The problems with homosexuality

RVCA · 10-12-2010, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by storymilo

RVCA: posting this her cause it's the first time I saw it.

YOUR NEW AVATAR IS AMAZING

You played Magic too? Nightmare was the best! This is my Halloween avatar hehe

jeveuxleson · 10-12-2010, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVCA

I've never researched it myself, but my Psychology professor recently told our class of 800 people that "every day, we find more and more evidence that your sexuality is determined either before birth or shortly after."

That's very very interesting. I definitely believe it. Hmph. I don't want to offend anyone with this statement. Uh. Well, there's really two types of homosexuals, I do believe. One is the one that has realized the fact that they are indeed attracted to their own sex. (Whether they accept it or not.) Then there are the others, the attention whores who 'choose' their sexuality. The ones who like girls to get more guys. That's not true homosexuality. It's not true to nature, true to form. So what gets often confused is the biological conclusion of homosexuality, and the fact that people who aren't gay sleep with the same gender. Therefore we come to a divide, people who are in fact gay, and the ones who claim they are based on their actions. There is this grey area. As a result, many statistics are based on a mix of the 'true homosexuals' and the ones who claim they're gay. Statistics are screwed for the time being, therefore evidence is skewed. I definitely believe your professor, it all comes down to whether we can find what causes homosexuality, and then advance from there. Y'know?

RVCA · 10-12-2010, 09:04 PM

Oh, it will be found, and I reckon it will be found in the next decade or so.

jeveuxleson · 10-12-2010, 09:07 PM

Possibly. Hopefully. I truly want to know.

You see, I don't know enough of the topic to truly carry on. (What I discussed was mostly theories and some hard facts.) Therefore, I can just sit back and speculate. I know what I am, and I am what I am. And for that I am glad.

storymilo · 10-12-2010, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVCA

You played Magic too? Nightmare was the best! This is my Halloween avatar hehe

hellz yah. Magic is the best. I remember being really excited getting that card in a booster pack.

VeggieLover · 10-13-2010, 12:25 AM

This topic has been very big in my life lately, partly because of the recent attention the media has given it, and partly because I'm trying to get a Gay Straight Alliance club going at my school with a gay friend of mine. I've done a fair amount of research on the subject, but my first hand experience is fairly limited because my community has very limited diversity.

ANYway, the idea that one may choose sexuality seems to run against commonsense. There are enumerable instances where, due to prejudice or bullying, what have you, the quality of life of a gay individual would have been vastly improved had they somehow managed to 'become straight.' You can read all sorts of testimony describing an individual's struggle to accept his or her homosexuality, sometimes to the extent of denying it for an entire lifetime (at the high cost of lifelong unhappiness), but I have never yet read a testimony in which an individual realized that they had homosexual tendencies and proceeded to successfully condition themselves to like the "correct" gender. It just doesn't happen.

However, I do tend to agree with jeveuxleson. For instance, I know with relative certainty that I am heterosexual. But there are occasions where I become sexually aroused by the presence of another woman (whom I find to be attractive). Is this a homosexual tendency? I think not. The feeling arises not out of a capacity for loving the other woman in a deep or romantic way, rather, it arises from a very animalistic place of lust. I know several girls who claim to be bi when (i suspect) they are simply acting out of a lust which males (decent ones being somewhat scarce in my town) are not sufficient to satisfy. Just a theory.

The real question is this: Is sexuality such a defining feature that it is necessary to divide "true" homosexuals from the curiously-lusty experimenters? Need we define ourselves with such black and white terms, or is it possible that we could coexist regardless of any benign sexual tendency?

Personally, I think there's a happy medium to be reached. So much of social encounters are based on sexual drive that not to acknowledge differences in preference is to create some very awkward situations. This awkwardness could in time cease to register as awkward, but that would take significant social revolution. Labeling in some form is necessary to communicate in the courtship dance we call "society." (and yes, i am generally referring to the world of singles, which is the only world i know well.) However, sexual attraction is NOT the basis for the majority of relationships, and therefore sexuality need not be a defining factor in any friendly encounter. I think once people stop freaking out about homosexuality as a concept (OMG, you mean people aren't clones of each other?), that happy medium will establish itself.

Sorry for just hopping into the conversation, i was in a ranting mood (and I haven't been on MB in FOREVER). Kudos to you if you actually read all of that.

Nine Black Poppies · 10-13-2010, 09:13 AM

Because I feel this to be relevant and it builds on what I posted in the Sexual Orientation thread:

Quote:

...what are straight and gay if not sexual practices? I suggest we view these distinctions as primarily sociocultural categories, or cultural spheres that people choose to inhabit in large part because they experience a cultural fit. Some men like to have sex with men in the bathrooms of gay bars after dancing to techno music, others like to have sex with men while watching straight porn and talking about bitches. Because the only thing these experiences have in common are sex acts between men, we might view heterosexuality, then, as a system of erotic relations and a cultural experience that appeals to people who choose to be straight. Conversely, we might view queerness as a system of erotic relations and a cultural experience that appeals to people who choose to be queer.

Lastly, where is the power in this analysis and what does this mean for the queer movement? In social movement context, redefining queer and non-queer as cultural affiliations implies that queer "rights" serve to protect not everyone who engages in same-sex sexuality, but all those who are excluded from, and alienated by, hegemonic STR8 culture--gender freaks, all kids in gay-straight alliances, all people who are or are willing to be part of this thing we call "gay." Such an approach refuses biological determinism, the essentialism of the closet, and the distinctions between "us" and "them" rooted in the gay/straight binary. But perhaps more importantly, if it's not same-sex sexual practices that bind us, we must examine and take responsibility for the cultural spheres that we produce. Queer culture becomes not simply the outgrowth of resistance to oppression--although it certainly is this--but an available repertoire of aesthetic distinctions, personal preferences, and comforts we call home: d-yke haircuts, techno music, drag shows, queer jokes, leather and so on. To view queerness as constitutive of these pleasures, as opposed to some agreed upon set of rights linked to sexual practices, will keep queerness intact regardless of movement gains or losses.

**Scarlett O'Hara** · 10-14-2010, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nine Black Poppies

Because I feel this to be relevant and it builds on what I posted in the Sexual Orientation thread:

You raise some excellent points. Can I ask what you do for a living? You seem very educated. It's refreshing from the limited minded tweens on here.

Nine Black Poppies · 10-15-2010, 03:43 PM

Thanks

Right now I don't actually do much for a living--I sort of feel like a professional student actually (which has its ups and downs). I'm hoping to get into either filmmaking (which is what I'm going for a degree in after a couple years of vacillation) or journalism/criticism, though.

**Scarlett O'Hara** · 10-16-2010, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nine Black Poppies

Thanks

Right now I don't actually do much for a living--I sort of feel like a professional student actually (which has its ups and downs). I'm hoping to get into either filmmaking (which is what I'm going for a degree in after a couple years of vacillation) or journalism/criticism, though.

Very nice, I've been thinking about being a columnist, there's too many things I want to do! I love writing

10-12-2010, 09:07 PM	#484 (permalink)
jeveuxleson Groupie Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Tampa, Florida Posts: 23	Possibly. Hopefully. I truly want to know. You see, I don't know enough of the topic to truly carry on. (What I discussed was mostly theories and some hard facts.) Therefore, I can just sit back and speculate. I know what I am, and I am what I am. And for that I am glad. __________________ "Le temps est un grand maître, dit-on, le malheur est qu'il tue ses élèves."

10-13-2010, 12:25 AM	#486 (permalink)
VeggieLover Music?! Lets boogie! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: CO Posts: 215	This topic has been very big in my life lately, partly because of the recent attention the media has given it, and partly because I'm trying to get a Gay Straight Alliance club going at my school with a gay friend of mine. I've done a fair amount of research on the subject, but my first hand experience is fairly limited because my community has very limited diversity. ANYway, the idea that one may choose sexuality seems to run against commonsense. There are enumerable instances where, due to prejudice or bullying, what have you, the quality of life of a gay individual would have been vastly improved had they somehow managed to 'become straight.' You can read all sorts of testimony describing an individual's struggle to accept his or her homosexuality, sometimes to the extent of denying it for an entire lifetime (at the high cost of lifelong unhappiness), but I have never yet read a testimony in which an individual realized that they had homosexual tendencies and proceeded to successfully condition themselves to like the "correct" gender. It just doesn't happen. However, I do tend to agree with jeveuxleson. For instance, I know with relative certainty that I am heterosexual. But there are occasions where I become sexually aroused by the presence of another woman (whom I find to be attractive). Is this a homosexual tendency? I think not. The feeling arises not out of a capacity for loving the other woman in a deep or romantic way, rather, it arises from a very animalistic place of lust. I know several girls who claim to be bi when (i suspect) they are simply acting out of a lust which males (decent ones being somewhat scarce in my town) are not sufficient to satisfy. Just a theory. The real question is this: Is sexuality such a defining feature that it is necessary to divide "true" homosexuals from the curiously-lusty experimenters? Need we define ourselves with such black and white terms, or is it possible that we could coexist regardless of any benign sexual tendency? Personally, I think there's a happy medium to be reached. So much of social encounters are based on sexual drive that not to acknowledge differences in preference is to create some very awkward situations. This awkwardness could in time cease to register as awkward, but that would take significant social revolution. Labeling in some form is necessary to communicate in the courtship dance we call "society." (and yes, i am generally referring to the world of singles, which is the only world i know well.) However, sexual attraction is NOT the basis for the majority of relationships, and therefore sexuality need not be a defining factor in any friendly encounter. I think once people stop freaking out about homosexuality as a concept (OMG, you mean people aren't clones of each other?), that happy medium will establish itself. Sorry for just hopping into the conversation, i was in a ranting mood (and I haven't been on MB in FOREVER). Kudos to you if you actually read all of that. __________________ "Not remotely! Because iocaine comes from Australia, as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you."

10-15-2010, 03:43 PM	#489 (permalink)
Nine Black Poppies Music Addict Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: A State of Denial Posts: 357	Thanks Right now I don't actually do much for a living--I sort of feel like a professional student actually (which has its ups and downs). I'm hoping to get into either filmmaking (which is what I'm going for a degree in after a couple years of vacillation) or journalism/criticism, though. __________________ Like carnivores to carnal pleasures, so were we to desperate measures...

10-12-2010, 09:04 PM	#483 (permalink)
RVCA （￣ー￣） Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 3,270	Oh, it will be found, and I reckon it will be found in the next decade or so.