Nature vs Nurture

[Silentnoise]

Hey I have been in a few huge debates about this in class, and I was wondering what everyones part take on it...Just in case you do not know what I am talking about its about being gay is it herdity or the way you were brought up?

[Helix]

I wrote a thesis paper on Nature vs. Nurute, and I think it's a complex issue. First off, neither side wins. Nature and Nurture both exert a force on an individual and can shape who they are. As far as homosexuality, your class discussion topic, I believe it is a genetic trait. Dispite what the Christian Wrong would lead you to believe, homosexuals are not deviants, just different. In the example your class is using, Nature holds sway but in general, they act together.

 

Homosexuality is just one aspect of the debate. The general arguement is which holds more influence on the whole. Like I said, they both do. Matt Ridely explores this in his book The Agile Gene . If you're interested in this debate, it's a good read.

 

Dean Hamer has proven, to his standards, that homosexuality is indeed genetic. He also wrote a book about if religion has a genetic basis, The God Gene.

 

Hope that helps, but to understand the bulk to the debate, you'd have to do research on some of the methods involved in the dabte like twin studies.

[Silentnoise]

So what is the Agile Gene all about? I may just have to go buy that book.

[sunspot]

Have they been able to isolate the gay gene and place it normal animals to make them gay? Or is this just science sounding speculation. It would appear to me, that if gay behavior was due, in part, to genes, it would be due to more than just one gene. The DNA is very large and gay behavior is rather complex and would be expected to be composed of hundreds or even thousands of genes that may be scattered all over the DNA.

 

Another way to look at the complexity of gay behavior is to look at normal human sexuality. If a normal guy sees a beautiful woman, the sensory input, i..e., optic nerve, sensory cortex, limbic system, etc., triggers sensory expectation, sexual behavior software, and all the interrelated dynamics that occur within the body, heart, mind, imagination. Going from this on-deck position to a home run, also has a lot of phases, since rape is not legal. So every step of the way around the bases, there is sensory/hardwired checks and balances, foreplay/dating, to see if the sensory expectation meets the needed criteria. It is complex requiring more than a single gene.

 

But natural instincts can also be alterred by circumstances. For example, someone with a healthy eating habits, might go into or be induced into depression and begin to overeat, something they never did before. The environment can alter the natural connection to the behavior software to create an unhealthy orientation. After that, the sensory input due to food is treated very differently.

 

Any playboy worth his stones knows what to say, to speed up the base running process, with lies and illusions. In the same token, one can also lie to themselves and act in a way that is not what they believe on the inside. Women marry cruel men not because of genetics. With enough practice, one can repeat the same mistakes for years until they become second nature, i.e., must be genetic. The whole gay issue may have extended genetic influence, it could be a learned or an induced aberration of instinct, it could be repression of reality, or even a complex process of lying to onself or others. The gay thing is not clear cut and probably runs the whole range of natural and unnatural possibilites.

[tejaswini]

no being gay has got nothing to do with heridity. do u mean to say that a gay's son will also be a gay. no no no.strictly no . someone asked a similar question about a gay protein and gene, i think in the medicine column.

[BeYeu05]

Not with the eternal question of nature vs. nurture, again!

 

I say to hell with it. Gay people are cool and we should just accept them instead of trying to analyze how they came about. Nobody ever asks YOU stupid questions like, "was it nature or nurture that you became such a bastard?" Yah, if you're a bastard, you just are. No explanations needed.

 

Likewise for gays/lesbians. They just are.

 

So live with it!!

[ashennell]

I say to hell with it. Gay people are cool and we should just accept them instead of trying to analyze how they came about

 

I don't think there is a problem with studying homosexuality in a scientific way. Surely you could just apply your attitude to everything in nature and not bother studying anything i.e. - 'The universe is cool we shoud accept it instead of analysing how it came about.'

[Silentnoise]

I don't think there is a problem with studying homosexuality in a scientific way. Surely you could just apply your attitude to everything in nature and not bother studying anything i.e. - 'The universe is cool we shoud accept it instead of analysing how it came about.'

 

 

I for the most part agree with you, however I do not know I can quite understand or grasp what you are saying when you say it came about...I think people have been gay all through out human life, but I think just recently it has been more open in the public. Am I making any sense?

[Severian]

So when will they find the 'penchant for high heels and stockings gene'? I think I may have that one....

[Glider]

I don't think homosexuality is either hereditory or environmental. I think it's congenital and attributable to the teratogenic effects of hormone imbalances during gestation.