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Of course I did - sexual preference is a choice. If it is possible to have a preference - then a choice must be involved.
Who's talking about 'preference'. Most people in this thread are talking about sexual orientation. No choice involved. Unless you think a fetus can 'choose' it's genetic makeup and the timing and levels of hormones in the uterine environment.
I am not bisexual - I choose to be attracted to only one gender.
There is no evidence that sexual preference has biological causes.
Here's some evidence for you to choose to pretend doesn't exist.... yet again:
"Despite almost a century of psychoanalytic and psychological speculation, there is no substantive evidence to support the suggestion that the nature of parenting or early childhood experiences play any role in the formation of a person’s fundamental heterosexual or homosexual orientation. It would appear that sexual orientation is biological in nature, determined by a complex interplay of genetic factors and the early uterine environment."
And how about some peer-reviewed studies published in reputable professional Journals?
"There's a converging line of evidence between the hormonal studies, the genetic studies , and the neuroanatomical studies. My research has identified candidate genes within these new chromosomal regions that could link together all of these different findings”
The fetal brain develops during the intrauterine period in the male direction through a direct action of testosterone on the developing nerve cells, or in the female direction through the absence of this hormone surge. In this way, our gender identity (the conviction of belonging to the male or female gender) and sexual orientation are programmed or organized into our brain structures when we are still in the womb.
However, since sexual differentiation of the genitals takes place in the first two months of pregnancy and sexual differentiation of the brain starts in the second half of pregnancy, these two processes can be influenced independently, which may result in extreme cases in trans-sexuality. This also means that in the event of ambiguous sex at birth, the degree of masculinization of the genitals may not reflect the degree of masculinization of the brain.
There is no indication that social environment after birth has an effect on gender identity or sexual orientation.
The scans reveal that in gay people, key structures of the brain governing emotion, mood, anxiety and aggressiveness resemble those in straight people of the opposite sex.
"This is the most robust measure so far of cerebral differences between homosexual and heterosexual subjects," she says.
Previous studies have also shown differences inbrain architecture and activity between gay and straight people, but most relied on people's responses to sexuality driven cues that could have been learned, such as rating the attractiveness of male or female faces.
Brain symmetry
To get round this, Savic and her colleague, Per Lindström, chose to measure brain parameters likely to have been fixed at birth.
"That was the whole point of the study, to show parameters that differ, but which couldn't be altered by learning or cognitive processes," says Savic.
"This study demonstrates that homosexuals of both sexes show strong cross-sex shifts in brain symmetry," says Qazi Rahman, a leading researcher on sexual orientation at Queen Mary college, University of London, UK.
"The connectivity differences reported in the amygdala are striking."
"Paradoxically, it's more informative to look at things that have no direct connection with sexual orientation, and that's where this study scores," says Simon LeVay, a prominent US author who in 1991 reported finding differences(pdf) in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus between straight and gay men.
Several studies report that the cognitive performance of gay males is more typical of heterosexual females than heterosexual males.
Furthermore, the brain waves of gay males while performing verbal and spatial tasks are more similar to heterosexual females than males or significantly different from both."
Relationships among childhood sex-atypical behavior, spatial ability, handedness, and sexual orientation in men. Cohen KM. Arch Sex Behav. (2002)
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Camperio Ciani, A., Cermelli, P., & Zanzotto, G. (2008). Sexually antagonistic selection in human male homosexuality. Plos One, in
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Rahman, Q., Collins, A., Morrison, M., Orrells, J. C., Cadinouche, K.,
Greenfield, S., et al. (2008). Maternal inheritance and familial fecundity factors in male homosexuality. Archives of Sexual
Behavior, 37.
Camperio Ciani, A., Iemmola, F., & Lombardi, L. (2008). Male homosexuality partly correlates with an increased androphilia and fecundity in females from maternal line
Vasey, P. L., & VanderLaan, D. P. (2007). Birth order and male androphilia in Samoan fa’afafine. Proceedings of the Royal
Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences, 274, 1437–1442.
Blanchard, R., & Lippa, R. A. (2007). Birth order, sibling sex ratio, handedness, and sexual orientation of male and female participants
Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36, 163–176.
Savolainen,V.,&Lehmann,L. (2007). Genetics and bisexuality. Nature,
445, 158–159.
Bogaert, A. F. (2006). Biological versus nonbiological older brothers and men’s sexual orientation. Proceedings of the National
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Rahman, Q., & Hull, M. S. (2005). An empirical test of the kin selection hypothesis for male homosexuality. Archives of Sexual
Behavior, 34, 461–467.
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Pereira, E. (2005). Family size in white gay and heterosexual men.
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Camperio Ciani, A., Corna, F., & Capiluppi, C. (2004). Evidence for maternally inherited factors favouring male homosexuality and promoting female fecundity. Proceedings of the Royal Society of
London, Series B: Biological Sciences, 271, 2217–2221.
DuPree,M.G.,Mustanski, B. S.,Bocklandt, S., Nievergelt, C.,&Hamer,
D. H. (2004). A candidate gene study of CYP19 (aromatase) and male sexual orientation. Behavior Genetics, 34, 243–250.
Blanchard, R. (2004). Quantitative and theoretical analyses of the relation between older brothers and homosexuality in men.
Journal of Theoretical Biology, 230, 173–187.
Bobrow, D., & Bailey, J. M. (2001). Is male homosexuality maintained via kin selection? Evolution and Human Behavior, 22, 361–368.
Bailey, J. M., Pillard, R. C., Dawood, K., Miller, M. B., Farrer, L. A.,
Tivedi, S., et al. (1999). A family history study of male sexual orientation using three independent samples. Behavior Genetics,
29, 79–86.
Blanchard, R. (1997). Birth order and sibling sex ratio in homosexual versus heterosexual males and females. Annual Review of Sex
Research, 8, 27–67.
Blanchard, R., & Klassen, P. (1997). H-Y antigen and homosexuality in men. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 185, 373–378.
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et al. (1995). Linkage between sexual orientation and chromosome Xq28 in males but not in females. Nature Genetics, 11, 248–256.
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173–204.
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(1993). A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. Science, 261, 321–327.
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i was listening to the radio yesterday and mitt romney's ex national defense advisor, who is gay, was the guest. he was discussing the ostracism of gay conservatives
he said, "the left thinks it is wrong for a gay person to be conservative and the right thinks it is wrong for a conservative to be gay."
so much truth in those words. definitely stuck with me and expanded my mind a little.
If you decide to make a choice then you are bisexual. that only goes one way. If your body makes the decision than well you are either straight or gay.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harrier
And the evidence that demonstrates this to be true is - where?
Welcome!
For many years, I have been assisting men and women –mostly, persons who are still at a crossroads about their sexual identity– to reduce their same-sex attractions and explore their heterosexual potential.
Perhaps you experience same-sex attractions, but you believe you were not destined to be gay. You believe that these feelings do not represent “who you really are.”
If this is your belief, then we may be able to help you.
I am a licensed clinical psychologist who shares your vision of humanity. I believe that our bodies tell us who we are, and that our bodies have made us for heterosexuality.
I have helped many men reduce their unwanted same-sex attractions, so that they lose their compelling, life-disrupting power, and assisted them in exploring and developing their heterosexual potential.
Oh please. Not the 'pray-away-the-gay' Joseph Nicolosi from the relgious-based fringe anti-gay group NARTH.
He is one of the biggest jokes in the industry.
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