Thread: sexuality

Is a person born homosexual or there is a psychological change when the person grows?

i think its both. there have been studies into genes playin a role, and personal taste. not sure of details

genes cause tendancies in a person, but those tendancies are only brought out through experience and the environment you live in.

what do you guys know about homosexuality?! Well... to be fair, what do I know about it... I am it.

I think it has to do with the environment entirely. I mean I never really met my dad until I was 10, I was always left out at school...

I think there are a variety of factors that play into why one is homosexual. It's not just one thing.

In lesbian women it has been found that they have higher than average testosterone levels.

Why are straight people straight? Are they born straight? Are we conditioned as babies to be "girls that like boys" and "boys that likes girls" Why doesn't so called "gender conformity" work for everyone? Maybe we should be looking at these questions too...

Hey,


I do not believe that we are born with any particular sexual orientation. As wildfire has stated it is definately to do with the environment. However, I feel that there also must be a slight genetic factor involved.


Kevster

I think it is clear that everyone is born either homosexual or more likely simply asexual. The little boys generally do not like the little girls and visa versa. So this is definitely something which happens later.

Ok, so I am just being silly. Let us be a little more serious about it. Sexual attaction is a clearly a very complex interaction between mind and body, which we do not understand a lot about. We know that a number of people experience a number of different abnormalities: sexual arousal by domination, submission, children and even murder. Extreme case study is a typical method of scientific analysis. Are these abnormalities the result of birth or a result of psychological development? I tend to think it is the latter, and I think that this implies that same-sex arousal is also the result of psychological development.

The gay right community want to insist that "sexual preference" is a matter of birth and not a matter of choice. Well I may grant that it may not be a matter of conscious choice but I think that a person's psychological development must be put into one of two categories: pathological or personality. One is not held responsible for psychological development which is considered pathological, for it is considered to be a disease which must be treated. But one must be held responsible for psychological development which is considered a matter of personality, which means it is essentially a matter of choice whether a conscious one or not.

there was an article in some magizine that stated most gay people suffered physical trauma at some point in there lives.... any idea why this would matter?

Originally Posted by chamilton333

there was an article in some magizine that stated most gay people suffered physical trauma at some point in there lives.... any idea why this would matter?

It is quite easy for me to imagine that a male parent's extreme and rigid attitudes about masculinity can easily cause a child to (at least unconsciously) resort to homosexuality as a way of escaping such completely unpalatable attitudes and ideas. Some violent men are not only likely to impose an idea of masculinity which seems monstrous but continued disparagement of a child in comparison to this twisted "standard" could easily destroy any desire to live up to it.

i think its psykological

When it is said that genes play a role, to what is that referring?

The clearest answer to that is how genes control development of the brain.

Sexuality is a matter of behavior and as such it's basis resides in the brain. Even though babies are not born capable of sexual behaviors it doesn't mean that the pathways that will govern their later sexuality are not been formed. In fact, many of the circuits that will later be used in generating sexuality ARE formed prior to birth. The maturation of these neuronal circuits continues through adolescence, but most of the neurons are already there at birth. The properties of these circuits are influences by hormones and their nuclear receptors. Endogenous or environmental hormones can influence the development of these circuits. Someone could be strongly influenced to become a homosexual later in life by their genes but phenotypes are always the result of genes and their interaction with a particular environment.