Are we complete at birth or are we made

[Vagrant0]

So if social pressures can't provide enough influence to significantly alter sexuality, then something else must play a more primary role.

 

See, now I agree with most of what you said. It's clear that biology plays a role, and that social pressures also play a role, but I believe that the main role is actually in the mediation between biology and cultural norms. That main role I would say would be that of self-identity , or rather how one comes to terms with their own thoughts and feelings in relation to various stimuli and how they interpret these. This is not culturally normative, and while not directly genetic deals with that complicated bit of how brain chemistry sorts itself out and what behaviors one attributes to those chemical responses.

 

Similar to that handedness argument. Left-handedness is influenced by genetics, and is something which has a cultural bias, but how a person determines which action to perform with what hand determines how much of a dominance their left-handedness has as they age. Not all Right-handed persons do everything with their right hand, not all Left-handed persons do everything with their left hand. The hand they select for a specific task when both hands are equally viable comes down to their experiences and coordination with using that hand for that task. They equate a successful task with positive emotions, and an unsuccessful one with negative emotions and adjust their behavior accordingly.

 

The problem with that argument is that sexuality as a whole is far more complicated than just successful attempts verses unsuccessful ones. As people age they tend to look for specific qualities in a partner that excite them beyond just the bits between the legs, based genetics, but on how their brain weighs various characteristics as being attractive or not.

[stars2heaven]

The problem with that argument is that sexuality as a whole is far more complicated than just successful attempts verses unsuccessful ones. As people age they tend to look for specific qualities in a partner that excite them beyond just the bits between the legs, based genetics, but on how their brain weighs various characteristics as being attractive or not.

 

I agree, and it's not that I think social factors play no role in such things. I think that because people are predisposed to find those various characteristics as attractive or not that the odds are weighed in favor of them acting in a particular way from the start. Their natural tendencies may be influenced somewhat by other factors, but I think that if you could pinpoint what each gene and part of a persons body was doing then the final outcome would still be pretty predictable.

Edited September 16, 2011 by stars2heaven

[Keanumoreira]

Your sexuality is not chosen. You are born who you are. I know this because when I was younger (somewhere between four and five years of age) I had an experience that, although I won't go into detail, caused me to later realize that I am bi-sexual. I was much too young at the time to be influenced by anything to put that into my mind. Bi-sexuality is not a choice, it is who you are. People can "choose" to be bi, but are they really? Probably not. Most likely they're one of the other two. The only other difference is a uniqueness in our way of life. Unlike a lot of those who share my sexuality, I am not a traditional bi-sexual. I want nothing to do with men in a sexual or relational way. Yes I'm still attracted to both sexes, but I am also a family guy. I want biological children of my own and a wife to live alongside with. You can argue with me all day that this makes me heterosexual, but I am still bi for simply holding that mindset.

 

And no, we aren't opportunistic in our sexual lives. That is a myth that simply isn't true. We don't choose to jump for our next good time, and what better proof to have than a living example? For those of you who believe that you are made who you are later in life, this isn't necessarily the case. There are triggers in the brain that can cause us to unlock what we were born with, because, after all, aren't all of our brains unique? Yes, of course they are. You have innovators, trail-blazers, leaders, followers, cowards, bullies, ect, ect. Each mind is like a fingerprint. So...why does everyone have to be born heterosexual and split or stay later on? Some say instinct is the answer, but what about our intelligence? Where does this factor come in? A lot of our instinct has been erased by society; I mean...some of us can't even use common sense when the time arises. Not to mention that we are the smartest things to currently live on this planet, so, maybe, by simply being intelligent, we can develop unique personalities at birth that is isolated from the animal kingdom.

 

Another possible answer could be found in creativity. People who are creative tend to be bi-sexual (for the most part) or homosexual (not to stereotype, but it seems to be the norm), and I am a creative individual. We see life from many different perspectives and vantage points, and those who are bi (like myself) may find themselves exploring various ways to solve a problem or what have you, and to just be variant in general. Sure, you can use the example of a psychopathic individual who was once a giving person and is now a raging killer, but that is something different in itself. How do you know that this person had in-mind "secrets" held to themselves during this gracious period, or suffered from a trigger that was so traumatic that it opened up what was given to them at birth? People can later mistake this as "oh no....their live made this into them" when it was really the other way around. Life may have made them psychopathic, but who are we to say that life didn't break the genetic lock that was there in the first place? It was just life itself that broke that lock.

 

 

If you ask me, it really isn't a choice. You are born who you are. Plain and simple. :)

Edited September 18, 2011 by Keanumoreira

[grannywils]

My post will be short and simple. I am heterosexual. If you tell me that you are gay or bi or anything else for that matter, it is fine with me. I have no way of determining what you are, and no business judging your behavior. How on God's green earth do we expect to make that determination for anyone but our ownselves??? We must walk a mile in someone else's mocassins, etc., etc., etc.