Same DNA, different sexuality: Meet the identical twins taking part in a new study on what really makes us who we are

Aug 12, 2018 by Jill

by Lizzie Pook, You Magazine:

These identical twins share the same genes and upbringing, but one of them is straight and the other gay. They’re taking part in a new study that aims to help us understand what makes us who we are – and why we fall for who we do.

With mirror-image mannerisms and matching DNA, identical twins capture something in our imaginations. They are mysterious – how many times have you asked a set of twins if they can feel each other’s pain or read one another’s thoughts? – possessing an iron-strong bond that non-twins can’t even begin to wrap their heads around. But as so much is said about twins’ ‘sameness’, what happens when they differ in one fundamental aspect of their lives: their sexuality?

New research carried out by Dr Tuesday Watts and her team of psychologists at the University of Essex seeks to determine how and why, despite having the same upbringing and the same genes, identical twins can identify with different sexual orientations.

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