• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Is Homosexuality A Choice?

Is Homosexuality A Choice?

  • Yes

    Votes: 33 15.9%
  • No

    Votes: 136 65.7%
  • Maybe/Don't Know

    Votes: 38 18.4%

  • Total voters
    207
I'm not sure you were ever sixteen. No, that's not how it worked then. And they did not have to be naked. I remember very distinctly reaction to a home EC teacher. No thought. No decision to look. Just seeing an reacting. Talk to other men with better memories.

And again, if you don't try both out, you do not have enough information for an informed choice.

Are you talking about the spontaneous erection? Are you saying that a spontaneous erection must be linked with something in the environment? a home ec teacher perhaps? Or do you think it wasn't spontaneous at all? well, i am trying to speak in general terms about stimulus and response. Of course, individual reports may vary. I accept that. I hope that you accept that memory is not perfect and can sometimes be sublimated by preferences/comfort/desire. which is why it is better, in my opinion, to speak in general terms.
 
Are you talking about the spontaneous erection? Are you saying that a spontaneous erection must be linked with something in the environment? a home ec teacher perhaps? Or do you think it wasn't spontaneous at all? well, i am trying to speak in general terms about stimulus and response. Of course, individual reports may vary. I accept that. I hope that you accept that memory is not perfect and can sometimes be sublimated by preferences/comfort/desire. which is why it is better, in my opinion, to speak in general terms.

But we're speaking of development when we talk about choice. Most of us never consider going the other way. If we did, we'd wake up at sixteen and say its time. Go kick the tires on each, experiment with both, then and only then could we really choose. But attraction doesn't work that way. Instead we see one, and are attracted. See another and are not. There is no choice in it.
 
Revolutionary isn't it? sorry i'm tired. I'm saying we are all the same as far as we are all bisexual. On top of that lowest common denominator, the choice to live as a bisexual, homo or hetero are the minor differences among us. Those little lifestyle choices, different as they may be, do not trump our common ability to make different choices. If you call me crazy I won't argue. I believe my ideas are possible though.






yes. we all rationalize. that goes back to turning ideas around in our heads until we find the side we are comfortable with. we are all biased. If we disagree, then it is clear that we must be biased.

I don't hav any evidence that homosexuality can be changed. I think the existence of bisexuals supports my idea though. I think prison behavior and navy ship behavior and monastery behavior and boy-scout camp behavior support my idea that attractions can change. If coffee can be an acquired taste, why not gay sex? nah. that's crazy. In a small town, fat chics with pretty faces are all 10's. Beauty and sexual desire are in the eye of the beholder. There are deep-seated(seeded?) reasons why we are scared to contemplate the possibility of having choice in the matter.

I can only speak for myself, but I don't necessarily believe that we are all anything. I believe in the spectra. If anything reality makes me believe we areall very different. Some kids are gay when they are little like as young 4 years old. And the same for straight people. I frankly don't think we are all bisexual i don't think a measurable percent is bisexual. But that has been my experience. I don't agree with you. What do you base your theory on.

Yes you choose to have sex with people, but I dint think you can choose your orientation. I would like to hear how you formulated such a theory of it is indeed a theory.
 
I dont get these people here that think they have the power to stop people from deciding that they are gay or not. The key here is that for some it is their choice.

They always like to ask if heteros decided that they are straight? Well yes I decided that I was straight, it was after all my choice not someone elses. I certainly didnt decide that I was gay when I was first learning about sexuality. It was a conscious decision, I said ya know I like girls now. Before I liked girls I would have rather been around other boys. Icky girls and their playing with dolls and talking about other girls and all that was not what I wanted as a young boy. Then puberty hit then I liked girls a lot but I didnt want to be one I wanted to figure out how to get them naked. But really I could have thought differently with different surroundings and different influences.

But hey if you assert that you were born gay and you had no decision in the mater, hell its your life live it up I really dont care. Im ok with that claim doesnt affect me in any way. But just because you were born that way doesnt mean that everyone was born that way. Some people despite your narrow belief system do have a choice in their sexuality.

Or as my very gay friend says: 'Im gay because I want to be gay, and I have big enough balls to back that claim'. Who am I to argue with his choice? ANd who are you to tell him that he has no choice?
 
I dont get these people here that think they have the power to stop people from deciding that they are gay or not. The key here is that for some it is their choice.

They always like to ask if heteros decided that they are straight? Well yes I decided that I was straight, it was after all my choice not someone elses. I certainly didnt decide that I was gay when I was first learning about sexuality. It was a conscious decision, I said ya know I like girls now. Before I liked girls I would have rather been around other boys. Icky girls and their playing with dolls and talking about other girls and all that was not what I wanted as a young boy. Then puberty hit then I liked girls a lot but I didnt want to be one I wanted to figure out how to get them naked. But really I could have thought differently with different surroundings and different influences.

But hey if you assert that you were born gay and you had no decision in the mater, hell its your life live it up I really dont care. Im ok with that claim doesnt affect me in any way. But just because you were born that way doesnt mean that everyone was born that way. Some people despite your narrow belief system do have a choice in their sexuality.

Or as my very gay friend says: 'Im gay because I want to be gay, and I have big enough balls to back that claim'. Who am I to argue with his choice? ANd who are you to tell him that he has no choice?

Did you try out sex with each?
 
I'm not sure you were ever sixteen. No, that's not how it worked then. And they did not have to be naked. I remember very distinctly reaction to a home EC teacher. No thought. No decision to look. Just seeing an reacting. Talk to other men with better memories.

And again, if you don't try both out, you do not have enough information for an informed choice.

An erection is absolutely an involuntary thing. I studied male sexuality for my thesis. You wake up with an erection, when you fight you get an erection, when men die they typically die with erection. It is a default. You don't make erections happen. I have a teenage boy that I have to explain that to at least once a week that it is involuntary.

I don't think Navy squid speaks from any educational background. Perhaps he is having trouble with his sexual identity.
 
An erection is absolutely an involuntary thing. I studied male sexuality for my thesis. You wake up with an erection, when you fight you get an erection, when men die they typically die with erection. It is a default. You don't make erections happen. I have a teenage boy that I have to explain that to at least once a week that it is involuntary.

I don't think Navy squid speaks from any educational background. Perhaps he is having trouble with his sexual identity.

I know. It is the involuntary aspect I was trying to get across.

As for him, maybe.
 
But we're speaking of development when we talk about choice. Most of us never consider going the other way. If we did, we'd wake up at sixteen and say its time. Go kick the tires on each, experiment with both, then and only then could we really choose. But attraction doesn't work that way. Instead we see one, and are attracted. See another and are not. There is no choice in it.

well, that is where i disagree. i believe that we get attracted by... first, choosing to pay attention, then choosing what particular thoughts to entertain. then by choosing to let those thoughts/images continue long enough to have a reaction on us.

I identify as heterosexual. I fantasize sex with women. If i chose, I could picture a man, fantasize about him, and , as long as i push away the discomfort, ignore my fear of consequences, ignore what i thought my identity was all along, then i could enjoy this fantasy and masturbate to it. and orgasm. But, if i indulge in the thoughts that allowing this fantasy to go on will have negative consequences for me, then i am less likely to allow the fantasy to play out to the endpoint of orgasm. if i indulge my initial distaste, then i will never get past that distaste and discover the pleasure that this fantasy could lead to.

I think that is what people do. They immediately stop certain thoughts from continuing, OR after only a short time with minimal effort, they give up. This prevents the fantasy and the orgasm from ever developing. The reason, is that they chose to entertain the thoughts of the negative consequences. Now i understand that some of these neg consequences are very real. but that does not mean that they can not be ignored.

there are people who say they have tried and tried to get aroused by women. I don't dispute that. I dispute HOW they tried, and HOW long they tried, and how much effort they put into ignoring the potential neg consequences.
 
An erection is absolutely an involuntary thing. I studied male sexuality for my thesis. You wake up with an erection, when you fight you get an erection, when men die they typically die with erection. It is a default. You don't make erections happen. I have a teenage boy that I have to explain that to at least once a week that it is involuntary.

I don't think Navy squid speaks from any educational background. Perhaps he is having trouble with his sexual identity.

an erection can be the result of events that are within our control. what i think about is in my control. the amount of concentration i put towards it, is in my control. The neighbor is mowing his lawn but i will concentrate not on the noisy mower but rather her legs round my waist. Do you see the choices there? do you see the voluntary effort. Of course, erections can also be involuntary.

your last sentence is beneath you.
 
I dont get these people here that think they have the power to stop people from deciding that they are gay or not. The key here is that for some it is their choice.

They always like to ask if heteros decided that they are straight? Well yes I decided that I was straight, it was after all my choice not someone elses. I certainly didnt decide that I was gay when I was first learning about sexuality. It was a conscious decision, I said ya know I like girls now. Before I liked girls I would have rather been around other boys. Icky girls and their playing with dolls and talking about other girls and all that was not what I wanted as a young boy. Then puberty hit then I liked girls a lot but I didnt want to be one I wanted to figure out how to get them naked. But really I could have thought differently with different surroundings and different influences.

But hey if you assert thasome were born gay and you had no decision in the mater, hell its your life live it up I really dont care. Im ok with that claim doesnt affect me in any way. But just because you were born that way doesnt mean that everyone was born that way. Some people despite your narrow belief system do have a choice in their sexuality.

Or as my very gay friend says: 'Im gay because I want to be gay, and I have big enough balls to back that claim'. Who am I to argue with his choice? ANd who are you to tell him that he has no choice?

I certainly believe that some people can choose their sexuality.

But just because you were a boy and into boyish things when you were a boy doesn't have anything to do with sexual orientation. Its really not very easy to see it in kids that young. I was just like any other boy but when those teen years came I fancied the other boys, frankly it disgusted me but I simply c couldn't help it. It wasn't a choice for me, of it was I likely wouldn't have been gay.
 
well, that is where i disagree. i believe that we get attracted by... first, choosing to pay attention, then choosing what particular thoughts to entertain. then by choosing to let those thoughts/images continue long enough to have a reaction on us.

I identify as heterosexual. I fantasize sex with women. If i chose, I could picture a man, fantasize about him, and , as long as i push away the discomfort, ignore my fear of consequences, ignore what i thought my identity was all along, then i could enjoy this fantasy and masturbate to it. and orgasm. But, if i indulge in the thoughts that allowing this fantasy to go on will have negative consequences for me, then i am less likely to allow the fantasy to play out to the endpoint of orgasm. if i indulge my initial distaste, then i will never get past that distaste and discover the pleasure that this fantasy could lead to.

I think that is what people do. They immediately stop certain thoughts from continuing, OR after only a short time with minimal effort, they give up. This prevents the fantasy and the orgasm from ever developing. The reason, is that they chose to entertain the thoughts of the negative consequences. Now i understand that some of these neg consequences are very real. but that does not mean that they can not be ignored.

there are people who say they have tried and tried to get aroused by women. I don't dispute that. I dispute HOW they tried, and HOW long they tried, and how much effort they put into ignoring the potential neg consequences.

Do it. Go have sex with a man. Demonstrate your theory.
 
Do it. Go have sex with a man. Demonstrate your theory.

To be honest, I'm afraid. And indulging that fear, rather than ignoring it, is a choice. I think, for me, if there wasn't such a stigma, if i hadn't been living as a heterosexual for so long, (my friends, family, they all identify me as heterosexual. that equals pressure to remain true to what they see.) then i could experiment much more easily. For some, the stigma and ostracism can be ignored. That is their choice.

Not only that, but by now, i am comfortable with who i am. if i were to experiment, i fear that would change how i see myself. i would no longer be sure of who i am. that in itself, is scary.
 
Did you try out sex with each?

Why would that be a qualifier? Do you always try everything out before you make a decision? How about Bestiality? Did you screw a dog first to make sure that you dont like to screw dogs? Or perhaps one should screw a corpse to make sure that they are not a necrophiliac.
 
Why would that be a qualifier? Do you always try everything out before you make a decision? How about Bestiality? Did you screw a dog first to make sure that you dont like to screw dogs? Or perhaps one should screw a corpse to make sure that they are not a necrophiliac.

No, dogs can't consent. But when I shop for cars, I try them out. Kick the tires. I didn't marry the first female I won't out with. I checked more than a few out. You can't really choose if you don't.
 
an erection can be the result of events that are within our control. what i think about is in my control. the amount of concentration i put towards it, is in my control. The neighbor is mowing his lawn but i will concentrate not on the noisy mower but rather her legs round my waist. Do you see the choices there? do you see the voluntary effort. Of course, erections can also be involuntary.

your last sentence is beneath you.

just because you have mastered inducing an erection didn't mean that every time youget one its because you have induced it. I have a tendency to get random erections for no reason, no provocation, that is most erections i get. certainly i can induce one but one of my kids friends can induce a nose bleed. That doesn't mean all nose bleeds are chosen.

Erections are largely involuntary. I am not thinking about sex at all when I get them. So speak for yourself.

My last sentence is a reflection of myself. I used to say the exact same words when I was in denial of my sexual orientation. I convinced myself of the same things you are saying here. I see me in your words. It isn't something that is a choice for most people, bisexuals have a choice. But that is a very uncommon sexuality. I used to believe that my draw toward the same sex was something I chose. It disgusted, I hated that part of me. But there was no choice in the matter. You are likely either bisexual or in the same level of denial if you truly believe what you are saying.

erections are involuntary typically they aren't triggered by sexual thought its the other way around. The only reason I say that is because thus was my field of study for my masters that i planned to get in human sexuality. It isn't common that men chose to get erections, just ask a married woman. That was a common problem in their husbands. Even though they thought their wives were sexy and wanted to have sex it just didn't work or it stopped working half way into it.

So I don't know what research you have done, but everything you have said about male sexuality has been a major exception.
 
Why would that be a qualifier? Do you always try everything out before you make a decision? How about Bestiality? Did you screw a dog first to make sure that you dont like to screw dogs? Or perhaps one should screw a corpse to make sure that they are not a necrophiliac.

You basically asked me the same thing. Were the circumstances right to know you weren't heterosexual. I have you a long thoughtful response, I didn't through red herrings.

You would likely know you were asexual before screwing objects such as dogs and human remains. This post was beneath you.
 
I chose that it isn't. You don't just suddenly choose to become straight or gay.

In theory one could experiment but the conclusions would only be an affirmation of what one already was, rather than a voluntary choice.
 
To be honest, I'm afraid. And indulging that fear, rather than ignoring it, is a choice. I think, for me, if there wasn't such a stigma, if i hadn't been living as a heterosexual for so long, (my friends, family, they all identify me as heterosexual. that equals pressure to remain true to what they see.) then i could experiment much more easily. For some, the stigma and ostracism can be ignored. That is their choice.

Not only that, but by now, i am comfortable with who i am. if i were to experiment, i fear that would change how i see myself. i would no longer be sure of who i am. that in itself, is scary.

I was terrified of indulging that part of me, i stayed in the closet until I was 27. I wasted so many years being brow beaten by living up to a heterosexual orientation.

Thus post Navy squid really makes me think you are not heterosexual, that you are under the same illusion i was. This is hitting me at my core because it caused so much pain in my life. Faking it to please others.

Yes you can chose not to, but if you are gay and you are attempting to be straight this is an awful way to live. You will nit find happiness until you let go.

No I know I heard that same advice when I was where you appear to be and i simply thought, "f-off, you don't know me" but was those words that resonated with me until I finally accepted myself.

If you are feeling this way, you are not alone. If not, i will get off of this subject.
 
just because you have mastered inducing an erection didn't mean that every time youget one its because you have induced it. I have a tendency to get random erections for no reason, no provocation, that is most erections i get. certainly i can induce one but one of my kids friends can induce a nose bleed. That doesn't mean all nose bleeds are chosen.

Erections are largely involuntary. I am not thinking about sex at all when I get them. So speak for yourself.

My last sentence is a reflection of myself. I used to say the exact same words when I was in denial of my sexual orientation. I convinced myself of the same things you are saying here. I see me in your words. It isn't something that is a choice for most people, bisexuals have a choice. But that is a very uncommon sexuality. I used to believe that my draw toward the same sex was something I chose. It disgusted, I hated that part of me. But there was no choice in the matter. You are likely either bisexual or in the same level of denial if you truly believe what you are saying.

erections are involuntary typically they aren't triggered by sexual thought its the other way around. The only reason I say that is because thus was my field of study for my masters that i planned to get in human sexuality. It isn't common that men chose to get erections, just ask a married woman. That was a common problem in their husbands. Even though they thought their wives were sexy and wanted to have sex it just didn't work or it stopped working half way into it.

So I don't know what research you have done, but everything you have said about male sexuality has been a major exception.

I never said all erections were voluntary. i agree they are not.

of course i am bisexual. I can choose to have a homo or hetero orientation for as long as I want, as many times as i want in my lifetime. I don't make this choice. But I believe i can. What would stop me? being bisexual is what allows me to choose.

I believe we are all bisexual. I believe that within that common denominator, people vary. I believe they choose to live as bisexuals, or they choose to live as homo- or heterosexuals all their lives, or switch once, or switch many times.

I think the common concepts of "orientation" and temporary-ness and permanence as related to orientation, are limiting. I think categories are mutually exclusive when they don't have to be. Dichotomous, binary thinking is so easy. Why have multiple alternative explanations when my brain can only grasp two opposing ones? Easy right? It's a crutch.

Of course everything i'm saying is a major exception. If my ideas marched in perfect step with what the majority believed, I'd be like you... telling people they are wrong. heh. I only state what i believe. If it were common knowledge, i wouldn't need to express it.
 
I was terrified of indulging that part of me, i stayed in the closet until I was 27. I wasted so many years being brow beaten by living up to a heterosexual orientation.

Thus post Navy squid really makes me think you are not heterosexual, that you are under the same illusion i was. This is hitting me at my core because it caused so much pain in my life. Faking it to please others.

Yes you can chose not to, but if you are gay and you are attempting to be straight this is an awful way to live. You will nit find happiness until you let go.

No I know I heard that same advice when I was where you appear to be and i simply thought, "f-off, you don't know me" but was those words that resonated with me until I finally accepted myself.

If you are feeling this way, you are not alone. If not, i will get off of this subject.

We are missing each other. To you, it is Either-Or. It is clearly defined. This or that. Hetero or not.

I believe that we all are bisexual. we only choose to live a certain way for a certain time (even if that time is our whole lifespan, it is still changeable, temporary, not absolute etc). Therefore, as a result of my belief, I do not feel like i am lying to myself. I feel, instead, that i have made a choice. I am bisexual. AND (not but) for all my years, I have lived as a heterosexual. I may live as a heterosexual until i die. but i have always been a bisexual. b/c the choice is available.

i wish i could express it better. I simply challenge the common way of classifying orientation as being one or the other, permanently. if you take away that classification system, then the pressure of coming out should be diminished. And if the whole world accepts a new classification system, the pressure/fear will imo, disappear.
 
We are missing each other. To you, it is Either-Or. It is clearly defined. This or that. Hetero or not.

I believe that we all are bisexual. we only choose to live a certain way for a certain time (even if that time is our whole lifespan, it is still changeable, temporary, not absolute etc). Therefore, as a result of my belief, I do not feel like i am lying to myself. I feel, instead, that i have made a choice. I am bisexual. AND (not but) for all my years, I have lived as a heterosexual. I may live as a heterosexual until i die. but i have always been a bisexual. b/c the choice is available.

i wish i could express it better. I simply challenge the common way of classifying orientation as being one or the other, permanently. if you take away that classification system, then the pressure of coming out should be diminished. And if the whole world accepts a new classification system, the pressure/fear will imo, disappear.

No, what you are describing is the ability to engage in certain behavior. But participating in certain behaviors doesn't make one's orientation. Orientation is in the mind, it is who you are attracted too, yet anyone can have sex with someone of the opposite, or same sex, regardless of actual attraction. If a heterosexual has sex with a member of the same sex, that doesn't make them bisexual, or homosexual, it makes them someone who's engaged in homosexual activity.
 
I never said all erections were voluntary. i agree they are not.

of course i am bisexual. I can choose to have a homo or hetero orientation for as long as I want, as many times as i want in my lifetime. I don't make this choice. But I believe i can. What would stop me? being bisexual is what allows me to choose.
So you didn't chose to be bisexual than, same thing just a different orientation. You obviously can go from one to the other, you ate lucky, i can't, i tried.
I believe we are all bisexual. I believe that within that common denominator, people vary. I believe they choose to live as bisexuals, or they choose to live as homo- or heterosexuals all their lives, or switch once, or switch many times.
first off there are no denominators in sexuality, that is fractions. Now if you are using fractions as a metaphor fir something what is this common thing. (sorry, that common denominator thing is one of my pet peeves) I don't agree with you some people are not at all interested in one of the sexes. I believe bisexuals have that choice but we are not all bisexual.some of us are very much hereto and homo by instinct. So from a bisexual man's perspective i can accept your thought but you are not at all correct when you say we are all bi.

I think the common concepts of "orientation" and temporary-ness and permanence as related to orientation, are limiting. I think categories are mutually exclusive when they don't have to be. Dichotomous, binary thinking is so easy. Why have multiple alternative explanations when my brain can only grasp two opposing ones? Easy right? It's a crutch.
I wish I could be like you and not have the limits that come with monosexuality but i am not bisexual, you are. That would have been great to have been able to make love with women like I do with Evan, but we are all not bisexual.
Of course everything i'm saying is a major exception. If my ideas marched in perfect step with what the majority believed, I'd be like you... telling people they are wrong. heh. I only state what i believe. If it were common knowledge, i wouldn't need to express it.
You are the one the one telling everybody they are wrong. You just told me i am bisexual, no i am not, i know meter than you about my sexuality.

Your opinions are your own, i think this is how your sexuality is, but you don't know mine, your statements are from your experience, I know you want to think everybody has your sexuality but we don't. There is a spectrum.

You suggested that it was circumstances that made me gay, you never elaborated on that "theory." Do so now, what circumstances?
 
We are missing each other. To you, it is Either-Or. It is clearly defined. This or that. Hetero or not.
Now you are putting words in my mouth. That really gets under my skin. I Don't know where you fabricated that nonsense I never said anything of the sort. I completely accept the range of sexualities. Heterosexual homosexual bisexual transsexual pansexual demisexual, asexual, self sexual, and all of the gray a scales. I absolutely believe it can change. So don't sit there and tell me what I think and utterly fail at it.

At least get it right.

My perspective on you is that you are an "everybody is just like me opinion, there isn't even a choice of either or, its your way or no way.
I believe that we all are bisexual. we only choose to live a certain way for a certain time (even if that time is our whole lifespan, it is still changeable, temporary, not absolute etc). Therefore, as a result of my belief, I do not feel like i am lying to myself. I feel, instead, that i have made a choice. I am bisexual. AND (not but) for all my years, I have lived as a heterosexual. I may live as a heterosexual until i die. but i have always been a bisexual. b/c the choice is available.
you believe things about my sexuality? Its none of your concern. I am not bisexual I thought i was for a long time, I wanted to be because i could have a choice. But I am gay. Listen it isn't your way or no way. Most people can't change their orientation because that dint have the same orientation as you do. Yours is fixed you will always be bisexual, its the orientation with the most choice. But out will likely not change you even said it wouldn't.

Let me put it this way, I have experienced bisexuality, I know first hand it isn't the same for everybody. I couldn't choose, i attempted. By your own Admission you are to scared to try. So don't sit in your ivory tower and tell somebody who has tried that they just didn't try hard enough. You don't know. I have walked the mile and survived you are to afraid to do so. So don't you lecture me on it..

You told me I am bisexual, I am not. Just because you are doesn't mean everybody is.
i wish i could express it better. I simply challenge the common way of classifying orientation as being one or the other, permanently. if you take away that classification system, then the pressure of coming out should be diminished. And if the whole world accepts a new classification system, the pressure/fear will imo, disappear.

No, you assigned a one size fits all sexuality. There is nothing new about this "system" you "created." Sigmund Freud created it, Kinsey toyed with it. I am all for doing away with labels but that isn't going to happen. No heterosexual will take on the title of bisexual no homosexual will either, because its a lie. No pressure will come off this will create more. My experience is that bisexuals get the shortest end of the stick. Women don't like to date bi men because they don't want them running off with a man, and like wise with gay men same issue just swap the genders. I once identified as bi, no dates.

No the die has been cast you can't make people let go of fear of homosexuality or other sexualities. I don't care how you relabel it, its still going to be there. I think people will resent your system. Because many people are not bisexual.
 
No, what you are describing is the ability to engage in certain behavior. But participating in certain behaviors doesn't make one's orientation. Orientation is in the mind, it is who you are attracted too, yet anyone can have sex with someone of the opposite, or same sex, regardless of actual attraction. If a heterosexual has sex with a member of the same sex, that doesn't make them bisexual, or homosexual, it makes them someone who's engaged in homosexual activity.

Yes i agree, orientation is so much more than the mechanics. There is romance and for us gay people it just doesn't fly on the opposite sex. Many people of the same sex. You have to have a spark so to speak. Good chemistry and compatible personalities, now I love women, many in my Life have shown me kindness that I couldn't know on my own but there is no way to force it. I tried the pain was unbearable.
 
In their paper, "Homosexuality as a Consequence of Epigenetically Canalized Sexual Development", Rice et al. hypothesize that heritable epigenetic markers play a role leading to homosexuality (Rice et al., 2012). They build off of the prenatal androgen paradigm, which attributes sexual development to fetal testosterone concentrations, and add the ammendment that specific epi-marks affect fetal testosterone sensitivity (Figure 1). Usually, these epi-marks are not heritable. However, occasionally they do get passed down to the next generation. The Rice et al. model predicts that testosterone sensitizing epi-marks originate from the father, while testosterone desensitizing epi-marks originate from the mother. With increased testosterone sensitivity, an XX fetus goes through masculinization (the degree depending on multiple epi-marks and other factors). Similarly, with decreased testosterone sensitivity, an XY fetus goes through feminization to some extent. Depending on the degree of feminization of masculinization, homosexuality can theoretically result (Figure 2).

A1_Fig1.jpg

Figure 1. The Sexual Dimorphism Signaling Pathway

A1_Fig2.jpg

Figure 2. SA-Epi-Marks and Homosexuality

It is well established that fetal androgen signaling strongly influences sexual development. We show that an unappreciated feature of this process is reduced androgen sensitivity in XX fetuses and enhanced sensitivity in XY fetuses, and that this difference is most feasibly caused by numerous sex-specific epigenetic modifications (“epi-marks”) originating in embryonic stem cells. These epi-marks buffer XX fetuses from masculinization due to excess fetal androgen exposure and similarly buffer XY fetuses from androgen underexposure. Extant data indicates that individual epi-marks influence some but not other sexually dimorphic traits, vary in strength across individuals, and are produced during ontogeny and erased between generations. Those that escape erasure will steer development of the sexual phenotypes they influence in a gonad-discordant direction in opposite sex offspring, mosaically feminizing XY offspring and masculinizing XX offspring. Such sex-specific epi-marks are sexually antagonistic (SA-epi-marks) because they canalize sexual development in the parent that produced them, but contribute to gonad-trait discordances in opposite-sex offspring when unerased. In this model, homosexuality occurs when stronger-than-average SA-epi-marks (influencing sexual preference) from an opposite-sex parent escape erasure and are then paired with a weaker-thanaverage de novo sex-specific epi-marks produced in opposite-sex offspring. Our model predicts that homosexuality is part of a wider phenomenon in which recently evolved androgen-influenced traits commonly display gonad-trait discordances at substantial frequency, and that the molecular feature underlying most homosexuality is not DNA polymorphism(s), but epi-marks that evolved to canalize sexual dimorphic development that sometimes carryover across generations and contribute to gonadtrait discordances in opposite-sex descendants.
http://www.ebc.uu.se/digitalAssets/141/141808_rice-et-al-2012-qrb.pdf
 
Back
Top Bottom