about ScientificMatch
how our genetic matching works with people seeking same-sex relationships
We believe that chemical attraction is just as prevalent whether you’re gay or straight. So ScientificMatch cordially welcomes all persuasions to participate and experience the amazing benefits of our genetic matching process.
For clarity and simplicity, the discussion of chemistry throughout this site refers primarily to heterosexual relationships. However, we’re confident that it applies to homosexual relationships, too. Here, we’ll describe a few things to consider that make our same-sex matching, and the associated chemical attraction, a little different from opposite-sex matching.
The most obvious difference is that gay couples won’t realize the benefits of healthier, more attractive children. But even though nature’s ultimate objective is moot, chemistry—or at least the brain’s response to it—is alive and well among homosexuals. This has been shown in two studies; one looking at gay men, [Savic et al, 2005] and the other looking at lesbians. [Berglund et al, 2006]
Both studies were based on the premise that women process sexual chemistry differently in their brains than men do. These differences can be seen by looking at peoples’ brains, using PET scans, while they sniff components of other people’s sweat. When straight men sniff the sweat of straight women, a specific part of their brains light up in a PET scan. When straight women sniff the sweat of straight men, a different part of their brains light up. [Savic et al, 2001]
The first homosexual study showed that, when gay men were exposed to the sweat of other gay men, their brains lit up, in a PET scan, in the same way as straight women smelling the same chemicals given off by straight men. [Savic et al, 2005] In other words, gay men’s brains seem to be wired just like straight women’s. They’re brains seem to behave the same way when they’re sexually stimulated.
By the same token, the second homosexual study showed that lesbians are wired similar to straight men. [Berglund et al, 2006]
No published studies have explicitly observed sexual attraction, satisfaction, or fidelity in relation to similarity of the immune system genes among homosexual couples. However, it seems a reasonable extension that lesbians might experience sexual chemistry similar to straight men, and that gay men might realize similar benefits as straight women, as described on this site.
Sources Cited:
Berglund, Hans, Per Lindstrom, & Ivanka Savic (2006) “Brain Response to Putative Pheromones in Lesbian Women,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 103, no 21, pp 8269-8274.
Savic, Ivanka, Hans Berglund, Balazs Gulyas, & Per Roland (2001) “ Smelling of Odorous Sex Hormone-Like Compounds Causes Sex-Differentiated Hypothalamic Activations in Humans,” Neuron, vol 31, pp 661-668.
Savic, Ivanka, Hans Berglund, & Per Lindstrom (2005) “Brain Response to Putative Pheromones in Homosexual Men,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 102, no 20, pp 7356-7361.