The best men are gay

While still in medical school, I stumbled upon a neuroscience book (The Male Brain) written by a UCSF neuroscientist that had a chapter which explained that while not a lot is known about what makes a person gay, it has been shown that the brain structure of most gay men has features more similar to that of heterosexual women than that of heterosexual men. This got me thinking of the historical “the best men are gay” trope floating around popular culture. It sort of makes sense that a man with a brain structure more like women would be better adept at forging platonic or even romantic bonds with women and we do see this played out in society with “the gay best friend” stereotype. Of course, this is all just a generalization because I’m sure there are gay men out there whose brain structure is more akin to the traditional male phenotype.

Gay men are doing quite well in contemporary society: they are the most educated group out of (I think) all major categorizations. If gay men were a nation they would purportedly be the most educated country in the world. However, education does not necessarily equate to financial prowess, and maybe I’ll get to that in another post. Yet, it is peculiar that there’s something about the combination of male and female attributes in a man that equates to what society deems as the paradigm for masculinity. This reminds me a little of the biological definition of the alpha male. Within the scientific sphere, alpha male chimpanzees are identified as ones who care about all members of their group (even the weak ones). In addition to their masculine exterior, they possess a nurturing side that is akin to the mother-child relationship within their clan. I’m not saying all alpha males are gay because we still don’t really understand the underlying biological basis of sexuality, but, for all the heterosexual men reading this, perhaps there’s some advantage to wearing some metaphorical pink.