Why does homosexuality exist?

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lotuspuppy
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19 Apr 2008, 3:09 pm

As a homosexual male, I have pondered this question for quite some time. Now for those of you wondering, I don't wish to be straight, nor am I undergoing a sexual identity crisis. I'm quite comfortable being gay. However, I do still wonder why it exists.

Biologically, it serves no purpose. There is no reproduction value to mating with the same sex in any species. And yet it pops up in all different sorts of species all the time. I kind of wonder why it hasn't been breed out.

Then again, it may serve as a population control mechanism, as it serves sexual pleasure without creating new babies. However, these two arguments suppose that it is genetic. I have wondered at times if it is environmental, but then again, that is so hard to prove.



MissConstrue
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19 Apr 2008, 3:36 pm

Genetic?

I don't know, I don't wanna have kids, does that make me useless in society?

Some ppl can't have children and some that do, either abandon them or put them up for adoption. There's a lot of stuff I'd ask why to. Why are ppl physically different, why do some ppl excel in some things than others. I think society within any culture is what makes you think why? it just makes me wonder why ppl look down on other people's orientation more so than anything like personality.


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miss_e
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19 Apr 2008, 3:43 pm

i'm bisexual.. i don't believe it to be genetic but just how your brain works. a lot of people ask me "what made you become bi?" and i simply answer with "the reason i am bi is the same reason you are straight..i'm just born that way"


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OddballBen
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19 Apr 2008, 3:50 pm

miss_e wrote:
i'm bisexual.. i don't believe it to be genetic but just how your brain works. a lot of people ask me "what made you become bi?" and i simply answer with "the reason i am bi is the same reason you are straight..i'm just born that way"


If you're born bisexual, doesn't that make it genetic?



miss_e
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19 Apr 2008, 3:52 pm

you make a good point..and i can't respond..i'll just go think this out :D


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Xelebes
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19 Apr 2008, 3:53 pm

It's the jetsam of life, a dead-end in the gene pool. To that I just shrug. So I may be one (ok, I'm only bi), I may still express love. It does not prevent me from helping the gene pool by helping the society to thrive and that whichever I may express love, I achieve self-satisfaction so that I may carry on another day to continue helping.



CanyonWind
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19 Apr 2008, 3:56 pm

This is something I've wondered about too.

I'm straight, but it's not because I sat down and thought about whether I'd rather be attracted to males or females and decided to be heterosexual. I can't avoid the conclusion that sexual orientation is innate.

Natural selection is based on how many offspring an individual produces, and it's hard to imagine anything that would be more strongly selected against than a preference for breeding that doesn't produce offspring.

I suppose it could be something in the uterine environment, but that just knocks the same question back a step. Females that tended to produce gay offspring would produce fewer grandchildren.

Homosexual type behaviors occur in other species, but I'm not sure there are gay individual animals, outside of South Park. Maybe there are, but I'm not aware of it.

Assuming there is a "gay gene," I wonder if there might be some heterozygote advantage, like sickle cell anemia.


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19 Apr 2008, 4:09 pm

lotuspuppy wrote:
...it may serve as a population control mechanism, as it serves sexual pleasure without creating new babies. However, these two arguments suppose that it is genetic. I have wondered at times if it is environmental, but then again, that is so hard to prove.


There are actual differences in the structures of the brain (don't know specifics on this, we only briefly studied it in psych) so there is definitely a "nature" thing about it. Bisexuals have similar differences too. I think it is just a natural variant in life, nothing more, nothing less. Just as brain chemicals and structures cause and effect so many other things, from giftedness to depression, I believe sexual orientation is much the same. We are what we are, as a whole. I do believe it helps our population from exploding, but whether this is an intended function of nature or not, I don't think we can say.


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MissConstrue
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19 Apr 2008, 4:10 pm

Another thing I wanna add too, I wouldn't tend to look at homosexuality as a disease or something that would be looked at as "genetically wrong." I have cousin who's gay and does very well for himself.

As for animals, you'll see some things they do that human would never do. I would think if anything another weakness would be overpopulation as well as underpopulation. Over population contributes to famine and disease. China was a good example of that as well as society as a whole. It also could be related to how society views it. We as humans are the only ones that do most of the analyzing and observations that eventually form into facts and opinions.


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19 Apr 2008, 4:18 pm

Homosexuality exists because society needs its flamboyant types, its playwrights, its Broadway producers, its fashion designers, its interior designers, its BDSM lifestylers, its poets, and its tortured artists.



miss_e
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19 Apr 2008, 4:20 pm

NeantHumain wrote:
Homosexuality exists because society needs its flamboyant types, its playwrights, its Broadway producers, its fashion designers, its interior designers, its BDSM lifestylers, its poets, and its tortured artists.


:D


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Daewoodrow
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19 Apr 2008, 4:24 pm

Well, i'm straight, so psychologically speaking I can't comment on what motivates it. The thing is, homosexuality, as you said, serves no purpose. In fact, it is couterproductive to your utimate goal in life, which is the preservation and continuation of your genetic code. As living organisms we serve no other purpose. I don't consider it a disease, and I certainly don't dislike homosexuality. In fact, i'd say I hold no opinion on the matter whatsoever. From a scientific standpoint, it's a disorder, either psychological or genetic, at present there is no way of knowing.
I know i'm going to produce some sort of moral outrage for saying this, but I do believe there is something wrong with a person who is homosexual, I just don't believe they should be shunned for it. Afterall, it's none of my business what happens to another person's genetic code, and some people choose not to have children anyway irrespective of their sexual preference.


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19 Apr 2008, 4:39 pm

The same might be asked regarding aspie traits. If the trait reduces the likelihood of reproducing, then why does it persist? Are aspies the result of a rearrangment of a finite capacity for talent? Are there still aspies and homosexuals because they somehow promoted the survival of their tribe over other tribes that didn't produce them, even though they're not reproductively favored as individuals? Remember also that people who identify as primarily homosexual do sometimes have children.


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19 Apr 2008, 4:46 pm

MissConstrue wrote:
Another thing I wanna add too, I wouldn't tend to look at homosexuality as a disease or something that would be looked at as "genetically wrong." I have cousin who's gay and does very well for himself.

As for animals, you'll see some things they do that human would never do. I would think if anything another weakness would be overpopulation as well as underpopulation. Over population contributes to famine and disease. China was a good example of that as well as society as a whole. It also could be related to how society views it. We as humans are the only ones that do most of the analyzing and observations that eventually form into facts and opinions.


Well, I suppose maybe the human population is too large, about a billion would be about right. Someone else I knew said the ideal number is zero, but I am not sure I agree. The problem is that there isn't anything that eats us in appreciable numbers. More tigers? Yes, especially for California.


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19 Apr 2008, 5:49 pm

most things exist because they can.


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19 Apr 2008, 6:06 pm

Sedaka wrote:
most things exist because they can.


that is exactly what i think. thinking things must exist for a simple tangible reason reminds me slightly of creationism. some traits will just be thrown up by genetics again and again as a bi-product of other more important stuff going on.

oh no look out the homosexuals are reproducing *sarcasm gene activated* :lol: