Straight out of the Ex-Gay movement’s wet dreams comes a letter from the summer issue of Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurology on a report called “Altered Sexual Orientation Following Dominant Hemisphere Infarct.” (An “infarct” is dead or dying tissue produced by a lack of blood.)
The patient, a 57-year-old right-handed man, sustained his first cerebral vascular accident in the right middle cerebral artery region at the age of 45, which resulted in right-sided hemiparesis that resolved completely within 3 months… [After his recovery, he was fine] until he sustained the second cerebral vascular accident in the left middle cerebral artery region at age 53.
The patient started complaining of his changed personality and heterosexual orientation 6 months after his second stroke. At the same time he complained of excessive mood swings and changed interests… His sexual orientation remained heterosexual 4 years following the second stroke, and he preferred to describe himself as bisexual because of his previous homosexual orientation.
Our patient was aware of his homosexual orientation beginning in his early teens. He always enjoyed his gay relationships and had had at some point a live-in partner… It is unlikely that his psychological reaction to his first and/or second stroke could explain his altered sexual orientation, and his sexuality was accepted by his social network and family members.
Taking into consideration the interval between his first and second stroke, it is likely that an organic process within the left middle cerebral artery region is the cause of his altered sexual orientation .
There are probably all kinds of anti-gays foaming at the mouth over this, but here’s the thing: Heterosexuality was produced as a result of brain damage, not the other way around. Not one of the better selling points for the superiority of straightness.
h/t Pervscan.
October 2nd, 2009 at 4:41 pm
This reminded me of John Waters’ A Dirty Shame and how getting hit in the head can turn you from a prude into a sex-hungry slut.
October 3rd, 2009 at 7:22 am
I have a friend that works a Stroke registry and she see and hears stories like this all day. After a stroke or some damage to the brain, she see complete personality changes. Shit happens.