A little debate me and a friend had. He claims that being traumatized during developmental years can cause a strait man to turn gay. Through being molested to any other kind of trauma.
Is there any evidence of this, or evidence against it?
I’m gay, never been traumatized.
Does your friend believe this only happens to males or also to females?
Here’s a quick overview on the current psychological perspective on the issue.
According to the American Psychological Association:
And the American Psychiatric Association(warning:PDF file) concurs:
(Bolding mine)
According to the first edition rules of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG by Palladium, yes, trauma can turn one homosexual or heterosexual if homosexual to begin with.
Marc
There is a theory that stress to a mother while pregnant will increase the chances of having homosexual offspring. Cite
Well, I’m pretty sure there’s no evidence for it. I’m not certain how you’d provide evidence against it other than by traumatizing a bunch of kids who already identified as straight and seeing if they turn gay.
Some victims of sexual abuse are so scarred by the experience that it interferes with their ability to enjoy sex, and I suppose it’s possible that a few such people might think “sex with a member of the opposite sex is frightening for me, so maybe I should give it a try with members of the same sex.” However, that’s not the same as actually being gay. If such people exist, I’m sure that most soon discover that gay sex doesn’t really do it for them either.
[sarcasm]
I’m wondering whether “being traumatized during developmental years” causes most people to be unable to relate romantically to a person of their own gender? I mean, did you heteros get that way genetically, or is your environment to blame?
[/sarcasm]
I don’t claim to be an expert on what makes one gay or not…but I have seen numerous studies on “intersexed” (i.e. hermaphrodite) individuals and it seems to be an in utero hormone issue.
All embryos start life as females, but at a certain time of gestation a wash of hormones (testosterone peticularly) “invades” (for lack of a better term) the uterus causing the embryo to become male or female. (Biologists, please correct me if I’m wrong).
Through logic, I am under the impression that there could be an amount of hormone relesed that varies in intensity.
Therefore, there is a certian range of hormone release that makes a child take on traditonally “gender opposite” characteristics even though it has a particular set of chromosomes.
This is not meant as an attack or defence…it just makes sense to me as an idividual.
If it can turn one gay - does it turn one permanently gay? There are countless instances of people resorting to homosexuality in a single-sex environment, often an environment that is also traumatic (prison, warfare). Is this latent bisexuality, temporary homosexuality, or just a pure physical and/or emotional need that transcends gender?
I have read of lesbians who began being lesbians because of abusive relationships with men. I haven’t heard of gays doing the same - though that’s not to say it doesn’t exist. Again: same question: were these people always unknowingly bisexual/homosexual, and did it just need a trigger?
Also not an expert, so would love to hear from one. I had thought that the man’s sperm determined what gender the child (should) be, then if the appropriate wash of hormones didn’t occur at the right time, transgender or intersex might occur.
There are studies which suggest that stresses during the first trimester of pregnancy, that make certain hormones more prevailent than others, may determine adult sexuality.
This has lead to the idea that Homosexuality is a natural device used to limit population growth, as the stresses which trigger the hormone releases are very similar to those found in overcrowded environments, loud and annoying noise being one that was used.
You could sexually abuse some people for the first 12 years of their life and they wouldn’t “turn” gay. Others you don’t need to abuse at all. In some cases, the family dynamic that is consistent with sexual abuse (rather than the abuse itself) could be a contributing factor.
The general idea is of environmental influence is that same sex parent was cold and distant while the opposite sex parent was dominating and/or smothering. In this situation, the same sex parent is not available/desirable for the child to identify with while the opposite sex parent was. This leads to an identification with the opposite sex parent and a constant “search for love” from someone with a gender identity similar to that of the cold, distant same sex parent. Psychoanalytically inclined theorists might argue that the reason so many priests are homosexuals is not just because they are attempting to hide behind the veil of celibacy but also because they are searching for an all-loving father.
Another idea is that in order for a child to resolve the same sex parent conflict, the child chooses a same sex love object.
The first theory would account for effeminate male/masculine female homosexuals while the latter would account for the reverse. In the latter, the child has identified with the same sex parent but has chosen to avoid the
oedipal conflict entirely rather than reach a rapproachment.
There are many causes of homosexuality and they aren’t mutually exlusive. Some people are probably innately/biologically homosexual. Some were merely sexually malleable and had a scale-tipping environmental factor. Can sexual abuse cause a person to “turn” gay? Well, it is certainly easy to imagine that a sexually-abused person would reenact his/her past via a compulsion to repeat but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are exclusively gay. While 53% of homosexual pedophiles were homosexualy abused as children, 51% of homosexual pedophiles are exclusively hetersexual in adult relationships.
Hijack Due to Question on Intersexedness
First, hermaphrodite and intersexed are not interchangable terms. Hermaphroditism is one of many conditions which classify as intersexed. Others OTTOMH, Klinefelter syndrome, androgen insensitivity, Turner syndrom, and clitoromegaly. For more information visit the Intersex Society Of North America http://www.isna.org/
Back To The OP
Utter crap. This is simply another attempt to prove homosexuality is “unnatural” and has no biological cause. If it were true, then homosexuality would be classified as a mental illness-which could be cured, making the patient straight.
We’re In GD So What The Heck
Note that this is the proper forum for witnessing, so-
Homosexuality is not a sickness. If G-d did not want people to be gay, He would not make gay people. G-d does not hate gays. He loves them as he loves all his children. It is the duty of His followers to do the same.
I can see trauma turning you gay in the sense that you might feel alienated from the rest of your surroundings, and might adopt ways of living that the majority of people don’t live by - like being gay.
Other than that, I seriously question it. There is no stated fact about the origin of our sexual preferences, but it being due to abuse (or lack thereof) just strikes me as odd.
That relies on the idea that sexual orientation is a conscious choice, though.
I don’t think I’m qualified to weigh in one way or another about the OP but something needs correcting.
Homosexuality is not a mental illness for a reason separate from the choice/environment/genetics debate. It’s not a mental illness because it does not inherently cause distress or an inability to function within society, thus needs no curing. It is discrimination against homosexuals which causes the distress and thus should be worked against. At least that was the mindset, IIRC, which got it removed from the DSM back in the '70s.
You don’t need to be an actual homosexual to call yourself one, or take on the identity of one. I suppose the OP was talking about true attraction towards the other sex, and not only identity, so I guess my thought didn’t really count there.
I have no hard evidence to offer one way or the other. Two people that I’m acquainted with have “turned” following trauma in their lives. What does this mean? Therapy, probably, but who knows for sure.
I worked with a fellow who was married with two small boys. The wife cheated, took him for everything and left all three to fend for themselves. The father hasn’t looked at another woman in 10 years-only men for relationships. He simply doesn’t trust women and probably needed a good therapist.
Similarly, I know a woman who suffered a traumatic rape incident. She hasn’t been able to have a relationship with a man since. She only trusts other women and views all men as beings never to be trusted. Again, she needed a good therapist.
I’m not sure where these “homosexuality isn’t an illness” posts are coming from…no one has even implied that idea i don’t think, only that early traumatic incidents may dispose one to it.
Just depends how “early” we are talking about 
DocCathode and Priam I don’t recall anyone in this thread saying that homosexuality is a mental illness. Even if child abuse were the “cause” of homosexuality in some cases, it doesn’t necessarily mean the victims are mentally ill. Perhaps pedophilia is a mental illness, and that would make sense considering that the majority of homosexual pedophiles are exclusively heterosexual in adult relationships.