User:Jenova20/List of suggested causes of homosexuality

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Western Culture and homosexuality

Hi, i'm trying to find some information for an article in progress but struggling. I know there is something out there but now i need it there's nothing obvious on a Google search I can use. I need something; research or just notable ramblings concerning the accusation of Western Culture either causing or promoting homosexuality. It's for User:Jenova20/List of suggested causes of homosexuality and this is becoming one of the more difficult ones to find accusations/evidence of. I would appreciate greatly the effort put in to find some information on this. Thanks ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 14:10, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

I guess it depends what you mean by "western culture". The idea that "decadent" Western values (i.e. liberalism) promotes homosexuality is pretty commonplace. The likes of Robert Mugabe have made such pronouncements, and you can find it in some Islamists. That;s linked to defense of local traditions against westernisation. Nationalist ideologies etc. The idea that modern society itself promotes "unnatural" behaviour - including homosexuality - date back to the sexologists of the late nineteenth century, and is linked to the debates about "degeneration", loss of of traditional belief, liberalisation etc. If you are referring to an older model of "western culture" derived from medieval Christianity, you could argue that the very concept of homosexual identity emerges from the fact that it is proscribed. Paul B (talk) 14:50, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

From my Internet search for xenoestrogens homosexuality, the first result is

http://www.30bananasaday.com/forum/topics/xenoestrogens-turning-men-into-women.

—Wavelength (talk) 14:56, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

See "Joseph Nicolosi" and http://josephnicolosi.com/an-open-secret-the-truth-about/.

—Wavelength (talk) 15:08, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Amazing! thank you both very much ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 15:11, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

I think this book chapter from the Family Research Council might be helpful (pp. 29 ff). Looie496 (talk) 15:15, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

See "Homosexuality in ancient Greece" and http://www.banap.net/spip.php?article121.

—Wavelength (talk) 15:19, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

A caution... the topic of this article is guaranteed to be controversial. I am not at all sure that a list article is an appropriate way to cover it. Blueboar (talk) 15:21, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Most gay-related articles are controversial. If i show all opinions here in line with WP:WEIGHT I think i'll be fine. That-being-said, if you have anything to add or change then go right ahead or just suggest it for me to do. Thanks for the sources. If you find more then post 'em up ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 15:30, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

See http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110216141118AAAuy5j.

—Wavelength (talk) 17:07, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

I only skimmed your draft, but you appear to be missing the obvious 'it feels good to put your penis into a hole and sometimes anuses are handier' “cause” (practiced by prisoners the world over, among others), as well as the simple 'hey I like this person and I like putting my penis in holes, combine the two?' cause (alternatively, the 'no religion taught me this was wrong' cause). No idea what these would be summed up into one or two words as in academia. :) ¦ Reisio (talk) 04:40, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

I'm gonna play the dyslexic card and say i don't understand that. Can you reword or explain? Sorry ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 10:10, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

I don't want to speak for him, but he seems to be saying "Some people men have sex with men because a) it feels good and b) they don't live in a society where people seem to care." That is, it isn't caused so much as "not prevented". --Jayron32 12:25, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

For female people, this is often much more widely accepted even in fairly conservative societies. Indeed, they may even be allowed to marry men! --Stephan Schulz (talk) 12:29, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

So corrected. --Jayron32 13:02, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Ahh, i see! Well that's all useful stuff for me to add =D Thanks a lot and keep it coming if you find/think of more ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 13:41, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Note an important point Reisio seemed to be refer to that Jayron32 did not is that of Prison sexuality and other cases of where Men who have sex with men for access and similar reasons, i.e. Situational sexual behavior. Note in such cases it may not be be that it's generally socially acceptable, simply that it's possible and the risk isn't so great as to stop it, in fact it isn't uncommon that those involved may not wish people to know or to speak about. However while there may be some merit to mention this in your article, as your article appears to be homosexuality as a sexual orientation, not as a behaviour. Nil Einne (talk) 15:14, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

The article in progress is a list of claimed causes. Prison and situation are clearly missing and i'll add them right away. All i need is some decent sources now. Thanks ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 15:27, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Our articles Homosexuality in Japan#Ancient Japan, Homosexuality in China#Traditional views of homosexuality in China and LGBT history should dispel the notion that something Western might have in some way determined or prevented someone’s idea of appropriate sexual orientation. DOR (HK) (talk) 06:30, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Yeah, i'm aware that it's a bullshit explanation that Western Society/Culture = Gay but it's for an article and my opinion isn't a source. Thanks for the links, i'll knock through 'em over the weekend ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 08:34, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Biology

Main article: Biology and sexual orientation

"Despite almost a century of psychoanalytic and psychological speculation, there is no substantive evidence to support the suggestion that the nature of parenting or early childhood experiences play any role in the formation of a person's fundamental heterosexual or homosexual orientation. It would appear that sexual orientation is biological in nature, determined by a complex interplay of genetic factors and the early uterine environment. Sexual orientation is therefore not a choice."

Birth order and older brothers

Main article: Fraternal birth order and sexual orientation

According to several studies, each older brother to the same mother increases in odds of being gay by 28%-48%. Most researchers attribute this to prenatal environmental factors, such as prenatal hormones. McConaghy (2006) found no relationship between the strength of the effect and degree of homosexual feelings, suggesting the influence of fraternal birth order was not due to a biological, but a social process.

A Canadian study by Professor Anthony Bogaert, published in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that the likelihood of a man being gay increases with the more older brothers he has. This has been linked as possibly being due to conditions in the womb in previous studies.

Brain structure

Neuroscientist, Simon LeVay, announced in 1991 that he had discovered a difference between gay and heterosexual male brains. The anterior hypothalamus, believed to be responsible for sexual behaviour, was around half the size in the gay males brains than in their heterosexual counterparts'. His study provided the base for the biological vs choice argument in future years. Swedish researchers, in a later study, found a link to the hypothalmus and sexuality. Building on from Simon LeVay's research they were able to report on how a gay male's hypothalmus reacted only to the scent of male sweat in a similar fashion to that of a woman, while heterosexual men had the same reaction only when exposed to the scent of a woman's urine. They also found the same reaction in the hypothalmus to occur in domesticated rams, of which 8% express only homosexual interest.

Gay males have a similar brain structure to heterosexual women, lesbian women have a similar brain structure to heterosexual men, etc

Evolution

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Female fertility

Harvest Biology and sexual orientation#Female fertility

The gay gene

Main article: Biology and sexual orientation § Chromosome linkage studies

Xq28, a specific part of the X chromosone, was found to be shared more often by gay brothers than the general population in a study by Dean Hamer of the National Cancer Institute. This study was disputed in 1999, when a Canadian analysis of 52 pairs of gay brothers found no significant linkage in alleles and haplotypes. This gave the conclusion that there is no X-linked male gay gene. George Rice published his study in Science Magazine but Hamer responded by criticizing possible problems with how Rice's team selected their study subjects.

In 2007, neurobiologists led by University of Illinois at Chicago researcher David Featherstone were able to isolate a gene in fruit flies, responsible for transporting the neurotransmitter glutamate to cells in the brain. They were able to exploit a mutation in the gene, which they named GB, or Genderblind, altering the amount of glutamate transmitted, to change sexuality. They were further able to reprogram GB to change sexuality multiple times within hours.

Having a twin brother

Harvest Biology and sexual orientation#Twin studies

In 1991, psychiatrists Richard Pillard and Michael Bailey's study on male twins found that despite identical twins sharing their entire genetic makeup, when one was gay, the other was also gay in half of the cases. Fraternal twins, sharing around half of their genetic makeup, were found to both be gay, when one was gay, in 20% of cases. Generally studies have found the rate of homosexuality in the population to be between 2-4%.

Sexual pheromones

Main article: Gay bomb

Harvest Gay bomb

Steroids in the womb

Harvest - Steroids in the womb and differing levels of testosterone and oestrogen have been blamed.

Environment

Main article: Environment and sexual orientation

Situation

Main article: Situational sexual behavior

Similar to Prison sexuality.

Illness and injury

Brain damage

Chris Birch was a 20 year old rugby player when he had a stroke in 2005. He has since completely changed his lifestyle, career, and hobbies, even cancelled his upcoming wedding and split up with his fiancée. Birch made claims after the stroke that he "woke up gay", a claim which is not unheard of according to Stroke Association spokesman Joe Korner. Birch began to hate sport after the stroke and became a hairdresser. He has appeared in multiple television interviews, a documentary: Totally different me, and eventually moved in with his male partner. Other stroke and brain damage-caused changes have been documented and reported in the media, including: numerous cases of Foreign accent syndrome in victims, acclaimed artistic talent appearing in people with none previously, and cases of brain injuries radically changing the artistic style of previous artists.

Mental disorder

Most developed countries declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in the late 1900s or early 2000s.

Disease

Since many have accused homosexuality of being a disease, then it is logical that said disease must travel between people in some way.

Food, Medicines and chemicals

Chicken growth hormones

The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, made claims of hormone-injected chicken causing both male baldness and homosexuality at an environmental conference in 2010. These claims were reiterated, on 18 March 2013, by Colombian model Natalia Paris, when she appeared on the television programme La Red TV, and warned that children become homosexual after eating chicken injected with female growth hormones.

Marijuana

In March 2013, it was reported by Narciso Lopez of the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla (Popular Autonomous University of Puebla), Mexico, that studies had shown marijuana both lowered testosterone, and caused homosexual behaviour in users. InfoNews.com, reporting on the study, argued there was no known scientific basis to support the statement. Lower levels of testosterone have been blamed for making men effeminate or homosexual before, but this has been discredited.

Mercury

Exposure to mercury was discovered to create more same-sex pairings in American white ibises by Peter Frederick. Using a test study on 160 of the birds, Frederick was able to show that higher bood concentrations resulted in more same-sex pairings and as many as 15% of the nests producing no offspring as a result.

Soya

Soya-containing foods were banned by a Rabbi of the Hasidic yeshiva of Gur after he made claims that eating it just once a week would lead to unwanted sexual arousal and increase "gay sexual activity". The belief is based on the myth that Soya contains puberty accelerating hormones, which there is no evidence of.

Stronium

Main article: Strontium § Effect on the human body

Strontium in the water supply of Huarmey, Peru was blamed by Mayor Jose Benitez Pantoja for turning his citizens gay. Certain varieties of strontium have been shown to cause bone cancer and anemia in high doses, but have no suggested or proven link to sexuality scientifically.

Vaccines

Gian Paolo Vanoli, an Italian naturopata scientist was interviewed by Vice.com and made claims of vaccines making children gay or lesbian. As a naturopata scientist she disputes aspects of mainstream science; calling homosexuality a disease and thinks it is curable by drinking urine.

Recruitment

Homosexual recruitment is a conspiracy theory levelled mainly at lesbians, gays and bisexuals, by conservative christians, to accuse them of recruiting heterosexuals into their lifestyle as part of the "Gay agenda". Gay-straight alliances have often been accused of recruiting, aswell as:

Children's books

Books accused of encouraging, causing, or even desensitizing children to homosexuality include: And Tango Makes Three, the non-fictional story of Roy and Silo, two male Chinstrap Penguins, who formed a relationship and raised a donated egg together. The book was banned in numerous school libraries in the US, with one of the reasons given that the book was "anti-family".

Comic Books

Harvest LGBT themes in comics#Censorship and criticism

Television

Occasionally attacked as a form of propaganda, examples include:

• Glee, the television series, was attacked by the American Decency Association founder, Bill Johnson, in 2013 for promoting "homosexuality and deviant behaviour".

• Animated Disney film, Frozen, was accused of indoctrinating children by Mormon blogger Kathryn Skaggs in 2014, with the intention of "normalising" same-sex relationships to them.

Spiritual

Demonic posession

Some Abrahamic religions see homosexuality as stemming from the devil. For example Muslim fundementalists have claimed that it stems from whispers of the devil.

Upbringing

Lack of a father figure

Main article: Father complex

Sigmund Freud was interested in relationships between gays and their parents; speculating that boys were likely to become gay if they lacked a father figure during upbringing. This claim has been repeated by other sources over time but remained unproven. Similar claims centre around the supposed "feminisation" of men by overbearing mothers or seeking intimacy with men since a father figure was unavailable to bond with.

Lack of discipline

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Overprotective mothers

Sigmund Freud speculated that overprotective mothers can turn children gay.

Choice

Main article: Sexual orientation change efforts

Harvest Homosexuality#Sexual orientation change efforts

Harvest Homosexuality#Fluidity of orientation

Culture

Specifically Western culture usually.

Exercise

John Sullivan, a UKIP councillor candidate, publicly promoted the idea that a lack of exercise could make people become gay.

The Circuit Factory gym in Dubai ceased using a controversial advertisement promoting a similar idea in 2013 after international criticism. The adverts showed the gym owner, Phil Parkinson, watching Brokeback Mountain and lusting after other men since his girlfriend had gained weight. After losing weight she became attractive to him again, and his interest in men disappeared.

Penis Envy

Main article: Penis envy

Sigmund Freud believed that some women suffered from penis envy during their psychosexual development, which contributed to them becoming lesbians or transgender.

Physical traits

Research by Dr. Joe Marohl in 2008 showed some common traits between gay, including: similar finger length ratios, more left-handed homosexuals than the ratio present in the heterosexual population, and the majority of homosexuals having a "counter-clockwise hair swirl".

See also

• Homophobia