Do people choose to be gay?
AngelRho
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I suspect that there are many people who mistakenly confusing making choices about our sexual behaviour with making choices about our sexual orientation. A person can, after all, choose to be celibate regardless of sexual orientation. This does not mean that they are asexual; it merely means that they have chosen not to engage in sexual activity.
But that does not mean that every person can make such a choice. Sexuality is integral to who we are, and is a necessary component to a healthy life for most people.
I agree with you up to your last paragraph. At one point, later in my college years, I'd go into delirium tremens if I didn't regularly have sex a few times a week. Now I'm raising three kids, all 5 and under in age, and I'm lucky to have sex once a month. I'm doing ok.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJtjqLUHYoY[/youtube]
You have a strange idea of choice in a binary situation where one scenario ends in death.
In the case of person being asexual, again their lack of sexual attraction is wired into their brain, so again no choice is involved.
The way I view it, if two or more options exist and one (or a subset) must be selected, a choice is present, even if all options but one are obviously untenable. I believe that this is consistent with the dictionary definition of choice.
So..if you agree to do something against your will because I have a gun pointed at your head then your decision to obey me rather than die is a "choice".
Is that what you are saying?
Yes. It's also coercion.
Yes, but your sex drive changes in life. Comparing your sex drive as a young person to your sex life as a parent is a bit like comparing apples and carbon nanotubes.
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--James
Yes, but your sex drive changes in life. Comparing your sex drive as a young person to your sex life as a parent is a bit like comparing apples and carbon nanotubes.
But that's libido, not sexual orientation. Yes, libido changes over time and in different states of physical or mental health and at different ages, as well as because of medications. Sexual orientation doesn't typically change.
You have a strange idea of choice in a binary situation where one scenario ends in death.
In the case of person being asexual, again their lack of sexual attraction is wired into their brain, so again no choice is involved.
The way I view it, if two or more options exist and one (or a subset) must be selected, a choice is present, even if all options but one are obviously untenable. I believe that this is consistent with the dictionary definition of choice.
So..if you agree to do something against your will because I have a gun pointed at your head then your decision to obey me rather than die is a "choice".
Is that what you are saying?
Yes. It's also coercion.
So homosexuals are coerced by nature into being homosexual?
OliveOilMom
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You don't choose who you are attracted to. Some are attacted to the same sex, some are attracted to the opposite sex, some are attracted to both sexes, and some aren't attracted to anyone of either sex. The people who go around screaming that gay people have a choice and chose to be gay, obviously had to make the choice to be straight themselves.
Having sex, whether it's gay or straight, is always a choice. Nuns and priests choose to not have sex, and their orientation shouldn't matter because they are celibate. Some people can choose to have sex with a gender they aren't attracted to for whatever reason, but everyone can't do that.
The closest situation to someone choosing to be gay (or straight) that I can think of is if someone is bisexual and chooses to be exclusively with someone of whichever gender. Either way, they are still bisexual, but if they are in a relationship with someone they will be seen as gay or straight.
_________________
I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
My forum is still there and everyone is welcome to come join as well. There is a private women only subforum there if anyone is interested. Also, there is no CAPTCHA.
The link to the forum is http://www.rightplanet.proboards.com
False analogy.
Homosexuality has not been proven to be a disorder; AS, ADHD, and TS have.
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False analogy.
Homosexuality has not been proven to be a disorder; AS, ADHD, and TS have.
Not sure how the fact that is or is not a "disorder" is even relevant.
The fact is that you dont "choose" to have AS, or ADHD, or TS. Likewise you dont choose to be gay, or to be straight. To just stop being gay is about as easy as choosing to stop being autistic.
Quite frankly i'm disgusted we would see such pig ignorance on an autism forum, of all places.
Ha! You took the words right out of my mouth.
Also though, I wouldn't say "they" and "we": This implies autistic people are something separate from this. It also implies an assumed exclusion of gay people from your audience, or from this community. This is not so. There are gay autistic people just as there are gay NTs. Gay people are not absent from anything. There are gay people participating in this thread--it's their thread as much as it is anyone else's. Straights don't own autism. NT's don't own homosexuality.
Autism is one part of a person's being--yet there are others as well. Sexual orientation would be one of them.
AngelRho
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Joined: 4 Jan 2008
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Posts: 9,366
Location: The Landmass between N.O. and Mobile
Yes, but your sex drive changes in life. Comparing your sex drive as a young person to your sex life as a parent is a bit like comparing apples and carbon nanotubes.
But that's libido, not sexual orientation. Yes, libido changes over time and in different states of physical or mental health and at different ages, as well as because of medications. Sexual orientation doesn't typically change.
No, the libido is still there. What has changed is opportunity.
You have a strange idea of choice in a binary situation where one scenario ends in death.
In the case of person being asexual, again their lack of sexual attraction is wired into their brain, so again no choice is involved.
The way I view it, if two or more options exist and one (or a subset) must be selected, a choice is present, even if all options but one are obviously untenable. I believe that this is consistent with the dictionary definition of choice.
So..if you agree to do something against your will because I have a gun pointed at your head then your decision to obey me rather than die is a "choice".
Is that what you are saying?
Yes. It's also coercion.
So homosexuals are coerced by nature into being homosexual?
I never said anything like that. I said that homosexuality is not a choice (even if you have a gun to your head, you have the option, however undesirable the outcome, of disobeying, but a homosexual never has the option of not being homosexual, therefore it's not a choice), but that acting on it is. I didn't mean to imply that it was a somehow immoral or incorrect choice, but a choice in the same sense that heterosexuals acting on their heterosexuality is.
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