that homosexuality is a disorder (consider the opposite notion of a theory that would seek to predict or explain heterosexuality). This wikipedia entry inadvertently (?) '''sides''' with this assumption.
This was reflected first in the term 'observation' being used in the initial sentence rather than the more neutral and detached term 'theory' - i subsequently replaced it.
There, however, remains several other sentences that are less easy to tweak into shape.
such as:
"The fraternal birth order effect is the strongest known predictor of sexual orientation..."
It is the 'fraternal birth order effect theory' that seeks to predict sexual orientation - general society (and the medical establishment) no longer seeks this as there is no longer the assumption of homosexuality as abnormal.
The problems in this article are a consequence of the premise of homosexuality as abnormality.
Can anyone assist in tweaking the language so it more accurately reflects the neutrality of encyclopedic entries?
p.s. this is my first discussion contribution - thanks for giving me material to inspire me enough! ] 07:30, 31 January 2007 (UTC)


Could there be a section on this? ] (]) 07:10, 7 August 2023 (UTC)
== no engagement with my point? ==


:It could be mentioned, a better source would be this review which states:
Hi,
:{{Tq|"There is evidence that mutations in NLGN4X and NLGN4Y are linked to autism spectrum conditions (Jamain et al., 2003; Ross et al., 2015) and such conditions may be elevated in asexual people (e.g., Gilmour et al., 2012). Moreover, there is some evidence that an FBOE occurs in asexual men (Yule et al., 2014). Thus, NLGN4X/Y may affect neurological functioning associated with, broadly, the forming of social connections to others, including sexual/romantic ones"}} ] (]) 04:23, 12 October 2023 (UTC)
I am curious as to why my alteration from 'observation' to 'theory' was re-changed without any discussion, or perhaps even refutation, of the issues i raised... isn't that the point of the discussion page/wikipedia?
] 05:31, 1 February 2007 (UTC)


==Wiki Education assignment: Seminar in Human Sexuality==
:In the sentence "In psychology the "fraternal birth order" effect is the name given to the observation that the more older brothers a man has, the greater the probability is that he will have a homosexual sexual orientation." ''Observation'' is the proper descriptor. A '']'' would require a theoretical framework to explain the ''why'' the observation exists. Note that the HY-antigen hypothesis, is just that a ], rather than a '''theory''' or '''observation'''. ] 15:27, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
{{dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment | course = Misplaced Pages:Wiki_Ed/Illinois_Institute_of_Technology/Seminar_in_Human_Sexuality_(Fall_2023) | assignments = ] | start_date = 2023-08-21 | end_date = 2023-12-04 }}


<span class="wikied-assignment" style="font-size:85%;">— Assignment last updated by ] (]) 23:21, 3 April 2024 (UTC)</span>
==Title==
I think that the title "Fraternal birth order" is ambiguous, in that it could be understood as refering to the general relationship between brothers, and not specifically to the effect that the number of older brothers a man has is suggested to have on his sexual orientation. Similarily, I think that the title "Fraternal birth order effect" would be ambiguous, as ] has long been proposed to have an influence on what a person is like, so the title "Fraternal birth order effect" would not reveal that the specific effect of birth order which this article discusses is upon a man's sexual orientation. Thus, I will retitle this article "Fraternal birth order and sexual orientation," which will reflect its scope better, as well as maintain consistency with the titling of a related article, ]. -] (]) 00:20, 7 June 2007 (UTC)


== Possibly relevant ==
==Maternal Immune Hypothesis assumes Homosexuality as Abberation==
This is somewhat related to the thread above. The Blanchard "studies" propose an immune reaction by the mother against the fetus, but there is absolutely no evidence to suggest this. If you read the original article, which by the way is in the Journal of THEORETICAL Biology, it gives no data support to this hypothesis. What little evidence they do present about the H-Y protein complex was done in mice. It can't possibly be extrapolated to human sexuality. I have a real problem with this "theory" because it suggests homosexuality comes about because the mother's body is trying to attack the fetus, in essence an abberation of what the "ideal" should be (heterosexual)... if there were any empirical evidence to support this I would take more heed, but I feel like this "researcher" is trying to spread his own agenda with no basis whatsoever. At least it doesn't say the fetus is "feminized", which I corrected on another page. The last sentence in this article is confusing - I'm not sure if the effect holds true for right-handed or non-right-handed men.] (]) 21:23, 15 March 2008 (UTC)


A 2023 study criticizing previous findings:
Okay, so as there's been no discussion, and as Pigmund has also found the same fault with this article and its non-science, I'm reducing the paragraph about maternal immune hypothesis to only mention it as that.] (]) 06:34, 19 June 2008 (UTC)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10441532/
"The fraternal birth-order effect as a statistical artefact: convergent evidence from probability calculus, simulated data, and multiverse meta-analysis"


(I am in no position to evaluate the paper. I just Googled it because of a strip in a webcomic...) ] (]) 23:04, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
:OK, so let me see if I understand this. You deleted the sentence "It is hypothesized that the fraternal birth order effect may be caused by increasing levels of antibodies produced by the mother to the histocompatibility Y-antigen with each son." because the hypothesis was proposed in a paper published in a scientific journal whose title contains the word "theoretical" and may be construed to provide support for a point of view with which you disagree? ] (]) 18:59, 19 June 2008 (UTC)


:I know the study well. It would be best to wait until it is covered in a secondary academic source. There have been studies published since which appear to continue to support the effect. ] (]) 23:20, 27 February 2024 (UTC)
I agree with Pete.Hurd. Hy-antigen is a theory to explain an observation, and it's described only as a theory. Gimmethoseshoes can disagree with the theory, of course, but the purpose of an encyclopedia is to present as much information as is necessary for readers to come to their ''own'' decision, not to come to the editors' opinion. I think the fuller description should remain.<br/>
—] (]) 19:14, 19 June 2008 (UTC)


== McConaghy (2006) == == Is this an Ad? ==


This article is a) unusually long and detailed and b) exclusively cites Ray Blanchard and Anthony Bogaert throughout the article. A quick glance over the papers cited shows small sample sizes and similar weak methodological setups. The word "Blanchard" appears 61 times on the page.
In 2006, the Journal of Homosexuality printed an article entitled ''Fraternal birth order and ratio of heterosexual/homosexual feelings in women and men''. In the article, McConaghy ran some experiments, the result of which he said "suggests the influence of birth order on homosexual feelings was not due to a biological, but a social process in the subjects studied." After I inserted the results from this study into the article, it was reversed saying "Anyone can fail to find evidence by just using bad methods." The Journal of Homosexuality decided that his paper was good enough to print. I have not seen any evidence that his methods were flawed. Can you please be more specific as to why you believe McConaghy's methods were flawed enough were they don't even deserve mention in this article? ] (]) 00:13, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

Studies questioning the effect are covered in a section "Other Findings" and are immediately dismissed quoting, of course, Blanchard again, using phrases like "''Blanchard explains''...".

tl;dr the entire article is massively biased in favour of a (likely) questionable hypothesis proposed by a single group of authors that as far as I can tell has not been replicated or backed up by anyone else in the field and should be reconceptualized entirely. ] (]) 05:46, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

:No, but it could do with some trimming on the primary sources which I will do when I have free time. There look to be a number of papers from other research groups, although these are quite recent. ] (]) 11:58, 25 August 2024 (UTC)

== Homosexual ==
@]. Your rationale that "gay" should be replaced with "homosexual" wherever possible is misplaced. You cite that it is about homosexual behavior, but that's not true. There are many mentions of homosexuality and homosexual behavior already in the article, but every instance you replaced 'gay' with 'homosexual' on was not on ''behavior'', but as a ''label'' for men. The label "homosexual" is no more bisexual-inclusive than gay is, nor is it more trans-inclusive. The only instance you add the word 'homosexuality' is incorrect. If you go to the the source, it says "gay and bisexual" five times and not homosexual/homosexuality once. (I only have access to the abstract there, but still) I think you're overcorrecting here. We've got to be careful when we do and do not use the term homosexual. It has a ; if we can use less loaded language without changing the meaning, we should do it, to say nothing of the fact that this article would be dry as hell if we use the word homosexual exclusively hundreds of times. I thank you for your contributions. ''']]]''' 15:40, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
:I also don't see any reason to replace "gay". As an article about humans, it's perfectly fine to say "gay" to refer to 'homosexual men', especially since excessive use of the latter can read strangely. <span style="font-family:Palatino">]</span> <sup>]</sup> 19:30, 10 July 2024 (UTC)
:i think the best strategy here is to conform to the language used in the studies cited; since "gay" is a subset of "human males who engage in homosexual behavior", the article should clearly reflect whether or not the claim they are making, in reference to the study cited, refers to the total set or to that subset
:i do understand that it has a charged history; i don't edit LGBT-issues topics, i edit biology topics. there's probably evidence somewhere that NLGNY4 (or analogue) sensitivity predicts homosexuality in other animals, and these don't really have an identity. i can't predict whether "gay" will be charged language in the future (discriminatory and exclusionary of bisexuals, trans, queer, etc?) and this isn't really my issue or concern, i just want to see that the article reflects the set/subset studied where a source is used; if i overcorrected such that there is nonconvergence in this in any remaining point, please fix it, thanks ] (]) 08:23, 13 July 2024 (UTC)

Latest revision as of 11:58, 25 August 2024

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Introduction

I wasn't convinced the introduction was a good summarization of the effect, so I wrote one which essentially covers everything important. It is a little long, so perhaps the last paragraph could be trimmed off and moved into overview. I have seen a lot of people dismiss the FBOE as quackery because they aren't aware it only occurs with biological older brothers. I think an introduction which covers the main points as to why it's thought to be a biological mechanism is important. Let me know if we can improve/trim this or if it's adequate in some form. I put it in a sandbox here. Happy for you to duplicate the paragraph in the sandbox, make changes, and then comment here which changes you made and why, or, just leave the comments here. Sxologist (talk) 02:14, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

Okay, I made this edit in the sandbox. Actually, I see now you didn't invite me to do that specifically, but I have done that in a past collaboration with another editor. You can of course undo my edit and work on it from there if you want. Basically, I don't think we need to go into detail on how the mechanism works in the lead; that sort of thing is article body content. I also noticed that some of the content there does not exist yet in the article body here; that content should also be added to the body, per WP:LEADFOLLOWSBODY. (Other articles are not always good about following "lead follows body", but they should). Otherwise, it looks good to me. Crossroads 04:57, 8 July 2020 (UTC)
That's totally fine – striking it is a good start. I *might* add a small extension on the last sentence about sexual differentiation of brain, and it should be pretty easy to fit in there. Agree on body of text. The body is a bit out of date and needs replacing with secondary sources. I'll wait and see what other editors say. Sxologist (talk) 05:38, 8 July 2020 (UTC)
I have published a version two which is more simple but still captures the antigen associated. Sxologist (talk) 07:59, 8 July 2020 (UTC)
Regarding this? I'll leave it to you two. At least for now. Flyer22 Frozen (talk) 03:57, 9 July 2020 (UTC)
Looks good to me. Thanks. Crossroads 05:30, 9 July 2020 (UTC)

Malicious edits

There's a user going through and changing the gender and numbers related to the study this page covers. 2600:1700:84E9:1510:9565:8ECC:157B:FB49 (talk) 16:40, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Male Asexual FBOE

There's an equivalent fraternal birth order effect for asexuality.

Biological Markers of Asexuality: Handedness, Birth Order, and Finger Length Ratios in Self-identified Asexual Men and Women Morag A. Yule • Lori A. Brotto • Boris B. Gorzalka

10.1007/s10508-013-0175-0

Could there be a section on this? DotCoder (talk) 07:10, 7 August 2023 (UTC)

It could be mentioned, a better source would be this review here which states:
"There is evidence that mutations in NLGN4X and NLGN4Y are linked to autism spectrum conditions (Jamain et al., 2003; Ross et al., 2015) and such conditions may be elevated in asexual people (e.g., Gilmour et al., 2012). Moreover, there is some evidence that an FBOE occurs in asexual men (Yule et al., 2014). Thus, NLGN4X/Y may affect neurological functioning associated with, broadly, the forming of social connections to others, including sexual/romantic ones" Zenomonoz (talk) 04:23, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Seminar in Human Sexuality

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 21 August 2023 and 4 December 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Plantbasederick (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Zy175311460 (talk) 23:21, 3 April 2024 (UTC)

Possibly relevant

A 2023 study criticizing previous findings: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10441532/ "The fraternal birth-order effect as a statistical artefact: convergent evidence from probability calculus, simulated data, and multiverse meta-analysis"

(I am in no position to evaluate the paper. I just Googled it because of a strip in a webcomic...) 47.18.39.208 (talk) 23:04, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

I know the study well. It would be best to wait until it is covered in a secondary academic source. There have been studies published since which appear to continue to support the effect. Zenomonoz (talk) 23:20, 27 February 2024 (UTC)

Is this an Ad?

This article is a) unusually long and detailed and b) exclusively cites Ray Blanchard and Anthony Bogaert throughout the article. A quick glance over the papers cited shows small sample sizes and similar weak methodological setups. The word "Blanchard" appears 61 times on the page.

Studies questioning the effect are covered in a section "Other Findings" and are immediately dismissed quoting, of course, Blanchard again, using phrases like "Blanchard explains...".

tl;dr the entire article is massively biased in favour of a (likely) questionable hypothesis proposed by a single group of authors that as far as I can tell has not been replicated or backed up by anyone else in the field and should be reconceptualized entirely. 84.60.246.70 (talk) 05:46, 20 May 2024 (UTC)

No, but it could do with some trimming on the primary sources which I will do when I have free time. There look to be a number of papers from other research groups, although these are quite recent. Zenomonoz (talk) 11:58, 25 August 2024 (UTC)

Homosexual

@Kaczynskisatva. Your rationale that "gay" should be replaced with "homosexual" wherever possible is misplaced. You cite that it is about homosexual behavior, but that's not true. There are many mentions of homosexuality and homosexual behavior already in the article, but every instance you replaced 'gay' with 'homosexual' on was not on behavior, but as a label for men. The label "homosexual" is no more bisexual-inclusive than gay is, nor is it more trans-inclusive. The only instance you add the word 'homosexuality' is incorrect. If you go to the the source, it says "gay and bisexual" five times and not homosexual/homosexuality once. (I only have access to the abstract there, but still) I think you're overcorrecting here. We've got to be careful when we do and do not use the term homosexual. It has a charged history; if we can use less loaded language without changing the meaning, we should do it, to say nothing of the fact that this article would be dry as hell if we use the word homosexual exclusively hundreds of times. I thank you for your contributions. TheSavageNorwegian 15:40, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

I also don't see any reason to replace "gay". As an article about humans, it's perfectly fine to say "gay" to refer to 'homosexual men', especially since excessive use of the latter can read strangely. Crossroads 19:30, 10 July 2024 (UTC)
i think the best strategy here is to conform to the language used in the studies cited; since "gay" is a subset of "human males who engage in homosexual behavior", the article should clearly reflect whether or not the claim they are making, in reference to the study cited, refers to the total set or to that subset
i do understand that it has a charged history; i don't edit LGBT-issues topics, i edit biology topics. there's probably evidence somewhere that NLGNY4 (or analogue) sensitivity predicts homosexuality in other animals, and these don't really have an identity. i can't predict whether "gay" will be charged language in the future (discriminatory and exclusionary of bisexuals, trans, queer, etc?) and this isn't really my issue or concern, i just want to see that the article reflects the set/subset studied where a source is used; if i overcorrected such that there is nonconvergence in this in any remaining point, please fix it, thanks Kaczynskisatva (talk) 08:23, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
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