# Is a revulsion reaction to homosexual sex biological, cultural (or some combination of both)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 10, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271 "2010-09-10T06:24:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/41 "2010-09-10T17:20:08Z")
This discussion is really sort of pointless. The OP has presented no actual _evidence_ in favour of revulsion being biological that cannot be explained by its being cultural. All his/her arguments boil down to “Well, it’s not impossible that it is, and that would explain why the revulsion exists.” But cultural factors do that quite adequately and more persuasively. I mean, I could suggest that the noise outside my window is made by the rare Montreal honk beast; it’s certainly possible, and that would explain the noise. But there’s no reason to postulate such a thing, especially since the noise is adequately and persuasively explainable as a car alarm. (I concede that non-universality is not proof against a biological basis.) ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/42 "2010-09-10T17:24:13Z")
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**Author:** ![qpw3141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6bbea6/32.png) [@qpw3141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qpw3141)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/43 "2010-09-10T17:32:36Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Yeah, it gets a bit tiresome on any nature vs nurture debate: > > A single example of a society or tribe somewhere that doesn’t appear to have the behaviour is considered proof that it’s nurture. > > Never mind any massive similarities between all other cultures. Or the fact that the counter-example is not actually that clear-cut. Indeed. Because a couple of comparatively tiny cultures have, for short periods, **apparently** accepted homosexuality, that is taken as proof positive that it **must** be nurture. Having said that, whilst I’m convinced that the trait that causes people to be revolted by certain types of sex is useful in evolutionary terms there is no reason for rational people to take a view of what others may be up to in terms of consensual sex. ---
**Author:** ![PaperBlob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@PaperBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaperBlob)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/44 "2010-09-10T17:37:56Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > > [@PaperBlob](#): > > > > As a straight male, the only revulsion I have is with the idea of myself being intimate in any way with a man. I believe that this revulsion is biological in origin. > > … > > I find watching sex (or even just kissing) pleasurable if I can imagine myself in the place of one of the participants, and unpleasant if I would NOT want to be one of the participants. This is why I avert my eyes if I see two men kissing… > > This kind of talk makes me a little sad. > > I’m not gay, never had gay sex or any interest in it, but I’m not _revolted_ by the idea. It just doesn’t turn me on, the same as some women don’t or wouldn’t turn me on. If the fact that I’m revolted by the idea of myself having sex with another man or a woman I find ugly makes you sad, well, there’s nothing I can do about that. I think you’re being overly sensitive about it though. > [@spark240](#): > > I _have_ had the experience of being an object of desire by at least one man and a couple women (that I knew of) which I could not reciprocate… and it just made me feel a little bad. Not sickened, just sorry, because my assumption has always been that the desire for intimacy, at its most basic level, is more or less the same for everybody, regardless of gender and orientation. And I know how it feels to be on the other side of that ache. Hey, me too. Finding out that somebody I don’t desire - male, female, ugly or beautiful - wants to be with me doesn’t sicken me, it flatters me. I also feel a little bad that I can’t reciprocate their feelings. Believe me, I know that unrequited love/lust sucks. > [@spark240](#): > > On the other hand, I like seeing people who have found intimacy with someone and are happy with each other. I don’t need to watch them in bed, but I like seeing same-sex couples holding hands and kissing, just like opposite-sex couples. It has nothing to do with _me_–I’m happy for _them_. I like _knowing_ people of all stripes have found intimacy with someone and are happy with each other. I like _knowing_ that same-sex couples are holding hands and kissing. I’m happy for them too! > [@spark240](#): > > Discussions in this vein always seem to bring up the porn, and the idea of inserting oneself (heh) into a scene. Okay, your porn preferences are your own, no need to justify those–but when we’re dealing with real people, in person, can’t we put that mentality aside? I don’t do it intentionally in those real life situations - my mind just goes into “scene insertion” mode automatically, and I react. > [@spark240](#): > > A gay couple holding hands and kissing in public isn’t some kind of unwanted deviant pornography forced upon you–it’s not about you at all. They’re real people trying to live their lives and be close with someone, and that’s not revolting. It’s nice. Couldn’t agree more with this. I wouldn’t want gay couples to stop doing all the things any loving couple would do in public. My reaction to it is my problem, not theirs. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/45 "2010-09-10T17:52:54Z")
It is the anti-God system the devil has set up to stop/delay God’s children from coming home. To me the world is against love, and puts restrictions on people getting together in a very close way, this goes for any form of love. People to find God has to follow the path of Love, by putting stigmas on it, if it is homosexuality or premarital sex or whatever it is designed to delay God’s children from find their way home. Some people, because of preconditioning, can only follow Love through homosexuality, if society stops them they will be stuck in a world without love. So it’s spiritual, which can get into cultural and biological (generational curses) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/46 "2010-09-10T18:05:19Z")
Fry: I didn’t come all this way to see any activity involving two _guys!_ ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/47 "2010-09-10T18:07:19Z")
> [@qpw3141](#): > > > [@spark240](#): > > > > Also, evolution isn’t just about individuals’ genes; it can be beneficial to a _population’s_ survival (say, in a band or tribe or village) to have non-reproducing individuals. > > It’s not impossible and if you can come up with a credible theory as to how that would work and how it would outweigh a trait that would tend to concentrate activity on activities that could lead to reproduction, by all means let’s hear it. Well, that concept isn’t original with me. In some forms it’s called the “gay uncle” (or “good uncle”) hypothesis; here’s [one random recent piece](http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/have+super+uncle+evolutionary+advantage+Researchers/2523112/story.html) on it, but the notion’s been around anthropological circles for years. You can find lots of other references, including counter-arguments. Frankly, I think the researchers who have tried to investigate this are probably taking too narrow a view–looking at actual modern uncles strictly in family contexts, for example, rather than broader theories which would apply in small early human cultures, and which would include non-reproductive individuals in various roles, not necessarily all because of same-sex orientations. Unfortunately rigorous original research on social patterns in Sumer is pretty difficult these days. > [@PaperBlob](#): > > If the fact that I’m revolted by the idea of myself having sex with another man or a woman I find ugly makes you sad, well, there’s nothing I can do about that. I think you’re being overly sensitive about it though. > … > I wouldn’t want gay couples to stop doing all the things any loving couple would do in public. **My reaction to it is my problem** , not theirs. Right. Your reaction is based, you said, on your imaginary insertion of yourself into somebody else’s intimacy; we might call it the porn response. If you could kick that, and get it into your head that other people being gay has _nothing to do with you,_ it wouldn’t bother you. ---
**Author:** ![PaperBlob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@PaperBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaperBlob)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/48 "2010-09-10T18:39:39Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > > [@PaperBlob](#): > > > > If the fact that I’m revolted by the idea of myself having sex with another man or a woman I find ugly makes you sad, well, there’s nothing I can do about that. I think you’re being overly sensitive about it though. > > … > > I wouldn’t want gay couples to stop doing all the things any loving couple would do in public. **My reaction to it is my problem** , not theirs. > > Right. Your reaction is based, you said, on your imaginary insertion of yourself into somebody else’s intimacy; we might call it the porn response. If you could kick that, and get it into your head that other people being gay has _nothing to do with you,_ it wouldn’t bother you. I already know that other people being gay has nothing to do with me, so I don’t have to “get it into my head.” The “porn response” exists independently of that, happens for other situations too, and is a deeply ingrained behavior for me. Take a show like Fear Factor, where, say, a contestant has to eat a bowl of wriggling maggots. I can’t watch that either, because I can’t imagine myself eating maggots. Intellectually, I know I’ll probably never be in that position, but my mind just “puts me there” unbidden anyway, and I respond by looking away. It all happens in a split second. I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it, and I don’t see a great need to anyway. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/49 "2010-09-10T18:45:23Z")
[QUOTE=PaperBlob] I already know that other people being gay has nothing to do with me, so I don’t have to “get it into my head.” The “porn response” exists independently of that, happens for other situations too, and is a deeply ingrained behavior for me. Take a show like Fear Factor, where, say, a contestant has to eat a bowl of wriggling maggots. I can’t watch that either, because I can’t imagine myself eating maggots. Intellectually, I know I’ll probably never be in that position, but my mind just “puts me there” unbidden anyway, and I respond by looking away. It all happens in a split second. I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it, and I don’t see a great need to anyway. [/QUOTE] Right…but your aversion to eating a bowl of wriggling maggots (major yucko, I agree) is cultural, not biological. After all, you have to realize that had you been brought up in a culture where eating maggots was nothing special, then any aversion you would have would be individual (sort of like my aversion to eating anything related to a vegetable). ETA: Sort of like how a lot of the world looks on the American/European relish for cheese and dairy products. It totally grosses a lot of them out. -XT ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/50 "2010-09-10T18:50:28Z")
If we mapped responses to the question “Are you revolted by gay sex?” in America, we’d have areas with high concentrations of “yes” and others with high concentrations of “no.” I’d bet my money that these reactions would correspond pretty well to cultural ideas about gay people. That’s culture. ---
**Author:** ![qpw3141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6bbea6/32.png) [@qpw3141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qpw3141)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/51 "2010-09-10T19:04:41Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > If we mapped responses to the question “Are you revolted by gay sex?” in America, we’d have areas with high concentrations of “yes” and others with high concentrations of “no.” I’d bet my money that these reactions would correspond pretty well to cultural ideas about gay people. I’d like to see a four colour map which showed in which areas responses to a secret poll coincided with responses to a poll where respondents had to state their answer to a researcher. Again, I feel this would reflect cultural ideas. ---
**Author:** ![PaperBlob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@PaperBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaperBlob)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/52 "2010-09-10T19:11:51Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > [QUOTE=PaperBlob] > I already know that other people being gay has nothing to do with me, so I don’t have to “get it into my head.” The “porn response” exists independently of that, happens for other situations too, and is a deeply ingrained behavior for me. Take a show like Fear Factor, where, say, a contestant has to eat a bowl of wriggling maggots. I can’t watch that either, because I can’t imagine myself eating maggots. Intellectually, I know I’ll probably never be in that position, but my mind just “puts me there” unbidden anyway, and I respond by looking away. It all happens in a split second. I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it, and I don’t see a great need to anyway. Right…but your aversion to eating a bowl of wriggling maggots (major yucko, I agree) is cultural, not biological. After all, you have to realize that had you been brought up in a culture where eating maggots was nothing special, then any aversion you would have would be individual (sort of like my aversion to eating anything related to a vegetable). ETA: Sort of like how a lot of the world looks on the American/European relish for cheese and dairy products. It totally grosses a lot of them out. -XT [/QUOTE] Well, I just used that as an example in my (hijack of a) discussion with spark240; it wasn’t really intended to be part of the nature vs. nurture discussion. I know I said earlier that my revulsion at the idea of myself having sex with a man is biological, but I’m not really taking a hard position on that. I certainly don’t remember being “indoctrinated” by anybody to feel this way, but I suppose it could have happened by “osmosis” from the general culture. I’ve always assumed that my revulsion at the idea of me having sex with a man was just the flip side of my natural attraction to women. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/53 "2010-09-10T19:13:37Z")
> [@qpw3141](#): > > > [@even\_sven](#): > > > > If we mapped responses to the question “Are you revolted by gay sex?” in America, we’d have areas with high concentrations of “yes” and others with high concentrations of “no.” I’d bet my money that these reactions would correspond pretty well to cultural ideas about gay people. > > I’d like to see a four colour map which showed in which areas responses to a secret poll coincided with responses to a poll where respondents had to state their answer to a researcher. Can the colours be fuchsia, lavender, seafoam and turquoise? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/54 "2010-09-10T19:20:12Z")
[QUOTE=PaperBlob] Well, I just used that as an example in my (hijack of a) discussion with spark240; it wasn’t really intended to be part of the nature vs. nurture discussion. I know I said earlier that my revulsion at the idea of myself having sex with a man is biological, but I’m not really taking a hard position on that. I certainly don’t remember being “indoctrinated” by anybody to feel this way, but I suppose it could have happened by “osmosis” from the general culture. I’ve always assumed that my revulsion at the idea of me having sex with a man was just the flip side of my natural attraction to women. [/QUOTE] But you probably weren’t indoctrinated against eating maggots either. What it was, is you were brought up eating something else, so the thought of eating a bowl of maggots seems pretty disgusting. Conversely, someone brought up having maggots (or whatever) as part of the diet wouldn’t bat an eye at eating the things…but might consider some staple you eat normally to be disgusting, since they weren’t ever exposed to it. Same with gay sex/gay relations. Assuming you were brought up in the US during the past…well, forever…you weren’t brought up with gay sex or gay relations as part of the mainstream. You didn’t see a lot of gay people kissing, holding hands or having relations as part of your normal, mainstream experience. You didn’t see it much at the movies…you didn’t see it much in advertising, or on TV shows, or anywhere else, at least not in a positive or even ‘normal’ light (i.e. as nothing special). Going back some, my generation and the previous one had similar feelings about inter-racial relations. Consider how someone in the 50’s or 60’s in the South would look on a black/white relationship, for instance. Is this biological? No…it’s completely cultural. Today, the kids don’t even bat an eye when such a couple is strolling about, hand in hand, because they are used to it…it’s nothing special, nothing really unusual. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/55 "2010-09-10T19:20:14Z")
> [@Sablicious](#): > > As with most human traits, it’s **nuture**. > > Everything a child knows about sexuality is what their instincts tell them. As such, all children themselves have the propencity for homosexual behavior - sexual desire does not discriminate if one has no basis to do so. In fact, a lot of children exhibit and even ingage in homosexual behavior without growing up to be homosexuals per se. > > All children start out _wu wei_ (無爲), uncarved wood, and don’t judge based upon something as relatively complex as sexuality. So if one truly is reviled by the sexual practices of others, whatever they may be, its almost certainly because as a kid papi told them "_Don’t be growin’ urp to be no faggot/dyke/et al, ya hears?!_ :mad: " > > For revulsion to a particular sexual behavior cannot be a rational, empirical conclusion one arrives at as an adult, as this would clearly be nonsequitur for a sentient being to be so absurdly biggoted. I have heard it frequently said that it is not the homosexual’s choice to be homosexual, its the way they are built. Perhaps the OP is asking if perhaps homophobes are compelled in the same way, its the way they are built. ---
**Author:** ![Peeta\_Mellark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Peeta\_Mellark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peeta_Mellark)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/56 "2010-09-10T19:28:33Z")
> [@qpw3141](#): > > The actual mechanism of revulsion is almost certainly an evolutionary trait. > > Any trait that would tend to stop someone from going down a reproductive dead end (same sex, post childbearing/child rearing age) or undesirable (closely related, obvious inheritable disability) would be advantageous to the passing on of the genes of that person. > > Since once you are sexually excited about someone/thing it can access the very powerful sex drive it would clearly be beneficial if there was anything in a persons makeup that would inhibit them from pursuing one of the above mentioned dead ends. > > Someone with a revulsion powerful enough to stop them succumbing to the sexual attraction of another with whom reproduction is impossible/undesirable would certainly be in a better position to pass on their genes. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you haven’t studied a field of biology in any great depth. By this same logic, we should be revolted by masturbation. We are not. Also, it should be pointed out that biological does not translate into “innate.” Your DNA, body, and brain are not a one-way street inflicting your will upon the world. Gene expression, how the brain and body develop etc. can all be influenced by your environment (some [easy reading](http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/environmental-influences-on-gene-expression-536) on the topic for those who may cry “cite!”). Despite what the popular press may lead you to believe, the brain is still a vast mystery. How it is influenced by your environment–hormonal, nutritional, cultural–is still largely undetermined. A better word would be [congenital](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/congenital?o=100074). Is the revulsion some people feel at the sight of homosexuality present at birth? I _sincerely_ doubt it, but hey, I bet you could find funding for a study on it if you liked. Until then, the fact that there have been and currently are societies where all men are expected to engage in homosexual behavior\* makes it at least questionable. - Knauft, Bruce M, _[What Ever Happened to Ritualized Homosexuality? Modern Sexual Subjects in Melanesia and Elsewhere](http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3778/is_200301/ai_n9208658/)_, Annual Review of Sex Research, 2003. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/57 "2010-09-10T19:29:05Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > Probably a very small bit of biological, and and whopping helping of cultural. In my own case, I fall squarely into the category of: “I don’t care, but I don’t want to see it either.” Why? I suppose it’s because as a hetero male I do not find men arousing. As they are engaging in an act I know to be erotic, my disinterest conflicts with my knowledge of what I am viewing. That conflict is resolved in my mined by placing it into the the rather childish category of “ick”. Do gay men find straight porn sexy or does it do about as much for them as I imagine lesbian porn does for them? I know some straight guys that get a lot more out of porn when the male porn actor has a humongous penis, does this make them a little bit gay? I used to care a lot more about this stuff when I was a kid and my social status depended on having someone ELSE to make fun of. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/58 "2010-09-10T19:50:31Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Do gay men find straight porn sexy or does it do about as much for them as I imagine lesbian porn does for them? It depends entirely on the gay guy. Some of us are turned off – or indeed “revolted” – by the sexualized presence of any woman. Others are neutral on the subject. Others can be aroused by straight (or indeed, lesbian) porn/erotica/depicted sex purely because it’s sexy, as opposed to being attracted to the participants. ---
**Author:** ![Peeta\_Mellark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Peeta\_Mellark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peeta_Mellark)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/59 "2010-09-10T20:03:49Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > > [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > > > Do gay men find straight porn sexy or does it do about as much for them as I imagine lesbian porn does for them? > > It depends entirely on the gay guy. Some of us are turned off – or indeed “revolted” – by the sexualized presence of any woman. Others are neutral on the subject. Others can be aroused by straight (or indeed, lesbian) porn/erotica/depicted sex purely because it’s sexy, as opposed to being attracted to the participants. I’ve known a few gay guys who really liked straight porn. Specifically, they liked cunnilingus scenes because a straight man being down on his knees or whatever, serving at the pleasure of someone else was erotic to them. Even if it involved licking a vulva. I haven’t personally known any gay guys who enjoyed lesbian porn, but there are a ton of lesbians who love gay porn so the reverse wouldn’t surprise me at all. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271/60 "2010-09-10T20:30:50Z")
> [@qpw3141](#): > > Having said that, whilst I’m convinced that the trait that causes people to be revolted by certain types of sex is useful in evolutionary terms there is no reason for rational people to take a view of what others may be up to in terms of consensual sex. Here’s another thing–it’d be evolutionarily good for people to have a neutral or positive reaction to OTHERS having non-procreative sex, as it means they’re leaving the gene pool. That is, it’s to my evolutionary advantage for me to have hetero sex and you to have gay sex, because that means more for my kids and less for your (nonexistent) ones. Add in the advantage of the already-mentioned “gay uncle” theory floating around, and I think the evolutionary/biological argument can can cut both ways. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-revulsion-reaction-to-homosexual-sex-biological-cultural-or-some-combination-of-both/553271.md?page=4)