Monday, November 24, 2014

After Multiple Studies, Debate Over the Root of Sexual Orientation Remains Unresolved

Some research has indicated that sexual orientation is determined between birth and age three, but the cause of particular orientations is still undetermined. Sexual experiences as a child are not necessarily indicative of one's sexual orientation as an adult. Research has estimated that approximately 10% of the US population is gay, lesbian, or bisexual. There is still no definite answer as to whether it is determined at birth or not but various research and studies have resulted in a range of hypothesis'.

Multiple factors have been studied to analyze whether they could affect the person's sexual orientation. Some of these factors include parenting styles, genetic origins, childhood sexual experiences, hormonal origins, mental health, conversion therapy, and religious perspectives.

People who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual come in various shapes, sizes, and colors just like heterosexual people. Being gay, lesbian, or bisexual is not the same thing as being transgender. Most gay, lesbian, and bisexual people are comfortable with their own biological sex; they don't consider themselves as members of the opposite sex. Regardless of origin, it is about that time where homosexual people are given equal rights.

There continues to be debate by scientist, religious leaders, elected officials, and the general public on whether sexual orientation is a trait you are born with or if its caused by the environment we are raised in.

Society, with some rare exceptions, are socialized to be heterosexual. Despite this socialization into heterosexual patterns, some research has showed that the behavioral patterns of homosexuals suggest that is biologically based and that sexual orientation itself is also derived biologically.

The Associate Director at the University of Maryland LGBT Equity Center, Nicholas Sakurai, and the Coordinator, Calvin Sweeney, were able to take some time and answer a few questions I had regarding sexual orientation. The only question I had for both of them was their opinion on whether the origin or sexual orientation was nature or nurture. I chose to ask both of them this question because I think it's important to hear more then one opinion about the origin of homosexuality.



Both Sakurai and Sweeney has similar responses, neither gave a direct answer or thought the question was relevant. This is key because people are so concerned on whether the determinant is nature or nurture that its obsurity is affecting the real problem here, human rights. Regardless of the origin of sexual orientation, it is about that time where the LGBT community is given equal rights.

One of the strongest arguments risen regarding sexual orientation is whether it is determined by biological factors like genes and hormones.

One study conducted was the 2006 Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, which reported that having older biological brothers play a role in determining male sexual orientation. The results of this study conclude that the odds of being gay increase by 33% with each older male sibling. A second study was done after to see if this applied to homosexual women. Table 1 shows the mean number of siblings for the four groups. Homosexual men had more older brothers than heterosexual men did, but homosexual women did not differ from the heterosexual women with regard to any class of sibling. 

This next graphic demonstrates the relationship between the number of older brothers with percentage of homosexuals. The numbers in parenthesis show how many of the 610 men who participated in the study had zero, one, two, and more then three brothers. For example, 60% of the 416 male participants with no older brothers were homosexual.

These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the high birth order of homosexual men reflects the progressive immunization of certain mothers H-Y antigen and the increasing effects of H-Y antibodies on sexual differentiation of the brain in succeeding male fetus. The fact that the maternal immune hypothesis survived the study does not mean that it has now been proven. There could be various alternative explanations like sex play between boys, increasing the likelihood of adult homosexuality.

The variation between men and women with these results makes it difficult to derive a solid conclusion about sexual orientation. 

This study makes it apparent that having an older male sibling increases the likelihood of being a homosexual, but it doesn't apply to women.  This study just further proves that there are differences between homosexual men and women, just like there are between heterosexual men and women, and homosexual and heterosexual people in general. 

People argue that there are actual differences in the brain between homosexuals and heterosexuals, to justify why heterosexuals differ from homosexuals. Sakurai began responding to this by saying he is no expert in brain structure, but referred back to the brains of males and females. There are differences in the brain between males and females while still overlapping in some areas, but brain differences won't solve any problems regarding the rights of homosexuals.

                          

Chandler Burr, another researcher, wrote the book on the right, in search for the genetic origin of sexual orientation. He believes in the theory called the Eve Principle of Harvard Researcher, Richard Pillard, where a "gay gene" in humans is the origin of homosexuality. He makes in interesting hypothesis that without male hormones, we'd all be women, regardless of whether we are XX or XY chromosome.

According to Pillard, the process of becoming a male means that the body must become defeminized and masculinized (including the brain). If the main difference between homosexuals and heterosexuals is the orientation of sexual feelings towards others, then the brain needs to be involved. In male homosexuals, the brain is biologically masculinized but not defeminized in terms of orientation of sexual feelings towards others. Pillard says that The Mullerian Inhibiting Hormone (MIH), does its job in the body but not the brain.

Another researcher, Bruce Bagemihl, wrote a book in 1999 called Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity. In his study, he estimated that about 20% of all interactions of birds and mammals are homosexual. Through this evidence one can conclude that sexuality is common is a wide variety of species. Multiple hypothesis' have been tested, but the varied results through biological determinants still leave the question unresolved.

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Opponents argue that homosexuality is cause by brainwashing, sexual abuse, and poor child-parent relationships.

Like Sakurai and Sweeney mentioned in the interview, it is not about how or why people are homosexual, but about equality. Theories in psychology about parenting styles causing homosexuality have been thrown around for a while, but are no longer relevant. Examples of these theories include a female parent being dominant or a male parent being weak, or even the absence of a same-gender role model.

I went ahead and asked Sweeney about her thoughts on whether parenting styles contribute to homosexuality. She denies there being any effect on parenting styles to sexual orientation and throws the question back by saying what causes someones sexual identity whether heterosexual or homosexual? Great way to make a counter argument, if it is not biologically determined then what is the actual determinant of sexual identity? This is still unknown.

Childhood sexual experiences like abuse are very big environmental factors that are believed by most opponents to cause homosexuality. It is said that men who sexually molest boys lead their victims to homosexuality and pedophilia. There is certain evidence that shows that a high percentage of of homosexuals and pedophiles were sexually abused as children. On the contrary, experts say that premature sexual experiences don't play a huge role in late adolescent sexual orientation.
                                                  

I asked Sakurai in the interview whether he thought this kind of abuse played a role in homosexuality and he responded by saying that the argument has no merit. The way people feel for other people isn't determined by environmental factors, it's more natural.  He continued to say after the clip that he believes an argument stating that abuse causes someone to be who they are sounds innaccurate, it obviously affects you but it doesn't change your sexual orientation.

Homophobic people have tried conversion therapy in attempt to "cure" their children or themselves from homosexuality. 

There are in fact opponents out there who claim that homosexuality is a mental disorder. Even though this has been proven by scientific research for over 35 years that homosexuality is not a mental disorder, and confirmed by psychologist, people still believe it to be true. That being said, people still spend a lot of money and time on conversion therapy to try and reverse homosexuality.

The only claims to the success of the therapy have resulted in scattered reports, not on actual scientific studies. This type of therapy only confuses the homosexual even more by having him repress his desires. Supporters of the therapy have claimed that there has been some full sexual orientation shift, and some that have been capable of heterosexual behavior. Even so, such evidence does not mean that every homosexual should change, nor that they can all change.
                                           
I asked Sweeney on whether she believed conversion therapy cured homosexuality and she completely disagrees. Not only does she disagree but she is against it because of the psychological effects it could have on the person. It is very difficult and dangerous especially during teenage years when most homosexuals go through identity crisis', the long term effects can cause them to resort to drugs or violence to help numb the truth since its been told to them it is not normal to feel the way they do.

CNN poll asks 1,029 adults whether homosexuals can willingly change their sexuality, majority disagree.

This opinion research poll was done in 2007 by CNN, where the results favored homosexuals. At the time it was the 20th century where homosexuality was becoming more common and normal. Out of the 1,029 adults, 56 percent responded that they could not change their sexuality, 36 percent said they could, and 8 percent said they had no opinion. Who knows how much that percent has risen; seven years later homosexuality is more socially acceptable than ever.

Conversion therapy is now done less and in the next couple of years research on the origin of homosexuality will probably find new conclusions. At the end of the day, you can't really change who you are. You can pretend to do so, but deep down you know who you are and what sex you prefer. Times are changing and we will reach that point soon enough where gay, lesbian, and bisexual people won't have to hide or be embarrassed anymore.

Religious perspectives are the most suppressing when saying homosexuality is genetic and in the fight for the legality of gay marriage in the United States. 

Most people in both the Catholic and Christian church are against gay marriage because it is stated in the bible. This is a very controversial factor because its all about what one believes to be true through their faith regardless of the bible. Some people live and die for that book while others accept the fact that a lot of things said in it are indirect. Due to these beliefs, most religious people reject the idea of the origin of homosexuality being biological.

I went ahead and interviewed three random people around College Park, Maryland, and asked them whether their religious beliefs affected their opinion on the origins of sexual orientation. All three of the responses ended with they did not. What this tells us is that homosexuality is becoming more normal especially for the younger generations since it is now so common and socially acceptable.
It is now the 21st century and the shocker of homosexual people being homosexual is old news. They are different and they are people, just like everybody else and they deserve their equal rights in this country. Research on the root of sexual orientation remains persistent just as various new hypothesis' continue to be tested. In spite of opponents arguments, homosexual people should still be entitled to social and religious acceptance, marriage, and protection regardless of the origin of homosexuality.

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