Sexuality

Mike, you pretty much nailed it on the head :)

 

Okay, so I wanted to revive this thread to add some new discussion subjects. Additionally, the questions below are not my own personal opinions, just information I've gathered based on human behavior and such and things I've read and seen. I of course still have no problem whatsoever with homosexuals or bisexuals.

1. Are people born heterosexual, bisexual, or homosexual, can they choose their sexuality, or both?
2. It's a fact that there are a lot more heterosexuals in the world than homosexuals or bisexuals, but do you think that means anything? Like being heterosexual is the normal sexuality and stuff like that.

Again, the above are not my own personal opinions, but I will apologize in advance in case someone gets offended.

Discuss.

 

I wouldn't call this a fact by any means. Sexuality is very fluid, rarely is anyone 100% hetero, 100% homo, etc. Rather, identifying as one or the other is more of a "generally I am ______________." I have no interest in being with a woman, am attracted to men, and consider myself heterosexual, but I don't rule out the possibilities either.

More people in the world identify as hetero, I would say, because of societal conditioning (we live in a hetero-normative society) & stigmas. Perhaps more people are, more often than not, heterosexual, but I wouldn't say there are more heteros in the world than anything else.

To be honest I find the entire practice of classifying and quantifying sexuality rather futile. Do what you want and don't feel pressure to classify yourself as this and not that. Giving ourselves a title makes it easier for human beings to create groups, which we do by nature, and that's not necessarily wrong, but there's no reason to say or study "there are more heterosexuals than homosexuals." It's just a title.

 

Very good statements here. Could you elaborate a bit on "social conditioning and stigmas," though? What exactly do you mean?

See, I always thought that classifications in terms of sexuality were bad -- even more so after reading this post by Keyblade Spirit. However, I guess if we were to get rid of sexual preference labeling entirely because there's no such thing as sexuality, we would also also have to get rid of other things, such as ethnicity terms because there's technically no such thing as ethnicity (e.g., that guy is American and that guy is Mexican), because in the end, we're all humans regardless of skin color, sexual partner preference, etc.

 

Basically that we are conditioned by the society we live in to be heterosexual, an as far as I know, every human society practices this. It's the norm relationship we are taught.
Same with stigmas, they are the same thing as stereotypes really, we're taught traditional ideas on sexuality, what's acceptable and what's not.

 

1 : What about you? Do you chose what you do or don' t like ? Trying to force yourself to become homo/hetero would be just as pertinent as trying to force yourself to like eating poop. You might succefully brainwash yourself enough to believe it (good luck with that), but why the hell would you do that to begin with ?

Whether we' re born that way or not ... well we haven' t found any gay gene yet, but even if there is one chances are it just increases the odds for you to become gay. Our tastes and personalities are dictated by our brains, and our brains are molded by our genes, true, but also by our experiences. Genes do not set everything we are in stone, trying to pinpoint the one thing that makes you like x or y is, well, kinda missing the point.

2 : First, what Misty said. Second, if we werent genetically predisposed enough to heterosexuality (or bi-sexuality, that works too) then we would have grown extinct a long time ago. As for what it would mean for heterosexuality to be the norm, if it was true, well, normal doesn' t mean right and marginal doesn' t mean wrong, if that' s where you were going. Normal doesn' t mean natural either. And btw, humans are genetically predisposed to polygamy, yet after millenias of social pressure and religious dogma monogamy has now become our norm.

 

That's dependent on the society I might add, some cultures, specifically tribal people, can have polygamist relationship and are actively promoted. And by the trends of today's world, polygamous relationships are increasing. Might change Ina few more generations.

 

I think a certain sexual orientation is laid out for us from before we're born. I don't believe it has anything to do directly with genes (How many are born from same-sex parents? Why does sexual diversity continue to be so prominent considering natural selection?), but rather early fetal development within the womb. If I'm wrong, then it's definitely shaped by something in early childhood development. Identical twins can grow up to reveal to have different personalities, handedness or sexual orientations.

(I think the reasons why differences in sexual orientation exists and how it occurs is as mysterious as the reasons behind the differences in personalities and handedness.)

If it's something you choose, then it should also be something you can change. You can simply ask yourself if you can change your own sexual orientation. If not, then it's not a choice. Why choose your sexual orientation (or lack of one)? It's a quality imbued onto us unknowingly without our will.

 

Sexual diversity is theorised to continue to be because of natural selection theory. Homosexuality is the 'weak' part of the species, since homosexuals will not procreate and continue the species.

I choose what I am classified as. However, the truth of the matter is my sexuality alters each and every day, my attractions can change all the time. You choose your sexuality for a number of reasons, cultural acceptance, peer pressure, inheritance, family dynamics, etc. You can choose your sexuality, but not what you are attracted to.

 

The genes involved could be recessive, with both parents being blood type A you can still end up being O.

But yes, our earliest experiences are the most determinant on our brain development. In the case of homosexuality it seems the hormone levels in the womb could play a role indeed :

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/03/000330094644.htm

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=having-older-brothers-inc

 

I don't advocate placing little stock in labeling sexuality because I don't believe it exists. Basically, I disagree with KS--sexuality does exist. It's your sexual preferences, basically, which nobody can claim do not exist. I sexually prefer men; therefore, my sexuality exists. However, it may not exist in some--as in, asexuality (though even that has its different types).

My point was that classifying sexuality as hetero, homo, bi, demi, pan, whatever you want, at the end of the day it's just words. You are what you are, and what you are isn't always covered by a single word. Humans like to group things, by ethnicity, race, sexuality, gender, whether you like Taylor Swift or not. But sexuality is such a... kaleidoscope, basically, that I don't believe in putting too much stock in our classifications.

 

I'd like to both agree and disagree. I know that some people have specific preferences, yet I don't believe there should be sexuality, etc. The way I see it, if you like someone, you like them. You might lean a little more towards one specific gender, but anyone can fall in love. Then again, I guess you would have to be able to classify that. I say "need to" but . . .

So, classifications are okay I guess, but really you're going to fall in love with who you fall in love with. Boy or girl.

 

Oh that's precisely what I mean. Classifications have their place but they're not always right, or 100% accurate.

 

1. It really depends on the person. A friend of mine always said that he was straight, but he always seemed to like boys rather than girls. (Nowadays he's a homosexual, I support his choice).

2. I don't think that it really means anything. Being heterosexual has always been Christianism's choice, but despite that fact, the number of homosexual and bisexual people is rising by the minute.

Even though I'm a heterosexual, I don't mind if a person's homosexual or bisexual. If they're happy, then that's good enough for me :)

 

Hm. Some more discussion subjects.

Why does it seem like whenever homosexuality is brought up, we all instantly think males? There are homosexual females as well. Do you think homophobic people hate homosexual males more than homosexual females?

Do you think sex is more involved in homosexual males or male couples or it's just made to look like that because of the homophobic people in the world?

I don't remember a lot of details, but a long time before I deleted my MySpace I had an online friend that was about 14 who had a bad experience when he was about 9. His friend called him at home to discuss something and later told him to meet him somewhere when he got to school. I don't know if he was forced in there or not, but he and his friend went into the bathroom. Some stuff went down and his friend who was about a year older handcuffed him to the toilet and forced him to perform oral. If he refused, he would urinate on him. I think there was also **** involved, but I don't remember and I don't want to get into the conversation, as things here need to remain PG-13. He had other friends guarding the door to the bathroom so that he couldn't get out beforehand and that they could warn them of people coming in, I guess.

He told me in the message that the incident made him gay or bi -- I don't remember which.

 

^ I don' t think people aren' t aware that women can be gay too, it' s just that ... male couples are clearly perceived as more ... disgusting ?

Just take a quick peek at a hetero porn site : you' ll see plenty of lesbians, but you' d better not throw a male couple in there. Lesbians turn hetero males on, but male couple turns them off. If you ask me that' s because while they have no problem watching women engage in activities that they judge to be degrading, watching males do the same things wouldn' t match the role they perceive to be that of their gender in that kind of game. See, males are supposed to be the abusers.

Spoiler

As for those that are very vocal about their disgust, I' m inclined to suspect they' re hiding something :

Spoiler

As for women, I have no clue whether one gay configuration disgust them more than the other or not, but overall they seem less prone than men to dictate everyone else what they can or cannot do with their private lives.

 

I thinks it's the fact that guys think more about males gays than female gays for some reason visversa.

 

I don't know. If I get into an anime good enough, and there happens to be a little guy on guy action it doesn't bother me. I don't think it'd bother me irl either. I'd turn my head but I do that when any couple starts getting "intimate." I don't like public displays of affection, straight or gay. It wouldn't bother me other than that though. I say live and let love.

 

It doesn' t bother me either, I' m just pointing out that if we are to believe porn it' s ok for a heterosexual to be turned on by lesbians but not by male homosexual displays. It' s not just porn mind you, what I hear my male friends say left and right tends to mirror that.

Now whether it actually matches most hetero males feelings, is just a pretence imposed by social pressure or is a real feeling imposed by social pressure, that is the question, but I don' t have the answer.

 

I think the reason why people tend to associate homosexualism with men is because people usually refer to homos as "gays" and technically speaking a man liking a man is "gay" where a woman liking a woman is "lesbian". I think that having classification is needed to an extent, to classify one if one needs to, but people shouldn't completely depend on their "sexuality", just live their life, and get with people who they are sexually attracted to, but if another person asks, one has a response, an easy way to say the answer. This "classification" is after all just words, and should be treated as such, words. I think a certain amount of your sexual preference is decided in fetal, or early life development. There are stories of people "discovering" they are homo, bi, and being very upset about it, so I think that a certain level of it is decided during early life or development. I do personally do not care if a person is hetero, homo, bi, pan, it makes no difference to me, those people are each people, they share the same experiences that other people do, and are still human beings.