What do you think?

Question

I was at a party this weekend and for some reason this question came up. The question is, do you think that people are born gay or does society and the way you are raised play a roll in what you decide for sexual preference? This caused many arguments and many people feel very strong about their answer, which ever one it may be. I believe that you are born gay and it's nothing that you can decide. I myself am not gay but I am interested in what someone who is thinks of this question.

Answer 1

I believe its a natural born thing!!!! Just like hermaphrodites, its natural!!!!!! There is obviously a chemical imbalance in the brain, don't you ever see young children who are boys but tend to be very feminine, or little girls who are very tomboyish? I have a nephew and his best friend is a girl, he is 15 and his favorite color is pink!!! I knew when he was about 4 that he was gay!! He recently came out of the closet.......

Answer 2

Simon LeVay, a neuroscientist, studied the brains from 41 corpses, including 6 women, 19 homosexual men, and 16 men presumed to be heterosexual. A small area of the brain, the INAH-3, was similar in size in women and homosexual men, but larger in heterosexual men. He suggested that this might be evidence for an actual structural difference in the brains of gay men. There are, however, numerous problems with this study:


The points on the graph represent the size of INAH-3 in the brains from corpses of 6 women (F), 16 men (M; presumably heterosexual) and 19 homosexual men (HM)
In comparing the size of the INAH-3, he presumed that the 16 "heterosexual" men were, in fact, heterosexual. Only two of them had denied homosexual activities; for the rest, sexual histories were not available. Thus, he was actually comparing homosexual men with men of unknown sexual orientation! This, obviously, is a major flaw in scientific method.
The volume of the INAH-3 may not be a relevant measure:
Scientists disagree on the most accurate way to measure the INAH-3. LeVay measured the volume; other scientists claim it is more accurate to measure the actual number of neurons. Clarifying the potential problem, some have suggested that using a volume method to project impact on sexual orientation may be like trying to determine intelligence by a person's hat size.
When different laboratories have measured the four areas of the INAH (including INAH-3), their results conflicted. For example, Swaab and Fliers (1985) found that the INAH-1 was larger in men, while LeVay (1991) found no difference between men and women. Allen et al (1989) found the INAH-2 to be larger in men than in some women, while LeVay (1991) again found no difference. See Byne (1994), page 52.


The above problems aside, even the data from LeVay's study did not prove that anyone was born gay. This is the case for at least two reasons:

Both groups of men covered essentially the same range of sizes. One could be gay (HM) with a small INAH-3 or with a large one. One could also be in the "heterosexual" category (M) with either a small or large INAH-3. Clearly, these men were not held to a sexual orientation by their INAH-3 biology! As the data shows, the INAH-3 size of three of the homosexual men puts them clearly in the "heterosexual" category (with one having the second largest INAH-3!). If all you know about any of LeVay's subjects is INAH-3 size, you could not accurately predict whether they are heterosexual or homosexual, male or female.
A study that showed a clear difference in INAH-3 sizes, would still leave another question unanswered: are men gay because of a smaller INAH-3, or was their INAH-3 smaller because of their homosexual actions, thoughts, and/or feelings? It is known that the brain does change in response to changes in behaviour and environment. For example, Newsweek reported that "in people reading Braille after becoming blind, the area of the brain controlling the reading finger grew larger." As well, in male songbirds, "the brain area associated with mating is not only larger than in the female, but varies according to the season" (Newsweek, Feb. 24, 1992, p. 50).

Answer 3

I am not gay, but know a straight girl who became gay, this would make me think that perhaps you are not born one or the other, but rather decide which one you want to try or become.
I am as straight as they come because I find girls and women very sexy, but no doubt some people will try both sexes before they decide which they are.

Answer 4

society