“The structure and function of the brain are influenced not only by biological factors but also by learning and experience.” (The Sexual Brain, by William Byne & Eileen Kemmether, Principles of Medical Biology, Volume 14, 2000, Pages 59-86).
This article will not focus heavily on science and scientific terms that may deny ordinary people, like me, the appreciation of its core message. That said, from the above quote, I understand (for emphasis) that the structure and function of my brain are influenced by the following:
Biological factors
Learning and experience.
Biological factors include hormonal levels and neurotransmitter levels. Neurotransmitters include dopamine (for movement), serotonin (for emotion), norepinephrine (for alertness), and acetylcholine and histamine, which help the brain to communicate with the body.
To appreciate how learning and experience affect the function of the brain, you need to understand neuroplasticity, which is simply the ability of the brain to form and reorganize synaptic connections, in response to learning and/or experience. Wikipedia provides a clear, layman’s explanation of neuroplasticity as “the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. It is when the brain is rewired to function in some way that differs from how it previously functioned. These changes range from individual neuron pathways making new connections, to systematic adjustments like cortical remapping. Examples of neuroplasticity include circuit and network changes that result from learning a new ability, environmental influences, practice, and psychological stress. Neuroplasticity was once thought by neuroscientists to manifest only during childhood, but research in the latter half of the 20th century showed that many aspects of the brain can be altered (or are “plastic”) even through adulthood. However, the developing brain exhibits a higher degree of plasticity than the adult brain.” (Source: Wikipedia).
Brain activity varies in humans and depends on activity in the brain regions such as the hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus and the limbic system. There is a lot of literature on the role of the brain in sex and sexual arousal. It is easy to understand how learning and experience have influenced the functioning of my brain, through neuroplasticity (more especially in early life while the brain was still developing). As an adult, I am able to control and manage the kind of learning and experience that influence the neuroplasticity and therefore the functioning of my brain. On the contrary, I hardly know what specific biological factors influence the structure and functioning of my brain, apart from what is commonly known from science and literature. And therefore, for me (as may be the case for many others), there is very little I feel I can do about changing or correcting those biological factors, such as neurotransmitter levels, that influence the functioning of my brain.
As a person, the sheer number of high-tech ideas I’ve had over the years and the difficulty in getting my brain to actually create any of them may frequently frustrate me. I may be frustrated getting my brain around certain science and technology concepts, while some 8-years olds manage to grasp them. If the structure and functioning of the brain can easily be re-programmed like programming a robot, I am sure all of us can do and create everything we want. Practically though, the structure and function of the brains of any two individuals are not the same, and while learning and experience can bridge the function gap, I do not yet know how the biological factors gap can be bridged.
So, I understand that, in any activity that is in large part controlled by my brain, I act differently from another person. And that includes sexual arousal. Stanley Althof, a Professor Emeritus of Psychology, has said: “Sexual desire is very complicated — I say it’s a combination of brain function, hormones and love, wine and roses”. (Source: CNN). This article will focus a bit more on “brain function”. As a heterosexual male, I understand from the literature how the brain plays a central role in getting me sexually aroused, getting blood pumped into my sexual organ, achieving, and retaining erection and being able to climax during sex. The brain plays a central role in all these aspects of my sexual life. And so, I can equally understand why the brain of my heterosexual friend only sends the strongest of these sexual arousal signals when he is with a woman with big breasts and big buttocks. I can also understand why for some people, they can never function under certain circumstances because their brain is not wired to be able to process and send the signals required to activate the body to perform those activities.
The body of science around the brain and sex is still developing and some aspects are debatable. Until we fully understand and can develop medicine and technology that can switch the brain to be able to process and send the same signals to all persons under all circumstances (which would effectively turn all of us into robots), it would be difficult to simply explain away the significance of why my friend only gets maximum arousal from the brain when he is with a woman with particular characteristics.
The Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021
I have heard some proponents and supporters of the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 (a.k.a. The Anti-LGBT+ Bill) argue that even animals don’t engage in homosexuality and that is one of the reasons for seeking to criminalize homosexuality and imprison persons engaged in homosexual activities. Some also argue that homosexuality is a lifestyle issue and has nothing to do with the biological makeup of the individual. If you look at the three factors listed above that influence the structure and function of the brain, it is hard to accept the argument that homosexuality is only a lifestyle issue. If indeed the brain plays a central role in sexual arousal, then the fairest argument would be that sexual arousal is logically and consequentially influenced by the same factors that affect the structure and function of the brain, i.e., biological factors, learning and experience. And, as explained earlier, while I have control over learning and experience as an adult, I do not yet know of any scientific means for changing or controlling the biological factors that influence the function of my brain, such as neurotransmitter levels. Thus, any methods, solutions and treatment designed to address any activity where my brain plays a central role must not only seek to address the learning and experience factors but also, principally, the biological factors.
So, I have a few questions for Parliament, the President of the Republic and the general public:
Will a 3-year jail term, conversion therapy, prayers, beatings, insults and even murders, address the biological factors, such as neurotransmitter levels, that influence the structure and function of the brain which sends sexual arousal signals to the body of the homosexual person?
What was the empirical evidence attached to the Memorandum that accompanied the Anti-LGBT+ Bill to Parliament which conclusively proves that homosexuality is a lifestyle issue?
If the State cannot back the rationale behind a law that seeks to criminalize a section of the population by scientific data, should the law not be deemed to violate the dignity and hence human rights of that segment of the population, as enshrined in Article 15(1) of our Constitution?
Should the State just get up one day and say, the majority of us don’t like how the brains of a minority group work, so let us pass a legislation to outlaw their existence and activities controlled by their brains?
Given that imprisonment is meant for both retributive and restorative justice, how will the State carry out appropriate reformation of convicted homosexuals if the State does not even fully understand the factors that influence homosexuality in the first place?
Or is the State just recklessly setting up otherwise innocent citizens to become repeat criminal offenders of the law with a view to permanently destroying them?
Should this bill, when passed into law, not be challenged at the Supreme Court under Article 15(1) in that it is not backed by scientific data and hence the State will have no capacity to meet its constitutional injunctions under Article 15(2) and Article 208(3)(k) – in the sense that conversion therapy, prison terms and other measures/punishments amount to “torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”, because those measures/punishments are not scientifically proven to be capable of reversing homosexuality?
If this law is allowed to be implemented, how different would the Ghanaian State be from families who send relatives to prayer camps, where the so-called prophet has no clue what is wrong with the victim but uses physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological abuse, in experiment, to force a change in the behavioural and health conditions of the victim, and where they only succeed in further degrading the physical and mental state of the victim?
By Kwaku Antwi-Boasiako, Accra
April 14, 2023
