Is homosexuality an effect of nature or nurture? This
question sparks fire from those who feel that sexuality is a choice, and those
that preach the lyrics of Lady Gaga's hit song "We Were Born This
Way". It is important to recognize
that, as humans, we have the great ability to be different. More specifically,
it is important to express our
differences with enough confidence to fit within society's standards. Twins
have been used in various studies when it comes to examining sexuality. Growing
within equal environments, sharing similar or matching DNA, carrying out the
same mannerisms, yet having "abnormal" sexual preferences, raises
more than just eyebrows for scientists. National Geographic took a closer look
at the biology of twins, making an incredible discovery on homosexuality.
EXTERNAL LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saO_RFWWVVA
As
National Geographic explains, testosterone is administered to each twin within
the first six weeks of development; this is responsible for the
"masculinity" within a fetus (body hair, "manly" thoughts,
etc.). Typically, one twin has a tendency of taking in more testosterone than
the other. Around week eight, the testosterone is released within the body and
directed towards to hypothalamus- which tells us who and what we are attracted
to. According to some scientists, the more testosterone in the brain, the more
likely that person will be attracted to women. Essentially, they are saying
that when a fetus does not produce enough testosterone, the brain does not
register the signals that make females sexually desirable- resulting in the
desire to like men. However, keep in mind this is just a theory.
The
research explains that fraternal twins have a 25% of one being gay, whereas in
identical twins, there is a 50% chance. Being a twin, I found this video
extremely fascinating. Both my twin and I classify ourselves as straight, and I
do not remember a time when we felt otherwise. I have met many twins over the
years, and for some reason I do not recall meeting any that expressed themselves
as being gay.
I fully
believe that there is oppression among homosexuals, due to the orientation of
their sexuality being unknown. Most of the time, people like life in the form
of yes/no, black/white, right/wrong, etc. Sexuality breaks the mainstream of
"social normalcy", allowing for skewed
and independent thought to a subject
so personable. Those who do not fit along these lines of
"correctness" are for some reason targeted... and persecuted. This system of oppression
could very well be attacking something far out of our control- biology.
When
people argue over whether or not being homosexual is a biological or
environmental effect, there is no defining line, in my opinion. This video is
just one theory as to how
homosexuality comes about. Personally, I would like to argue that everyone
should have free-range of his or her feelings, regardless of whether or not it
was "genetically coded".
I found your blog post fascinating and something else you might be interested in is a documentary called “The Bible Tells Me So” which I think was on instant watch on Netflix. It discusses the religious opinion toward homosexuality as well as several homosexual individuals and shows scientific research both on twins and the effects of being the youngest in your family. The way I see it, I think that homosexuality is genetic because if you look at instances of homophobic men who secretly identify as homosexual, one can see that in this society where being different can be deadly, the choice to be this way is not always taken. Stories have been told by gay men who played heterosexual for their lives so as to not be persecuted in society. Fortunately, this is on the way to changing.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting blog. I loved it. What an interesting experiment. To me it goes with my ideas that nurture is not part of the equation in being gay. In fact, I don't know that you can necessarily classify anyone as strictly gay anymore. There is such a wide spectrum of sexual preferences and sexuality differences that a person is not just one thing anymore. I think that as a society we should focus less on what makes someone gay and focus more on our own business. People are the way they are and that cannot be helped. This is going to sound so lame, but so much could be solved in this world by just loving those that want to accept it. This heteronormativity needs to stop. You are not better because you like someone of the opposite sex. In fact, sometimes you are ten times worse. There is so much good everyone can give to the world if they were only given a chance.
ReplyDelete-Rachael Belcher