Women who smoke are more likely to have gay children

Could he be?

According to Dutch neurologist Dick Swaab, women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to have gay children. Really? He also says, “Pregnant women suffering from stress are also more likely to have homosexual children of both genders because their raised level of the stress hormone cortisol affects the production of foetal sex hormones.”

I’ve known for a long time my son was born gay. And I thought for a long time it wasn’t my fault. Guess I was wrong!

It’s funny, whenever I read things like this, I always find myself in it in some way. The (very) old school of thought was that domineering mothers and absent fathers made boys gay. I could find myself in that one too. My son’s father smoked throughout my pregnancy so I was exposed to second hand smoke and I was under a lot of stress. My husband returned to using drugs, we lost everything we owned, we separated and I moved back in with my parents (who also smoked!). But if all that were true, I should have two gay sons and I have only one. He also said that a man’s chances of being gay increase by 33 per cent for every older brother he has. Again, my younger son should be gay based on his ideas.

I have to look at this and laugh. Even if it were true, so what? Are we implying that we should give women a totally stress free pregnancy to avoid the chance of having a gay child as if there was something terribly wrong with that?

If you’re a parent who is looking at this study and blaming yourself for having a gay child, give me a call. Let’s talk.

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