Referring to another thread, I was talking about some theories that suggest homosexuality might cease to exist in the future.
In the field of Psychology, it is becoming impractical to ask question like ‘Which is most important, genes or environment’? This is because many researches had already proven that there is no clear cut to this question.
Human behaviours are the result of complex interactions between various factors. Only in very extreme cases can one perspective declared sole responsible for certain behaviours, for example in the case of serve brain-damaged patients. So for example in this case the question we should ask is can we understand sexual orientation based on genetic differences between individuals?
So is there such a thing as a ‘gay gene’? Simon LeVay (1993) in his book
The Sexual Brian suggested that homosexuality might have a genetic origin. He feels that most of us choose to perceive gays/lesbians as committing immoral sin or suffering from mental illness. This is not true.
Studies of twins show that the tendency to either heterosexuality or homosexuality is higher in identical twins than in fraternal twins (non-identical), i.e. genetic factor.
Another source of evidence come from the brains of adults at autopsy. It was found there exist differences in the structure of certain regions of the brains between gay and non-gay.
On the other hand if there is a gay gene, how does it spread into the population? From the evolutionists perspective especially sociobiology, the existence of a gay gene just doesnÂ’t make sense. A gay gene will result in biologically unproductive sex and thus end up in its own annihilation. Thus homosexuality could not be due to biological factors.
But for some of them, they suggest that maybe there is the possibility of a gay gene but eventually through repeated cycles of being re-created by mutation, it may be eliminated from the population.
Personally from a humanistic perspective, whether is there any gay gene is really not that important. As human being, we make choices in deciding whom we are and what we want to do with our life. As fellow human beings they have the right to live their life to the fullest just like every one of us.
Just my view.
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References LeVay, S. (1993) The Sexual Brain, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press.
Stevens, R. (1996), ‘Understanding The Self’, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA