The general concensus seems to be that a person is born gay or born straight. And then you've got bi and transgender people... so I'm not sure where they fit into that theory. Anyways... my idea on the matter is that a person is on a sliding scale... not just between gay and straight, but on sexual attraction to both genders and on their gender identity. For example... myself:
Attracted to women:
--------ME-
Attracted to men:
------ME---
Gender Identity:
Female ----ME-----Male
I think that maybe everyone has a certain amount of attraction to each sex. Crazy macho sexfiends are all the way up at 10 for attraction to women, and really low for attraction to men. Some people also are just not into sex.
While I was thinking about it, I thought that maybe that could be a way of explaining fetishes and perversions as well. Like... maybe everyone has a certain amount of attraction to... shoes? or leather? or .... children.
Anyways... I really don't know any gay people (!) or bisexual people, and most straight people I know would never admit that they were at all attracted to people of the same sex... so I was wondering what the anonymous internet community had to say :P
Many years ago, Drs. Masters and Johnson came to the exact same conclusion - that sexual orientation is on a continuum. In fact, they postulated that only a small percentage of people are exclusively homosexual or heterosexual.
Fetishes could be due to people having sexual feelings while, for instance, wearing rubber boots or smelling latex and later associating the two.
A person's quantification of themselves is reliable because it is really only up to the person to determine for themselves where they stand in terms of their sexuality. Besides which, I wasn't looking to place people in categories, just give a possible explanation for how people are.
In all honesty, I don't care about someone's sexual orientation. Debating the issue seems pointless to me as regardless of which theory we want to assign it doesn't change the outcome - you still have specific sexual preferences.
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Originally posted by Pocky
In all honesty, I don't care about someone's sexual orientation. Debating the issue seems pointless to me as regardless of which theory we want to assign it doesn't change the outcome - you still have specific sexual preferences.
This theory doesn't change the fact that people have different sexual preferences but maybe this theory is helpful in redefining how we think about sexuality and sexual orientation. Because when you really think about it, prevailing ideas about sexuality and sexual orientation have resulted in a lot of terrible things...Saying that everyone is on a different place in the continuum is a more inclusive way of thinking of sexual orientation because it doesn't reject OR uphold any one particular preference.
I know gay and bisexual people but I don't know what they'd think about this theory...I'll have to ask!
I was trying to suggest that it's not as black and white as some people make it seem. If it were that people were either born gay or born straight, then you wouldn't have people that are bi. I'm not really getting the sort of responses I was expecting I guess. I didn't want people to make general comments on it is this way or it isn't this way.... I was looking more to see if anyone felt like it could be. Like... I'm straight, maybe a little curious, I call myself straight because I am more attracted to girls.
Hmm... I'm not sure how to explain exactly what I wanted. I guess the question sort of is... straight people, are you at all attracted to people of the same sex, and gay people, are you at all attracted to those of the opposite sex?
Originally posted by Dygital Pyrate
I was trying to suggest that it's not as black and white as some people make it seem. If it were that people were either born gay or born straight, then you wouldn't have people that are bi.
straight people, are you at all attracted to people of the same sex, and gay people, are you at all attracted to those of the opposite sex?
There is no such thing as "bisexual". It is a myth that homosexuals use to deny their homosexuality or that hetero's use to deny their homosexuality.
When someone says they are "bi" they always prefer one sex over the other. Have you ever met someone that said they prefer both sexes equally? It does not exist.
One of the definitions for bisexual at dictionary.com is "sexually attracted to both sexes." It doesn't say "does not prefer one gender to the other." I have known people who are attracted to both sexes, and hey, so am I.
I doubt that a person that calls him or herself bi could really say they liked one better than the other. Sure they could say they like one person better than another, but I think the whole point is that the person can fall in love and be sexually attracted to someone of either gender.
Now, if you want to say that you are straight and have no attraction to the same sex, or you want to say you are gay and have no attraction to the opposite sex, that's fine with me, but you can't generalize your own feelings to the rest of the world. If I did that then I would say that everyone in the world is attracted to both sexes.
If someone wants to point me to a study that says that it's just not so... then that's one thing, but it doesn't do me any good to hear someone just say, "it doesn't exist".
(Thank you moimeme for the reference to M&J btw.)
I've read various studies on sexual orientation by genetics. Genetics is only one aspect and can't explain or define everything. There are many more factors. I'll try to find some of the studies on recombinant DNA and sexual orientation (or maybe someone else has some links) that point to some interesting social and geologic factors that have an impact on the conclusions of genetics. The study of genetics is interesting, but it's more of a starting point not an ending point. It explains some things, but raises even more questions.
If you use a sliding scale for genetics as it refers to human sexuality it does not give a conclusion that is applicable to everyone. Too many other things would have to be on that scale, or other scales would have to be used to have any kind of provable conclusion that would apply to all of mankind. It's too new a science. Too many variables, and what is the point? To change people's perceptions and attitudes? Those can't be changed by genetics.
If they isolate the gene that causes alzheimers, for example, that does not change the fact that not everyone with that gene is going to have alzheimers. There are other variables. But its an excellent starting point. I think it's probably going to be the same for every gene and genetic anomaly that is identified.
Maybe at some point in the distant future these genes can be altered or removed from mankind, thereby significantly altering or eliminating alzheimers, but that is almost a scary thought. I'd like alzheimers to be something kids read about in ancient history books, but if they can do that and then identify a sexual orientation gene -- what will they change about it? Will someday kids be reading about ancient history where men and women were only attracted to the opposite sex? Or when there were people who were attracted to same sex? Once these things are identified and mankind learns how to manipulate genetics there will be people working on how to change the genes. Society will play a big part in that.
That may sound far-fetched now, or like science fiction, but it's part of the progress of mankind. Who, a couple hundred years ago, would have thought that a pill to prevent pregnancy would be possible! That was science fiction once too.
People talk about how many more homosexuals there are now than there was a couple hundred years ago. It's argued that there are more now because of a higher population -- but the percentage is the same. Others argue that there are more now because of how mankind has evolved socially. Others say that we only know about more now because people are more open about it. Yet other people say that people practicing homosexuality are not really homosexual at all - that it is a fad that people try because the stigma is fading. And one of my daughters friends said she was really confused because of her environment and what was in the news and being talked about among friends and she didn't have a clear-cut idea of her sexual orientation so she dated other girls, only to find out, when she had a serious relationship with a boy, that she really is heterosexual. I think there may be a little bit of truth in all of those opinions---which leads back to the sliding scale. It just doesn't cover all the bases.
Originally posted by HokeyReligions
I've read various studies on sexual orientation by genetics. Genetics is only one aspect and can't explain or define everything. There are many more factors. It just doesn't cover all the bases.
Originally posted by alphamale
It is a gentic anomaly and this is all. No different than the gene that causes schizophenia or the gene that predisposes one to type I diabetes.
Careful there. Diseases specifically threaten your health, whereas homosexuals can be perfectly healthy.
Quote:
Originally posted by alphamale
Have you ever met someone that said they prefer both sexes equally? It does not exist.
Originally posted by dyermaker
Careful there. Diseases specifically threaten your health, whereas homosexuals can be perfectly healthy.
Yeah. They're called bisexuals.
Well DYER:
As much as I love Zeppelin I must disagee with you. There are genetic mutations that don't threaten you health, like ummm....being born with 3 nipples or 4 fingers. These are benign mutations but mutations nonetheless.
And for your information the term "bisexual" is relatively new on the scene. Every so-called "bisexual" prefers one sex over the other.
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Sexual Orientation Theory
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