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Nature or Nurture |
Just Nature |
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18% |
[ 11 ] |
Just Nurture |
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5% |
[ 3 ] |
Both - but more nature |
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32% |
[ 19 ] |
Both - but more nurture |
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28% |
[ 17 ] |
Equally Both |
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15% |
[ 9 ] |
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Total Votes : 59 |
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Hawk Thanatos
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 6:04 am Post subject: Sexual Orientation: Nature or Nurture |
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I'm currently studying psychology and I thought of asking this:
Do you think sexual orientation (heterosexuality or homosexuality) is a result of nature (like genetics) or nurture (how people have been brought up, their experiences and basically anything not genetics)?
There are facts for both sides and I'll post them in a few days once people have posted what they think. |
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Eden
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 6:46 am Post subject: |
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I think it is probably a mixture of both. I can't imagine, that when your grandfather was became (depending on how you think about it) after you're father's or mother's birth, it skips a generation and because it is recurrent you will be gay... But at the same I don't think you become homosexual, because you have played as boy with puppets or as girl soccer, or because you were raised in a household with only members og the other gender. It's like radish, I think. Maybe you like it or not, maybe you love your own gender or not. I hope this doesn't sound offence.
Again, I don't think homosexuality is like a damaged gene or like a bad upringing that make someone homosexual. _________________
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Phamex
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 7:09 am Post subject: |
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I think it's a mixture of both, though more nature than anything. I think you're born with a predisposition to one sex or the other and depending on the nurture you can be comfortable and open about it, or you can suppress it and not even realize it. Worst case scenario, you suppress it due to the negative attitudes around you, bury it so deeply that you come down with a serious case of denial, and after years of unhappy and mediocre relationships you finally realize and understand the truth about yourself. This is just a theory, but it's how I explain a forty year old guy getting divorced from his wife and shacking up with a boyfriend. I honestly think you are born one way or the other, you don't just wake up one day and say, "You know what, I'm gay/bi/straight." It just doesn't work that way. _________________
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Eden
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 7:20 am Post subject: |
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I don't think you wake up gay, but it is a process.
But what I have wondered myself about the people who are saying that it's completely dependable from nature is, that there are people who are thinking and feeling they live in the wrong body, that they are suppossed to be the other gender. If the nature "choose" the right gender and sex for you, why happens something like this? I don't believe that those people are mad or anything abnormal, but that there happened a mistake when the person was nothing more than a foetus. But of course only real hardliner would they that this is madness, most people don't think that those things aren't right, even if nature has chosen what you are suppossed to be. At least where I live. I don't know how it is in areas with many believers. _________________
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Zorrow
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 7:35 am Post subject: |
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Some guys were born to be more girlish and feminine while some girls were born to be more macho and guyish. I think every guy and girl has his or her feminine/macho part, its part of the x-y DNA genes that makes us like that. It's just the extent of the machoness/feminine.
I think the factors that decides my point(extent) above are:
1) Your personality- if you are gentle, you tend to be labelled as girlish. If you are crude/vulgar/violent, poeple will label you as a tomboy.
2) your habits-if you are naturally someone who loves sports, you tend to be more macho, if you are naturally someone who's a soprano, people will tend to label you a sissy.
3) Your willpower. If you are born like that but is sensible in the mind and in the heart and in the soul enough, you will stay straight.
4) Your environment- if you live in a country where these sort of things is common and open, you wouldn't be overly against the possibility of you being one yourself.
5) Your values- If you think doing this is absolutely morally incorrect, you will not be one. If you think its acceptable, theres a possibility.
6) Your ability to discern- do you realise that you are becoming like a homosexual? Do you do anything about it?
Because I think it came from our genes, it becomes tough in saying right or wrong for me. However, I believe as long as you are strong enough to deal with it (mentally, emotionally), it can be removed.
In conclusion, I believe there's more nuture than nature, because we are humans, with the ability to choose our own destinies. _________________
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Eden
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 7:51 am Post subject: |
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I don't know what you want to say with point three. Would you please explain it to me?
To point four anf five I must say, that you are gay, whether it is accepted in your country or not. It is even unimportant if you want it yourself. You can be against gay people, but hidden inside you are one yourself, because you think the body and appearance od your own gender is sexier than the body and appearance of your own. _________________
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Wataru
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:37 am Post subject: |
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Its nature all the way. I knew since I was about six years old. Wether you want to admit it or one no is one thing, but if you're gay, you know deep down for a loooong time. _________________
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Deloseth
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 11:14 am Post subject: |
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I'm agreeing with wataru here, nature all the way. I may not have known I was gay quite as early as he did but it certainly wasn't some environmental factor that affected it. |
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Eden
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 11:23 am Post subject: |
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Since you're gay, you may better know than me what you believe "make" you homosexual, nature or nurture. I wondered if "Make" sounds in English as offensive as I believe it sounds in German. _________________
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John Layfield
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 11:29 am Post subject: |
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That's the point they're making. Nothing 'made' them gay, the same way nothing 'made' you straight. They just 'are'. _________________ One day, I shall come back. Yes, we shall all come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. |
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Eden
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 11:46 am Post subject: |
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I thought nature "made" them gay, so they "are" homosexual? I mean, the question was what homosexuality results, therefore I was thinking of "made" no matter whether nature or nurture... _________________
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Earthquake923
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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But there have been studies of people that are sexually abused as children "tirning" due to the trauma of the abuse. So even though I believe that most follow being born that way, I can also believe that enviorment can impact a persons sexual orientation.
Quote: |
I wondered if "Make" sounds in English as offensive as I believe it sounds in German.
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It all depends on the contex in which the word is used. If you are implying that someone is being forced, that's more offensive then saying created. You don't seem to be trying to offend someone so don't worry about it. _________________ If anybody asks about the avatar, I did it for Jess. |
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Trevoke
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 1:10 pm Post subject: |
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It's nature.
There is observed behavior of homosexual behavior in sheep and in.. what was that other creature.. sea lions? I forget, I always forget the other name.. And that's just what's been observed so far.
Oh, I forgot that homosexuality has also been observed in the human. _________________ There are weapons you cannot hold in your hand.
You can only hold them in your mind.
-- Bene Gesserit Teaching |
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Exile
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 1:39 pm Post subject: |
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This is interesting, I have to admit my first thought when I saw the thread was to think nurture. I mean I figured a person who grows up in an environment where homosexuality is more prevalent and acceptable would be more likely to grow up to be gay. I'm not saying anything like if you're friends with homosexual people they're going to twist you into being homosexual or anything stupid like that but if society sees it as more acceptable and you are more exposed to homosexuality and you interpret it as an acceptable choice for yourself then you may be more likely to become it too. Of course if you grow up somewhere where homosexuality is unacceptable or punished then maybe you would still be gay by nature but never accept it in your life and reject the sentiment and live your life as a straight person. That nullifies my point and makes the person hiding their sexuality no less of a homosexual than if they had acted upon it.
Still I think environmental factors must have some bearing of relevance on the situation. I'm sure Hawk can share those instances where this has been tested by psychologists and that will shed a bit of light on things, though all psychological experimentation is flawed somehow. _________________
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Krawnik
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 2:11 pm Post subject: |
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I don't really think it's something genetically inherited, because if you're parents are gay, you're probably adopted </JOKE IN BAD TASTE>
Seriously though, so far both Wataru and Deloseth have agreed that it's a natural occurence, and both being homosexual, I think we ought to give them a certain authority on the subject.
Although, just to shake the cage, Wataru: just because you've known since you were six doesn't mean it's a natural thing. Maybe the effect of your environment had just had a sufficient influence on your sexuality even at so young an age? I don't mean to infer anything, but just because you "knew" when you were six, how does that really support the argument from nature? _________________
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