| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/7/2008 9:16:08 PM | How come two people from the same gender can fall in love? Is it happen as a result of social development (environment, society etc.) or its genetic?
If it is caused by genetic reasons , do you think that it is a disorder? no offense...I don't mean aything bad, I am only trying to understand...and also curious whether animals can be gay or not! | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/7/2008 9:24:57 PM | Yes, there are hundreds of examples of gay animals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_animals | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/7/2008 9:52:48 PM | wtf... or some mad new testament biblical hypercritical basher
tis a good answer aint it | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 4:56:04 AM | | I think there's definately a genetic component (really, who would choose to be gay, made fun of and beaten up, if they had the choice?), but for those in the bi range social conditioning can influence them not to express the gay side of the bi-ness (or the straight side in some cases, but I think that's less common). Particularly with men, since these days it's much more accepted for women to be bi, which is why you see alot more women being bi. | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 5:55:07 AM | Look at a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and one of the players side by side. Decide which one turns you on more (in my case, 100% the cheerleader and 0% the dude!)
Now try to imagine changing that response merely by CHOOSING to be gay. As you can see, it is quite obviously impossible!
Being gay is very definitely a genetic condition and not a choice (of course, AwP's observation is also correct, but only for those who are born bi.)
Being born gay is not a "defect", it is a perfectly neutral difference. The only possible sense in which it could rationally be considered "wrong" is that it does not lead to reproduction (but that is actually a good thing in today's severely overpopulated world!) The only objections to homosexuality are based on religion, and are therefore complete bullsh*t (because all religion is complete bullsh*t.)
Gay bashers are bad people who enjoy violence for its own sake, and merely use gayness as an excuse. There is no difference between being anti-gay and being racist. | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 6:13:54 AM | | There are probably genetic and environmental factors that influence sexual orientation. Social factors are important in so far as sexual activities are permissible or forbidden, regardless of sexual orientation. What kinds of sexual activities are permitted or forbidden depends a great deal on the moral codes and laws a society adopts. Islamic countries for example, forbid homosexual and extra-marital sex and have fairly severe punishments when these activities are done, but in the secular West these activities are legal and also often seen as morally acceptable, or at least as not the business of anyone but the consenting parties involved. | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 10:49:13 AM | Wicked_desires I do not agree that by adding mad and hypercritical to anyone’s statement with who you do not agree with makes you right, stronger, or more believable, not to mention things beyond our limitations, power, and understanding... | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 11:09:22 AM | | I think that it isnt natural and perverted but im not a gay basher or anything like that I honestly think that it is everyones choice if they want to touch a guy in a sexual manner whatever happened to brotherly love, you cant reproduce if you are gay if i was "gay" and couldnt get a hard on from a girl i would be celibent. I mean what guy cant get a hard on from a beautiful girl its kinda mind boggling. Also if you arnt harming any one i have no problem with it, its none of my business if you are gay or not. | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 11:23:30 AM |
I mean what guy cant get a hard on from a beautiful girl its kinda mind boggling.
So, you're straight. Now, turn that around and you have exactly the mental process a fully gay person has... they didn't choose, they just are truly attracted to and excited by the same gender.
if i was "gay" and couldnt get a hard on from a girl i would be celibent.
Really? I doubt that.
I think that it isnt natural and perverted but im not a gay basher or anything like that
"it isnt natural and perverted" makes that an intrinsically bigoted statement. It's also a demonstrably false statement, if you'd bothered to read the other responses here.  | |
|
| |
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 11:30:43 AM | | I believe that gay people just have a gay imagination and need to control there imagination better | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 11:39:31 AM | I do not belive that there is any psychological genetic trait that can not be altered with social conditioning.
We have seen some fairly effective brainwashing performed under lab conditions, whereby a persons character can be completely remodeled in just a few weeks.
We also know that thoughts can actually alter the structure of the brain. cAT scans of London cabies, showed that those who had "the Knowledge" had an are in the prefrontal cortex that was shaped difrently to normal peoples. Other studies have shown that this holds true for just about any part of the brain.
The brain is prety maleable and elastic. We can train it to do things that seem increadible or imposible to start with, but we can only work with what we have. We can not train the brain to think faster but we can train it to think more efficiently.
Where I am going with this is, that we can train the brain to overcome stumbling blocks like depresion, and there is belived to be a genetic component to this. So it may be that the brains of gay people could be retrained to go straight and vice versa.
Persoanlly I belive that there is no psychological state that is governed by our genes, that we can not alter with concious thought. But of course this brings up the point of wether homsexualtiy is a psychological state or physical difrence in the wiring of the brain.
It is imposible to rewire the brain. We can alter the way we think and even change the sizes of the structures of the brain but we can not change the way the brain is conected up, like with dyslexics who can not learn the way other people do. If homesxuality is to do with the wiring of the brain then it is set and imutable.
I guess I didn't really answer the question did I? Well at present I belive sexualtiy is largely choice, but i'm willing to change that view if more evidence is presented. | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 11:50:21 AM | I do not belive that there is any psychological genetic trait that can not be altered with social conditioning.
We have seen some fairly effective brainwashing performed under lab conditions, whereby a persons character can be completely remodeled in just a few weeks.
We also know that thoughts can actually alter the structure of the brain. cAT scans of London cabies, showed that those who had "the Knowledge" had an are in the prefrontal cortex that was shaped difrently to normal peoples. Other studies have shown that this holds true for just about any part of the brain.
The brain is prety maleable and elastic. We can train it to do things that seem increadible or imposible to start with, but we can only work with what we have. We can not train the brain to think faster but we can train it to think more efficiently.
Where I am going with this is, that we can train the brain to overcome stumbling blocks like depresion, and there is belived to be a genetic component to this. So it may be that the brains of gay people could be retrained to go straight and vice versa.
Persoanlly I belive that there is no psychological state that is governed by our genes, that we can not alter with concious thought. But of course this brings up the point of wether homsexualtiy is a psychological state or physical difrence in the wiring of the brain.
It is imposible to rewire the brain. We can alter the way we think and even change the sizes of the structures of the brain but we can not change the way the brain is conected up, like with dyslexics who can not learn the way other people do. If homesxuality is to do with the wiring of the brain then it is set and imutable.
I guess I didn't really answer the question did I? Well at present I belive sexualtiy is largely choice, but i'm willing to change that view if more evidence is presented.
Ever hear about the case study of the twin boys? One of the boy's penis was burnt off during a botched circumsicion. The parents then, with some convincing from a psychologist, decided to raise the child as a 'girl'.
It was a monumental disaster, and the 'girl' eventually re-adopted a male name, got married and eventually shot himself in the parking lot of a grocery store. | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 1:02:01 PM | | I disagree I believe that its genetic. Case in point Oprah had a family on her show that had eight grown children and the four boys were ALL GAY and the four girls were all straight. So that shows me there is clearly a genetic component to homosexuality. | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 2:38:27 PM | There is no one clear reason that a human being will allow him or herself to be identified as homosexual. There are many reasons for this, and not all people who allow themselves to be identified as homosexual actually are. (There's a mind-bender for ya.)
As anyone marginally familiar with scientific knowledge over the last hundred years or so can tell you, many living organisms are not fixed in gender but can actually change genders according to such variables as environment, temperature, diet, and so on.
I don't doubt that there are some people who allow themselves to be identified as homosexual because of overwhelming compulsion due to genetic trait.
I also don't doubt that there are many people who allow themselves to be identified as homosexual because it was something they chose over a period of time, according to individual reasoning--which is often more mysterious and involved than genetic trait.
Add to the above those who are identified as homosexual, whether they want to be or not, because of:
* A particular type of behavior over which the person has little conscious control, likely the result of parental influence, and sometimes the influence of peers in youth.
* Convenience--i.e., a guy or girl who considers him/herself to be straight but then is put into a situation, such as prison, where there is only one gender available for sexual gratification.
* Gross physical appearance. I have known men (and women too) who were so used to being categorized as homosexual because of their visual impression on others that they just sort of "gave up" and went gay as the path of least resistance.
Every human being has a potential for bisexual behavior, given the right circumstances. (If that was not the case, why would sexual orgies continue in popularity from ancient times?)
If seeing someone of the same sex gettin it on really grossed you out so much, you would not be able to look at porn. Sure, maybe you wouldn't kiss him, or let him kiss you--but you don't mind watching him in action with someone else, right?
Think about it.
~~~ yours in Chaos, Scarlett | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 3:52:33 PM | without reading thru the entire wiki article, i seriously doubt that so-called animal homosexual behavior is in actuality sexual at all. animals are purely instinct driven when it comes to mating (with the exception of certain monkeys), and homosexuality clearly serves absolutely no genetic/evolutionary or species-preservation advantage.
my female dogs hump each other all the time. does that mean they're lesbians? of course not. what many so-called "behaviorists" would misinterpret as homosexual behavior is really a form of non-threatening dominance display, and IT'S NOTHING MORE THAN THAT. animals -- especially social animals -- have all kinds of ways to establish and maintain dominance, or to test their own position in the hierarchy. these methods often manifest through play, i.e., behavior that looks like something else -- chasing, fighting, biting, or mounting.
tell me, how do these incredible scientific geniuses actually prove that animals are "homosexual"? do they send them a questionnaire? do they show them dirty pictures of same-sex animal porn? do they read their little animal minds?
i'm willing to go way out on a limb and assume that the play-mounting behavior pattern i see in my dogs is exactly the same thing as in any other species -- a non-threatening dominance display. unless and until somebody can prove to me that same-sex humping in animals is "homosexual interest", i am laughing at your preposterous anthropomorphizing.
it's lame and stupid to extend by implication the simple and innocent behavior of animals onto the sexual motivations of human beings. if you want to be gay, why do you need "nature" to justify it in any way? go ahead and be gay! in the meantime, the idea that animals can actually be homosexual is laughable. | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 4:08:50 PM |
in the meantime, the idea that animals can actually be homosexual is laughable.
laughable, perhaps, but clearly demonstrated in peer-reviewed research, not just someone's gut impression of animal behavior.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/031225377X/ | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 4:36:11 PM | god, i love amazon. thanks for the link, and for helping me to prove my point. even the authors of this book are sensible enough admit right off the bat that so-called "homosexual" behavior in animals is nothing like homosexual behavior in human beings. yes, it is "homo" -- and -- "sexual" in the strictest semantic sense of the word, but it sure isn't anything approaching "queer eye".
love that carson kressley!! | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 4:38:50 PM | Some people have to open their eyes wider to the world around them and realize that there is an innate reason for exactly who we are - in all aspects - gay or not!
Just tell me - who on earth would ever choose to be in a category of people who have to endure the ignorance and hatred of the obtuse! When people realize that we never choose who and what we are - when we become tollerant and accepting of one another for the precious gift God has placed on this earth - questions like this would not exist!
edit (below) ....... and there we have it OBTUSE!!! What a shame people think like that!!! | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 4:52:15 PM | | Homosexuals are conditioned to be homosexuals at an early age. There are books about those that chose to become straight again and reverse what they were conditioned as youth. | |
|
| |
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 6:59:58 PM | | I almost have to insist to myself that anyone that does'nt believe truly gay people are gay by nature have never met a truly gay person. Nobody taught these people to be this way. In fact if you watch theirs stories they tell how they have to hide this from their friends and family because they will be ousted or beat to death. Hardly the behavior of someone brought up in that enviorment. | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 7:06:18 PM |
Some people have to open their eyes wider to the world around them and realize that there is an innate reason for exactly who we are - in all aspects - gay or not!
Just tell me - who on earth would ever choose to be in a category of people who have to endure the ignorance and hatred of the obtuse! When people realize that we never choose who and what we are - when we become tollerant and accepting of one another for the precious gift God has placed on this earth - questions like this would not exist!
The issue here is if homosex has genetic causes or not...I have no problem with gays and actually had a dinner with a gay couple last saturday...
"Question like this" would help us progress...
Even if society fully accepts gay rights, what about gays themselves? do you think all of them would still be happy living like this even though the social pressure could be eliminated? they cannot have their own children. ..may be some of them have no problem with this but I don't think all of them prefer it...
If science find a way to fix this then who knows there would be huge line ups in front of clinics....its about bringing them the option...but I don't think any body is working on this issue...and that is sad!
that is why it is important to discuss.... | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 7:11:36 PM | I have known people of the gay persuasion who would seem to fit one or the other of the two common possible explanations. Jury is still in on that one, as far as I am concerned. Maybe both is possible. Some have seemed to know at a very young age, as if it was inborn whether caused by genes or early in-uteri hormones, etc. Others have over gone some 'trauma' involving the opposite sex, or the classical parental upbringing that was supposed to 'cause' it. I am of the opinion it might be some kind of 'imprinting' on the brain caused by a very early sexual or sensual experience, in a sort of similar way that certain fetishes seem to be created.
But does it matter? "They" seem to fall in and out of love like the rest of us. Whom exactly are they hurting and why does it bother people so much? | |
|
| being gay - genetic or social
Posted: 12/8/2008 7:14:53 PM | sweetalicya, please read my previous post...
But does it matter? "They" seem to fall in and out of love like the rest of us. Whom exactly are they hurting and why does it bother people so much?
It doesn't bother me personally...but if it is genetic, if it can be cured, then the option should be made available to them...if they are happy the way they are then I don't care.... | |
|
Home
login 
