Essay on Nature Versus Nurture Homosexuality

Introduction

Is there a homosexual gene? Is homosexuality nature vs nurture it is an innate or social concept? There have been many debates about the standing of homosexuality on how a person becomes attracted to the same sex. If there is indeed a gay gene why isn't everyone gay is it that only some persons are born with this gene or that it is a mutation of a particular gene or is it that homosexuality learned behavior based on society and the environment they were grown in. in the paper, we will look at the history of homosexuality and whether homosexuality innate or learned behavior.

What is homosexuality? The term homosexuality was first used in 1892 when Charles Gilbert Chaddock was translating the work of Richard Von Kraff -Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis which was the study of sexual practices. Homosexuality can be simply defined as a romantic attraction or taking part in sexual behaviors between the member of the same sex and gender throughout history homosexuality has been evident in art, religion, and cultural norms whether it is frowned upon or accepted in certain cultures and not seen as a taboo but actually a part of everyday life. Some religious practices such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam believe that homosexuality and behaviors associated with it are deemed sinful, however, there are denominations in both Christianity and Judaism that accept the lifestyle and other religions such as Epicureanism and Raelian accept homosexuality. The earliest account of homosexuality in history was often depicted in hieroglyphs, illustrations, paintings, poetry, and pottery. One such piece of evidence is the San Rock paintings of Zimbabwe which date back to 800 B.C. in other ancient cultures namely ancient China 2697, where the Chinese Emperor Huang Di was said to have male lovers. The Egyptians also had incidents of homosexuality in the year 2460 the Pharaoh Neferkare was said to have an affair with his top military commander and there was an Egyptian tomb found with two royal male manicurists Khnumhotep and Niankhknum that depicts them kissing with the inscription 'joined in life and joined in death. In Greece around 600, on the island of Lesbo the poet Sappho came famous for her writing the illustrated love and infatuation between women. While these recounts can be deemed as the acceptance in other cultures and religions as stated before homosexuality was considered as a sinful act and in most cases, death was the punishment. In 1200 the prophet Moses condemned homosexuality and crossdressing and taking part in these acts would be to death for both men and women in 1075 The Code of Assura depicted that any soldier caught in the homosexual act would be subjected to castration.

As time progressed into the dark Middle ages and the rapid spread of Christianity homosexuality became a taboo and even consider a mental disorder. At the turn of the century the first DMS the American classification of mental disorders which was published in 1968 considered homosexuality as a mental disorder and persons found to be homosexual or having homosexual tendencies were placed in mental institutions to be treated. It was not until 1973 that the America Psychological Association that the members o the association was asked to vote on whether to remove homosexuality as a mental disorder from the DMS, they instead referred to it as a sexual orientation disturbance it was the year 1987 that homosexuality was completely removed from the DMS. It should be noted that before the removal of homosexuality as a mental disorder gay conversion therapy was invented to turn a gay person straight. In the 1990s and early 2000s, there was a large rise in gay conversion camps where self-proclaimed experts believed that they to pray away the gay through faith but the usage of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. When it comes to the law and homosexuality there has been a long-standing battle, persons that were homosexuals were not allowed to marry under the law, and in several countries persons that choose this lifestyle would receive the death penalty. However, as time progressed and with the formation of the LGBTQ community and several human rights acts marriage is legal in several countries and no longer seen as illegal although as of 2019 there are more than 13 countries that still have the death penalty for being gay.

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The question that is continuously debated is if homosexuality is innate or learned behavior, many persons that are homosexuals will say when asked at what age did they know that they were indeed gay, and in most cases, people will say that ' I just knew ' or they were born this way and this led to the question being asked if there is any such thing as a gay gene and predisposing genetical pattern. On a biological level, there have been several types of research done to see in fact if there is any evidence of the 'gay gene. in the long and short of it there is no biological evidence there is a gay gene even people that are gay have stated that they did not know there were gay from a tender age in life but later on they found out the truth of their sexual orientation

When it comes to the question if homosexuality is a learned behavior there is more to be said on that topic, but does it actually mean can a person be taught to be gay or due to the environment that they were raised in affects their sexual orientation? The saying goes the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, which simply implies that the way you were raised affects your behavior in society. In psychology, learning is defined as a permanent change in behavior as the result of experiences and focuses on a range of topics of how people learn and interact with and in their respective environments. With that being said does this mean that persons that grow up in straight and Christian communities will, in turn, grow up straight or that persons that grow up with an alternative lifestyle will have the same orientation? There several cases where persons that grew up in anti-gay households did indeed end up being gay not as a rebellion but that being the lifestyle they choose while a person that grew up in same-sex families choose to be straight.

There are also cases of people changing their sexual orientation further in life, having families with the opposite sex, and this is extremely difficult on the families and close friends but eventually, some cases get accepted whiles, unfortunately, get shunned, while other side of the spectrum homosexuals have changed their sexual orientation with this being said you have persons that bisexual that like both genders and also a new coined term sexual fluidity. Over the years sexuality has changed things are no longer black and white but rather on a spectrum people believed that they should to allowed to love what they want to love and that no one person or law should define what is right or legal in this sense.

In conclusion, homosexuality is neither innate nor learned behavior, your sexual orientation and the way you feel romantically for a person whether of the same or opposite sex cannot be defined by genetics or strictly social upbringing but these are feelings of love, care and want to spend the rest of your life with someone.

References

1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/59cf7968-437d-4475-8c85-3146fc018e0c
2. https: //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8505533