Homosexuality: Nature Vs. Nurture

Homosexuality: Nature vs. Nurture

By Ramon

The question of whether you prefer a homosexual lifestyle or a straight lifestyle is debated widely across the world. The idea of someone whose preference is that of a homosexual lifestyle is frowned upon by many around the world. On the other hand, it is widely accepted by many as well. The question is it a choice, is it predetermined at birth, or is it the way that we were raised that decides our sexuality? The biggest debate is that of nature versus nurture. Is it possible for one person to be a homosexual by the way they were raised and another person to be a homosexual because of genetics?

Nature would be defined as "Whole system of the existence, forces and events of the physical world that are not controlled by human beings. Fundamental or essential qualities of a person or thing." In other words, genetics.

Nurture would be defined as ""Act or process of promoting the development of a child or young plant." In other words, environment.

In the homosexuality debate, nature would take that stance that true homosexuals, or bisexuals, do not choose to be gay. It has nothing to do with a persons' environment either. It would entirely be a genetic issue. If you are gay, you were born that way - period. This issue has been studied by scientists, and interesting conclusions have been found. For instance, the homosexual "gene" seems to be followed down the maternal line. Also, if one twin is homosexual the chances are great that the other twin would be as well. Recently is has also been discovered that a vast majority of homosexuals have a smaller hypothalamus than the general population.

In the nurture debate, it is often stated that it is "the parents' fault". You made your child gay. A few reasoning's for this would be that a female child played too often with boy toys, or boys played too often with Barbie's. A very large argument in this debate is that ever since the rise of single mothers in today's society, there has been also a rise in male homosexuality. Because this issue has not been settled, it is still very hard in many parts of the country to adopt a child if you are a gay couple, male or female.

What was once a taboo subject is now a huge part of our society today. The reason for this is that many people did not know enough about nor did they want to know. If you were a homosexual in years past, you would most likely not want to admit to because you were ashamed to or you feared that others would not accept you. They would think that there is something wrong with you or that you were diseased. In today's society, the exposure of the homosexual lifestyle is enormous. There are many television shows that portray a homosexual lifestyle. Take for example the hugely successful show "Will and Grace". Will is a single, successful, and good looking. Grace is independent, strong-willed and attractive. They would make the perfect couple except for the fact that she is straight and he is gay. That is the premise of NBC's "Will and Grace". The show attempts to explore a totally platonic relationship between two best friends of the opposite sex. The show also has two gay male leads with polar-opposite personalities in order to destigmatize the representation of the homosexual man. The show has been one of NBC's most successful since its debut, garnering both critical and public praise for its portrayal of homosexuality as just another aspect of the lives of the four main characters. How was the able to gain so much appeal to its viewers? To make the show palatable they decided to talk about the show's two leads as a more of a romantic couple compared to them as being best friends. The reason behind this is that people love to see a couple of friends who should inevitably be together. If this was done any other way, it would not have been accepted a well as it was. The show was a huge success because of the way they chose to go about it. Years ago a show like this would most likely have not worked. I credit the information on "Will and Grace" to an article on a georgeton website. Another television show that touched upon the homosexuality was "M.A.S.H". A character on the show tried to portray himself as a homosexual to avoid servicing his country. The characters name on the show was Klinger. He was an off-the-wall and a way over the top character. He would constantly dress in drag and would always get a laugh out of the audience. Most homosexuals would most likely find this character demeaning. In the United States, shows like "M.A.S.H." did not have a full understanding on the homosexual lifestyle. They probably thought of it as something that shouldn't be taken serious. That's probably why the had a homosexual character that was not really a homosexual and used it in a comedic fashion. If "M.A.S.H" were set in 90's or 00"s they probably would have a character who was in the Army who was trying to stay in despite the fact he was actually a homosexual. I'm not sure how comedic that would be. A show that I like to watch is 'The Shield". They have a character on the show named Julian. Julian is an African-American police officer in the tough streets of Los Angeles. Julian is a homosexual who does not want to be a homosexual, and struggles with his hidden self on a daily basis. He believes that his religion is against homosexual relationships but he cannot fight his urge to act upon his desires. He actually marries a woman to try stopping himself from even thinking about his homosexual past and his homosexual desires. His character was "outed" in the show and some of the cops gave him a hard time and some supported him. Despite his trials and tribulations he has not to this day admitted to or embraced his homosexuality. I felt this character was different than any other I have ever seen. "The Shield" created a ground breaking character in Julian. Currently most homosexual characters are either openly gay or play the "flaming" homosexual, for example Jack from "Will and Grace". This is just to show what type of impact Hollywood has had on homosexuality, not only today but in the past. With more and more television shows popping up embracing the homosexual lifestyle, for example "Queer Eye for the Straight Eye", it is reassuring for the homosexual population as a whole to fell accepted as well as they have been.

Even though homosexuals seem embraced and accepted today more than ever, they