Children learn to behave aggressively when they witness aggression being rewarded. If you grew up in a family or as part of a culture where aggression was not well accepted, you would be less likely to be aggressive. You would learn, from an early age, how to control your aggressive tendencies. People adhere to cultural constraints of monogamy despite being attracted to people other than their spouses. In some societies, homosexuality is accepted, in others, it is frowned upon but tolerated, in yet others, it is a serious criminal offense, possibly punishable by death.
Male homosexual behavior was expected in ancient Athens. Today, ritual male homosexuality plays an important role in some cultures in New Guinea. Your upbringing can influence what you find desirable and what you find repulsive. Most Americans would be probably be nauseated if they learned that, when they thought they had been eating beef, they were, in fact, eating dog, even though there is nothing inherently unhealthy about dog meat.
What you have learned about homosexuality as you were growing up will affect whether you consider engaging in homosexual acts to be desirable or disgusting. That argument is based on the assumption that sexual preference is purely biological; therefore, it has no place in a discussion about the possible causes of homosexuality. In , a study published in the journal Science seemed to show that the hypothalamus, which controls the release of sex hormones from the pituitary gland, in gay men differs from the hypothalamus in straight men.
The third interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus INAH3 was found to be more than twice as large in heterosexual men as in homosexual men. This study was criticized because it used brain tissue obtained at autopsies, and all of the homosexual subjects in the study were believed to have died of AIDS. This study, which also used brain tissue from autopsies, did not reveal any significant difference between the size of the INAH3 in gay men and straight men.
It did, however, show that in gay men, neurons in the INAH3 are packed more closely together than in straight men. PET and MRI studies performed in have shown that the two halves of the brain are more symmetrical in homosexual men and heterosexual women than in heterosexual men and homosexual women.
These studies have also revealed that connections in the amygdalas of gay men resemble those of straight women; in gay women, connections in the amygdala resemble those of straight men. The amygdala has many receptors for sex hormones and is associated with the processing of emotions.
Some studies have shown that the corpus callosum — the main connection between the two halves of the brain- has a different structure in gay men than in straight men. However, other studies have found no difference. Gay women and gay men are more likely to be left-handed or ambidextrous than straight women and straight men, according to a number of different studies.
Some researchers have suggested that this difference in handedness — preference for one hand over the other can be observed in fetuses - is related to differences in the corpus callosum. However, according to a study that was performed ten years later, the size of the anterior commissure is not affected by sexual orientation. We know from studying rats that exposure to sex hormones in the womb during a critical period in brain development affects future sexual orientation. By manipulating hormone levels during this time, scientists can make rats engage in homosexual behavior later on.
A large amount of brain development takes place during childhood, when you are learning many new things — including how your family and the adults around you believe you should feel about things and what they believe is acceptable behavior.
The education you receive as a child strongly affects how your brain will develop as you grow. For example, children who are given musical training experience changes to areas of the brain associated with hearing and motor control.
Both London taxi drivers and professional piano tuners show increases in gray matter in areas of the brain associated with the skills needed for their professions. The size of the increase in gray matter correlates with the numbers of years of experience.
In one experiment, elderly subjects showed increases in gray matter in certain parts of their brains after they were taught to juggle. With proper rehabilitation, people who have suffered brain damage from strokes can develop new neural connections and regain some of their old skills.
However, women do experience changes to the structure of the hypothalamus — which is thought to be associated with sexual orientation - throughout the menstrual cycle.
While changes in hormone levels in the womb during a very specific time can have an effect on future sexual preference, hormone levels have no effect on sexual preference afterwards. Gay men and straight men have the same levels of sex hormones; sex hormone levels are the same in gay women and straight women. Today, however, we know much more about the brain than we did when homosexuality was considered a disease that required treatment, and the amount of knowledge that we have about the brain is increasing.
Perhaps one day we will be able to adjust sexual preference via surgery - focusing on the particular regions of the brain that are associated with sexual preference — or via neural implants or training. Even if gay people can never stop being attracted to members of the same sex, they can learn not to act on their desires. People already learn to stop smoking, to give up certain foods, and not cheat on their husbands or wives.
If they could, should they change their brains or have their brains changed in order to make themselves straight? I believe that people have the right to engage in any behavior that they choose, as long as their actions do not harm others, and I believe that gay sex and gay relationships do not cause harm to anyone. Therefore, people who are gay by choice have the right to remain that way. Of course, there are abusive and unhealthy gay relationships that should not be tolerated, just as there are unhealthy heterosexual relationships that should not be tolerated.
There is an element of homophobia in that argument— the implication that gay people would become straight, if only they could. Specifically, people who believe sexual orientation is biological are more likely to favor equal rights for sexual minorities. When Atlantic contributor Chandler Burr proposed in his book, A Separate Creation , that people are born gay, Southern Baptists called to boycott Disney films and parks in protest against the publisher, Disney subsidiary Hyperion.
As the report authors explain:. Male fetuses carry male-specific proteins on their Y chromosome, called H-Y antigens. These antibodies bind to the H-Y antigens and prevent them from functioning. Blanchard believes that this phenomenon grows stronger with each boy a woman bears. Studies have found that a man without older brothers has about a 2 percent chance of being gay, but one with four older brothers has a 6 percent chance.
Meanwhile, other studies have found the relationship to be weak or nonexistent. Because being gay is bad, apparently. That would be classed as a very sinister superpower. This issue has come up again for what is possibly the 12,,,nd time for several reasons.
There was a recent study that suggests homosexuality is linked to the X chromosome , so is therefore genetic, ie inherent, not a choice. On top of this, Stephen Fry has recently revealed his engagement to partner Elliot Spencer.
But why is this so persistent? Firstly, what makes people think homosexuality is a choice in the first place? Most cite religious beliefs, although the notion that religion is flat-out opposed to homosexuality is far from accurate , and getting more uncertain as time progresses. Old style prejudice and paranoia seem to be more involved here.
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