By Dr. Brian Kopp
It's been known for years that a large segment of lesbians suffer from PCO (Polycystic Ovaries) and PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome). These conditions are a result of Metabolic Syndrome and insulin resistance, which is characterized by "abdominal (central) obesity, elevated blood pressure, elevated fasting plasma glucose, high serum triglycerides, and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels."
The diseases that result from insulin resistance include a constellation of the modern maladies like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, gout and other manifestations of an inability to process a high carb diet, complicated by low levels of activity and exercise. In females with PCO and PCOS there is a higher blood level of free testosterone due to the activity of insulin on the ovary, resulting in symptoms including excess facial and body hair, baldness, acne, deepening of the voice, and loss of breast tissue.
It should go without saying that possible complications would also include higher levels of gender confusion due to the high testosterone levels. And the most common and hurtful slurs against gay women often arise from these changes in body morphology and physiology.
The first big study on the subject, Prevalence of polycystic ovaries and polycystic ovary syndrome in lesbian women compared with heterosexual women, in the November 2004 edition of the journal Fertility and Sterility, is 11 years old now, and the association between PCOS, metabolic syndrome and lesbianism had been observed prior to the 2004 study. Some clinicians and researchers have claimed that as many as 70% of lesbians suffer from it. Yet this week there were breathless headlines in the MSM:
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $1.5 million to study biological and social factors for why “three-quarters” of lesbians are obese and why gay males are not, calling it an issue of “high public-health significance."
“...[H]owever, one area that is only beginning to be recognized is the striking interplay of gender and sexual orientation in obesity disparities,” it states. “It is now well-established that women of minority sexual orientation are disproportionately affected by the obesity epidemic, with it continues.
“In stark contrast, among men, heterosexual males have nearly double the risk of obesity compared to gay males.”
The investigators say there has been “almost no” research devoted to this disparity, and they have set out to find the biological, psychological, and social factors behind it.
Actually, as the 2004 study indicates, there has been research on the subject, and the relation between PCOS, obesity and metabolic syndrome is pretty well established. Asthe 2004 study pointed out,
Lesbians are almost three times more likely than 'straight' women to suffer from a hormonal disorder that causes infertility and excessive hair growth, it has been revealed.
Scientists believe a biochemical imbalance associated with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) may contribute to the sexual orientation of women who are attracted to other women.
PCOS, the most common cause of ovarian dysfunction in women, is characterised by excessive blood levels of androgens - male steroid hormones such as testosterone.
It is the high concentration of free testosterone that is thought to contribute to lesbianism.
...Almost all the lesbian women - 80 per cent - had polycystic ovaries (PCO) compared with 32 per cent of heterosexual women.
In other words the vast majority of lesbianism is treatable with low carb diets, hormone therapy and testosterone blockers and meds such as Metformin, the same treatments that are already well established in modern medical care for PCOS.
But we'll still waste millions on studies like the one announced this week.
Why? Because as the 2004 study took great pains to point out,
"Our research neither suggests nor indicates that PCO/PCOS causes lesbianism, only that PCO/PCOS is more prevalent in lesbian women.
"We do, however, hypothesise that hyper-androgenism, which is associated with PCOS, may be one of the factors contributing to the sexual orientation of women."
But she was quick to dismiss any idea that treatments for PCOS could be seen as a 'cure' for lesbianism.
"We do not view lesbianism as a disease that is in need of a cure,", she said. "The only aspects of healthcare we offer these women are reproductive health and assisted reproduction."
No, no need of a cure, even when it is possible with further research, because of the reigning orthodoxy that all gays are "born that way."