Friday, November 29, 2019

Homosexuality Nature vs Nurture.The Study of How Essays

Homosexuality: Nature vs Nurture.The Study of How Biology and Society Influences Homosexual Identity DevelopmentThe concept of homosexuality is not a revolutionary one that it violates all cultural beliefs, gender and family roles, and societal values. The earliest documentation of homosexuality appeared in 600 B.C. in Asian cultures, and a few prominent historical figures such as Alexander The Great, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo were actually believed to be gay. In some cultures, homosexuals even hold a high status in society. For example, Native American tribes thought of homosexuals to be "spiritually gifted" and would look to them for spiritual advice and healing, indicating that it was a high honour to be gay in their community.However, homosexuality goes against many cultural beliefs, gender, and family roles that today's society values. As a direct result of going against social norms, homosexuals experience a lot of backlash that has led many to raise the question: Why do people continue to identify with being gay although they know the repercussions they may face in society? Is our sexuality a choice? Or are we born into our genders? Is our sexuality based on environmental factors or based on our own free will? The debate over the genesis of homosexuality has been ongoing for years and many argue that sexual orientation cannot be genetically hardwired. In this paper, I will be analyzing both aspects of the nature versus nurture debate in terms of the development of one's sexuality and will present research findings on the topic. I will be presenting evidence of biological influences, namely genetic and neurohormonal influences, on the development of homosexuality and will discuss the sociological view of socially influenced homosexuality. As the spectrum of research and studies conducted in this area is too wide, I will only be selecting a few points which I think are more interesting and relevant. I will also inject my own criticism of the theo ries and ideas discussed, evaluate the validity of the evidence, and apply sociological perspectives to the social elements. Theoretical OrientationI will be applying the symbolic interactionism theory to this topic and my research will be qualitative and on a micro-level and an international scale. Symbolic interactionism is relevant to my topic of discussion as it studies at the motivations behind one's sexual identity development.Symbolic interactionism is the sociological concept founded by Max Weber and it looks at how people attribute to, and construct meanings of their situations and behaviour. According to Weber, knowledge of cultural processes is only possible by understanding the meanings that the specific and shared reality holds for those involved. This includes the significance of subjective meaning and symbols in situations that are produced and represented. Blumer (1986) states that there are three tenets associated with symbolic interactionism. Firstly, people act to wards things based on the meanings it holds for them. For example, some people may view a tree as a sacred object while others see it as a particular botanical species or a source of lumber. Secondly, meanings of things are generated over time through human interaction. The significance of things are not individually determined or inherently linked to objects. Thirdly, meanings are modified during interaction through interpretive processes where an individual may change their initial interpretation of the situation. GENETIC INFLUENCE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOMOSEXUALITYA study conducted by LeVay (1991) examined the interstitial nuclei of the anterior hypothalamus (INAH) in 19 gay men who had died from AIDS, 16 heterosexual men (six died from AIDS) and six heterosexual women (one died from AIDS). It was discovered that of all four sections of the INAH, only the third section was significantly larger in those with an attraction to women as compared to those with an attraction to men. H owever, the study neglected to include homosexual women and could not conclude if the size of the INAH-3 in a person is a cause or a consequence of sexual orientation. But it does provide evidence that there could be a biological reason why gay men and straight women are attracted to the same sex.Behavioural geneticists have also found that an identical twin of a homosexual has an approximate fifty percent chance of also being homosexual, while fraternal twins have approximately twenty

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