Same genetics, but different preferences: Identical twins with different orientations

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Scientists cannot give an unequivocal answer to what forms a person's sexual orientation. They call both the genetic predisposition, the influence of hormones, and the psychological influence of the environment. Dr. Tewsday Watts, along with a team of doctors and psychologists, decided to study this phenomenon with the help of several pairs of identical twins, in which one twin is hetero and the other is not.

Rosie and Spudge, 29

Rosie is an artist, single. Spudge is a copywriter and is married. Spudge: When I was a kid, I liked Disney princesses. And when there were races or football on TV, Rosie watched it. I shouted at her - What are you looking at? Switch to cartoons!"

We've always been very close. Rosie could have smashed her nose with a ball, and I was bleeding. My boyfriends have always liked my sister better - she had a lot more in common with them. Even now, she is very friendly with my husband, they discuss Marvel comics and weapons - and these topics are not interesting to me at all.

And when Rosie confessed, I was so surprised! And I got angry with myself - how is it that I didn't understand this earlier? That explained everything. And then I thought: maybe this means that I am homosexual too? Then I started reading a lot on this topic, and I tend to think that the whole question is about hormones. My sister and I have the same genetics, the same upbringing - we are together almost all our lives. But the ending turned out differently. I prefer to think of us as different remixes of the same song."

Rosie: The cool thing about being a twin is that you always have company. I always liked football, motorcycles, I was surrounded by guys, but when I listened to my sister discussing guys, I realized that I perceived them completely differently. Maybe I'm asexual at all, I thought.

When I was 18 I took an art course and there was a bisexual girl who caught my attention. I couldn't understand if I wanted to be like her, or if I wanted to be with her. When people say that, they say, if they find the reason for the change in sexual orientation, then it will be possible to change it. And I take offense at that. I do not want to change anything. I just want to understand. I also think it's about hormones. And I am glad that I can help scientists get closer to solving this question.

Jess and Sarah, 26

Jess is a designer of menswear. Sarah is preparing her doctoral dissertation. Both are in a relationship. Jess: My sister and I have been arguing constantly since the age of 15. We have never been much alike: she wore clothes with Spiderman, I was in pink, she cut her hair short, and I wanted a braid to the waist, like a princess. And when Sarah confessed to me, I burst into tears and did not want to talk to her anymore. We lived in a village, didn't watch TV, went to a very conservative school, I'm not even sure I fully understood what it meant to be homosexual.

Now, of course, I understand that then I strongly pushed my sister away and forced her to go through the rejection of the family and others without support. Now I myself am an ardent LGBT activist, although I am not gay or anyone else. It seems to me that this phenomenon is more social than we think about it.

Sarah: We've always competed with Jess. I have always said: I am one centimeter taller than you, I am faster than you. She was a very quiet girl. And in the end, my orientation built a wall between us - for a while we stopped being friends, we stopped being sisters. It seems to me that I greatly offended her by hiding from her who I was. You can be emotionally close to your twin set, but you cannot share your orientation with her.

Now we can sit down and discuss what is happening. We are very different with her, and all this is due to a different circle of communication. I have always been passionate about sports, and she has always been passionate about art. We had different friends, different interests. We grew up different. Therefore, it seems to me that the whole secret lies in society.

Harvey and Luke, 26

Harvey is an art therapy student. Luke is the receptionist at the hotel. Both are not in a relationship. Luke: As a kid, Harvey and I were just mirrors of each other. Even in photographs, we ourselves cannot understand which of us is who. And then we became different. Now Harvey is completely different from me - he has grown hair and a beard. Maybe on purpose, I don't know.

But the bond between twins is definitely stronger than between just brothers. If we talk to each other, it’s like talking to ourselves, only to another. We fully understand each other. At the age of 13, I knew that my brother was gay. At first I thought he was a womanizer - he was always surrounded by girls, and I played football. And then he confessed to me, and I was like that - Well, yeah, that doesn't surprise me. But it was very important to him. In general, it is very important for him what others think of him. Probably, if I had turned away from him then, I would have hurt him very badly.

It seems to me that the question of orientation is simply a question of how honest we are with ourselves. I think that we all in one way or another attract each other, it is another matter how open we can be about this attraction when we think about it or talk about it.

Harvey: I realized that I was gay at the age of 12. I didn't want to do what the boys said about girls. I was attracted to guys. But I kept it a secret - times, you know, were different. And I didn't look very good - big teeth, braces. I was bullied.

It seems to me that family relationships strongly influence the way we become. I spent more time with my mom, and Luke with my dad. And it seems to me that he has absorbed all the masculine features, and I got the feminine ones. It seems to me that life itself pulls out what is, depending on how our life develops.

You can read about the cynical social experiment on triplets, which was only recently uncovered, in our special article, dedicated to the story of brothers separated in childhood.