Mindslave wrote:
Well, certainly there is going to be a genetic component in any type of condition or behavioral pattern, but the idea that someone is "born that way" is just preposterous. Animals aren't going to be "born autistic" or "born homosexual" and that's that. I think male lions lay down with each other all the time. I think there were gay panda bears as well. But I don't think you see male lions exclusively with other male lions. That would take a lot of negative reinforcement, and animals just don't care that much to take time out of their busy schedule of eating and sleeping to go heckle the gay ones.
My understanding is exclusive homosexual patterns in the animal kingom are unusual, but never the less, same sex sexual behavior, is seen. Of course this also happens in the human population too, except that exclusive homosexual patterns are more often seen.
People and all other animals express an infinite number of unique charactersitics based on genetics. By your definition people are born with different genetic components that influence biology and behavioral patterns.
The biological component is not necessarily destiny, but people are born more likely than others to express a behavior or have a condition due to a difference in genetic makeup. The same thing happens in the animal kingdom everyday. Those in the animal kingdom with severe problems, aren't likely to survive long.
Most everything we do is influenced by genetics; however, prenatal testosterone influences gender and brain development, and can create a complex variety of results, that at this point scientists do not fully understand.
From Wiki:
Quote:
Prenatal hormones: The prenatal hormonal theory of sexual orientation suggests that people who are exposed to excess levels of sex hormones have masculinized brains and show increased homosexuality. Studies to provide evidence for the masculinization of the brain have however not been conducted to date. Research on special conditions such as CAH and exposure to DES indicate that prenatal exposure to, respectively, excess testosterone and estrogens are associated with female–female sex fantasies in adults. Both effects are associated with bisexuality rather than homosexuality.[44]
There is research evidence that the digit ratio of the length of the 2nd and 4th digits (index finger and ring finger) is somewhat negatively related to prenatal testosterone and positively to estrogen. Studies measuring the fingers found a statistically significant skew in the 2D:4D ratio (long ring finger) towards homosexuality with an even lower ratio in bisexuals. It is suggested that exposure to high prenatal testosterone and low prenatal estrogen concentrations is one cause of homosexuality whereas exposure to very high testosterone levels may be associated with bisexuality. Because testosterone in general is important for sexual differentiation, this view offers an alternative to the suggestion that male homosexuality is genetic.[49]
The prenatal hormonal theory suggests that a homosexual orientation results from exposure to excessive testosterone causing an over-masculinized brain. This is contradictory to another hypothesis that homosexual preferences may be due to a feminized brain in males. However, it has also been suggested that homosexuality may be due to high prenatal levels of unbound testosterone that results from a lack of receptors at particular brain sites. Therefore the brain could be feminized while other features, such as the 2D:4D ratio could be over-masculinized.[46]
03 Jun 2011, 7:41 am
