Women can influence sex of child...

[visceral_instinct]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/features/article3598093.ece

that levels of testosterone in the follicles (which produce the egg) reliably predict the sex of the embryo and, more startling, that the egg may well come out already adapted to receive an X or Y chromosome-bearing sperm. In lay terms this means that the female has already “decided” which sex offspring to have before sperm get involved.

 

[Orleander]

Hasn't there also been studies that show a woman can 'decide' if her child is gay or straight? (fetal androgen levels)

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

Hasn't there also been studies that show a woman can 'decide' if her child is gay or straight? (fetal androgen levels)

The last report on that subject I saw that had any trappings of respectability said that since it's pretty irrefutable that sexual orientation is not genetic, and it's also pretty irrefutable that sexual orientation is not environmental, about the only thing left that could affect it is conditions in utero.

 

[visceral_instinct]

Sexual orientation not genetic?

I thought there was some evidence that there are genes that in women cause greater fertility, but in male family members may case homosexuality...

I'll google it.

 

[visceral_instinct]

Hasn't there also been studies that show a woman can 'decide' if her child is gay or straight? (fetal androgen levels)

It can influence it but can't outright decide it.

Girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (where the glands are enlarged and over produce testosterone) have a higher incidence of homosexuality in later life than non affected girls, suggesting the hormones caused their brain to become more like that of a hetero male. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenatal_hormones_and_sexual_orientation

Girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (an autosomal recessive condition which results in high androgen levels during fetal development) have more masculinized sex role identities and are more likely to have a homosexual sexual orientation as adults than controls [16][17][18][19][20]. An alternative explanation for this effect is the fact that girls with this condition are born with masculinized external genitalia, which leads their parents to raise them in a more masculine manner, which then influences their sexual orientation as adults. However, the degree to which the girls' genitals are masculinized does not correlate with their sexual orientation, suggesting that prenatal hormones are the causal factor, not parental influence.