Sexual Psychology

Why do people always get so angry with me when I say that sexual orientation is a nurture thing? It wouldn't make sense for it to be a hard genetic trait, or homosexuals would die off, and they would do so even more quickly if more homosexuals are open and less likely to have a child with a cover-up spouse. This means that homosexual rights activists who believe that this trait is nature and advocate more openness are actively diminishing the homosexual population.

Okay. Homosexuality could also be a harder to define trait. It could be less like blue eyes and more like what kind of job or career a person would want to do when they grow up. This still means that being homosexual would thin out the more that people are sexually open. It wouldn't completely kill off homosexuals, but advocating open homosexuality would be akin, in my mind, to telling people of a certain race that they are no longer allowed to reproduce.

This is why I feel that I have to believe that homosexuality is nurture. Maybe it is just to satisfy myself, but I want homosexuals to be as open as they want to be, without any chance that this could be killing a community.

Also, I would like to clarify that nurture does not mean that something is a choice. It doesn't even mean that it can be prevented. What it does mean is that gender roles aren't taught as strongly as they used to be and people are more likely to accept whatever a person shows the world, so whatever you are attracted to is much easier to accept.

I want you to think about every trait that defines who you are. How many of these traits are nature and how many are nurture? Dyed hair is nurture. Tattoos are nurture. Piercings, even ears, is nurture. Nurture is anything that you weren't born with. In my opinion, people aren't born with sexuality. Children don't choose their friends based on physical attraction. Hormone supplements are easy for anyone to take, regardless of their age, so I don't think that hormones should take as much of the blame for sexuality as they used to.

I feel like it would be just as difficult to describe why you find someone attractive as it would be to explain why your favorite color is your favorite. I really doubt that favorite colors are a nature trait.

Just because something is nurture, rather than nature, does not mean that it is a choice. I don't believe there is a gene that makes you gay. There could surely be genes that predispose a person towards a certain lifestyle, but personality and behavior are nurture traits. And homosexuality is a behavior.