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Homosexuality and their causes
Historical and scientific perspectives on homosexuality
Homosexuality and its effect
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Recommended: Homosexuality and their causes
Correlations Between Biology and Male Homosexuality
Homosexuality, one of the many different sexual behaviors exhibited by humankind, has been rejected, persecuted, and denied. Are the studies that attempt to find causation moral? Is this search for the "why" of homosexuality a continuation of the heterosexist assumption that heterosexuality is normal and homosexuality abnormal? Are assumptions being made that homosexuality is a disease and should therefore be treated medically? Is the research currently being done heterosexist? Studies that are being performed currently and those done in the recent past have shown that there are strong connections between male homosexuality and biology. By presenting the scientifically significant studies that I have come across, I intend to reduce the ignorance surrounding homosexuality and the behaviors often found with it, and to show some of the correlations between biology and male homosexuality.
Throughout my research of homosexuality, I wavered back and forth, debating the morality of this search for a cause. It seemed that finding a cause for homosexuality was somewhat akin to finding the cause for a disease. Unhappy with the association of homosexuality with abnormality, I wondered why scientists were allowed to place homosexuals at such a level. On one hand, with biology backing up gay men and women, the fight for equality and basic human rights could be won more quickly. Although science and society have progressed significantly since the days of Nazi Germany, when homosexuality was thought to come about through "seduction and mind-traps," critics of the current scientific curiosity with homosexuality consider every study and experiment an effort to strengthen the argument tha...
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...ce of linkage to micro satellite markers on the X-Chromosome in a Canadian study," poster presentation at the International Academy of Sex Research, Provincetown, MA, 1995
Slimp, J. C., B.L. Hart, and R.W. Goy, "Heterosexual, autosexual and social behavior among adult male rhesus monkeys with medial preoptic-anterior hypothalamic lesions," Brain Research 142:105-122 (1978).
Soulairac, A. and M. L. Soulairac, "Effets de lésions hypothalamiques sur le comportement sexuel et le tractus génital du rat male," Annales d'Endocrinologie (Paris) 17:731-745 (1956).
Stein, Edward. The Mismeasure of Desire: The Science, Theory, and Ethics of Sexual Orientation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Whitman, F.L., M. Diamond, and J. Marin, "Homosexual orientation in twins: A report on 61 pairs and three triplet sets," Archives of Sexual Behavior 22:187-206 (1993).
My own personal philosophy of leisure has been shaped by past and present activities I do for leisure and why I do them. To me, leisure is the sense of being free from external stressors that I face in my life such as school or work. The positive outcomes from partaking in leisure are generally overlooked and often underestimated. Leisure affects our emotions, our physical and mental health, and aids in the creation of relationships. In my own personal life, I have done and still participate in leisure as a way to sooth myself or unwind from the stress of school or work. The release of pent up emotions and energy for individuals helps their relationships with others and their overall health as well. When stress is released, an individual is
Marks, L. (2006). The Loss of Leisure in a Culture of Overwork. Spirit of Change Magazine.
Homosexuality is a sensitive topic and often avoided in conversation. For centuries the human race has oppressed and persecuted others strictly because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual etc. Although it is disturbing to most of us, these actions still occur in our society today, as many believe that homosexuality is abnormal and disgraceful. One supporter of this belief is Michael Levin, who strongly believes that homosexuality is highly abnormal and thus, undesirable. Although his beliefs and theories supporting this claim are subjective, there is evidence that can support his stance on this topic; we will analyze this claim in further detail and how it relates to his other views mentioned in this essay.
Many individuals would define leisure as time free from paid work, domestic responsibilities, and just about anything that one would not do as part of their daily routine. Time for leisure and time for work are both two separate spheres. The activities which people choose to do on their spare time benefit their own personal interests as well as their satisfactions. While some people may enjoy one activity, others pay not. Leisure is all about personal interests and what people constitute having a good time is all about. Some may say that the process of working class leisure can be seen to contribute their own subordination as well as the reproduction of capitalist class relations. Self-produced patterns of working class leisure can lead to resistance to such reproduction. This leads to social class relations and inequalities, and the fact that it they can never be completely reproduced in the leisure sphere. This film Home Feeling: Struggle for a Community, gives some examples of the role of leisure within a capitalist society dealing with issues such as class inequalities, and how they are different among various societies.
Halperin, David. "Is There a History of Sexuality?." The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Ed. Henry
What controls a human's sexual orientation? The long-standing debate of nature versus nurture can be extended to explaining human sexual orientation. Is it biological or environmental? The biological explanation has been gaining popularity amongst the scientific community although it is only based on speculations. It is argued that sexual orientation is linked to factors that occur during sexual differentiation. The prenatal exposure to androgens and their affect on the development of the human brain play a pivotal role in sexual orientation (2). Heredity is also part of the debate. Does biology merely provide the slate of neural circuitry upon which sexual orientation is inscribed? Do biological factors directly wire the brain so that it will support a particular orientation? Or do biological factors influence sexual orientation only indirectly?
Milstein, Susan A. Taking Sides Clashing Views in Human Sexuality. Ed. William J. Taverner and Ryan W. McKee. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.
Two thirds of the human body, including an athlete's body, is made up of water. Without water we can not live, nor would we exist. Water needs to be purified in order to be drinkable and safe for humanity. Most athlete's drink high quality purified water which promotes their hydration. Dehydration is the result of not having water in your body. This can lead to fatigue, headaches, joint pain and other uncomfortable states in the human body which would affect an athlete's performance. A human can not spend more than three days without having water, therefore an athlete that uses more water than a normal person would have a shorter period of time because of how quickly they use the water. The average tissue in your body is made up of 50 percent
"Scans See 'Gay Brain Differences'" BBC News. N.p., 16 June 2008. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. .
Diuretics are substances that increase the production of urine and excretion of sodium. As a result this alters both the volume and content of body fluids(Jackson, 2006). This highly desirable quality means that the use of diuretics are abused by athletes for the benefit of both rapid water loss (to meet weight categories) and in order to mask the presence of banned substances. The competitive nature of humans means that since sporting events and competitions began, the desire to gain a competitive advantage has always been a huge factor. Nowadays in this ’commercial’ sporting world, with massive lucrative lifestyles, and the related lust for sporting success, sports men and women have resulted in countless methods to achieve a competitive edge. With an ever-growing development in medicines and chemistry, such attempts include the use of performance-enhancing drugs. This is unfortunately has become the scourge of modern sport, and their use to gain advantages in competition is on the increase. (Barroso et al., 2008).
Somerville, Siobhan. "Scientific Racism and the Invention of the Homosexual Body." Gender, Sex, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University, 2009. 284-99. Print.
Stein, Edward. The Mismeasure of Desire: The Science, Theory, and Ethics of Sexual Orientation. New York, NY: Oxford UP, 1999. Print. 20 Oct. 2011
Oliver, M. B., & Hyde, J. S. (1993). Gender difference in sexuality: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 29-51.
Even though it is against nature, some individuals are born with complete desire to same sex. Abraham Verghese in his article A fresh look at homosexuality said, “While welcoming and agreeing with a positive perception of homosexuality, it is difficult to accept the position that homosexuality is a normal psychosexual development. A normal variant cannot be considered completely normal. It is, in fact, an aberration in the psychosexual development, caused by genetic and psychosocial factors for which the person is not responsible. There are research findings, which suggest that there are structural differences in the brains of people with homosexual orientation.”(qdt pg 1) This quote proves the claim of having a different biological format for homosexuals from any normal heterosexual. These cases are completely helpless and have nothing to do with being homosexuals; it is a natural stimulus that they were born with. Therefore in such cases, it is critical to understand that they have no control over their unnatural
The sexual orientation of a person has been a critical debate over the past several centuries. For several...