"The stroke had turned me gay"

[LemonAndLime]

Following a stroke, Chris Birch’s personality and sexuality altered dramatically. Now he is trying to rediscover who he is and why these changes may have happened.

After a freak accident in 2011, he says he underwent a big change to his personality. He believes that he has gone from being straight to gay.

“I was doing a forward roll down a grass bank one day and cut off the blood supply to my brain which caused a stroke to happen. It was from there, while I was recovering, that I realised I’d changed,” says Birch, from Caerphilly. “The Chris I knew had gone and a new Chris sort of came along. I came to the realisation that the stroke had turned me gay.”

A stroke occurs when the blood, and therefore, oxygen supply to the brain is disrupted. Without oxygen, any part of the brain can be destroyed as brain cells die, leaving the brain to make new connections, which can affect how a person thinks, moves or feels.

bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17703018

 

[prodigalson2011]

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone…

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[Aelred_Minor]

This has been discussed on CAF before, though not recently as far as I know. It’s not surprising to me that there would be any kind of psychological changes following brain damage, such as from a stroke.

On the other hand it might be that the man was attracted to other men before this and is using the fact of the stroke to avoid admitting to faking heterosexuality earlier in his life. Who knows?

If the story is in fact true, I think the implications for the social politics of homosexuality would depend on the prejudices of the person doing the interpretation. One person could see in it affirmation that homosexuality isn’t a choice. Another could see the incident as supporting the idea that homosexuality is or at least can be an acquired psychological/neurological disorder, since it seems as though it arose through neurological damage in this case.

 

[meltzerboy]

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.

deedeedeedee
deedeedeedee

BTW, do you know if there is a July 4th Twilight Zone marathon this year?

Regarding the original post, no comment…

 

[prodigalson2011]

BTW, do you know if there is a July 4th Twilight Zone marathon this year?

Regarding the original post, no comment…

Not a clue. SyFy only skipped it in 2010, but brought it back the next year. My guess is they caught a lot of grief for it. So hopefully so.

 

[Lifesong]

I too believe he likely had some degree of same sex attraction and it is likely that the brain injury or stroke caused a decrease in inhibitions. While a change in sexual orientation is not a common symptom post injury changes in sexuality and levels of inhibition are. Just some thoughts from a rehabilitation nurse.

 

[po18guy]

To me, this sounds like something from The Onion.

 

[Dale_M]

This has been discussed on CAF before, though not recently as far as I know. It’s not surprising to me that there would be any kind of psychological changes following brain damage, such as from a stroke.

I think personality changes due to traumatic brain injury sustained in wartime are fairly well documented. Whether the stroke which Mr. Birch suffered arose to such a degree of brain damage, I don’t know.

On the other hand it might be that the man was attracted to other men before this and is using the fact of the stroke to avoid admitting to faking heterosexuality earlier in his life. Who knows?

In the earlier news coverage, Mr. Birch referred to himself as having become “a preened man.” And from one of the photos in the BBC article, he appears to be wearing finger nail polish. And then there is the matter of his abandoning his career in banking to becoming a hairdresser.

The change in Mr. Birch seems to involve much more than sexual orientation. Certainly most gay men do not wear nail polish or work as hairdressers. Being gay doesn’t mean he couldn’t continue to work in banking or maintain his “skinhead” (his word for his previous self) lifestyle. It seems he not only switched his stated sexual orientation, but became something resembling the stereotype of an effeminate gay man.

 

[GEddie]

Extreme changes of personality following damage to the brain have been studied at least since Phineas Gage, who suffered a crowbar blown through his head in the mid 1800s (and lived over a decade afterward).

BTW, this is the 3d thread on this topic. The 2nd got shut down only a few days ago. A conversation on the vagaries of the human mind would be cool; but there is no news in this news item.

ICXC NIKA

 

[Publisher]

I think personality changes due to traumatic brain injury sustained in wartime are fairly well documented. Whether the stroke which Mr. Birch suffered arose to such a degree of brain damage, I don’t know.

In the earlier news coverage, Mr. Birch referred to himself as having become “a preened man.” And from one of the photos in the BBC article, he appears to be wearing finger nail polish. And then there is the matter of his abandoning his career in banking to becoming a hairdresser.

The change in Mr. Birch seems to involve much more than sexual orientation. Certainly most gay men do not wear nail polish or work as hairdressers. Being gay doesn’t mean he couldn’t continue to work in banking or maintain his “skinhead” (his word for his previous self) lifestyle. It seems he not only switched his stated sexual orientation, but became something resembling the stereotype of an effeminate gay man.

Sounds like a case of “latent homosexuality” than “switching orientations”.

The stroke was more of a “catalyst” for his sexual orientation to fully manifest. There are great complexities of human sexuality.