# Why does homosexuality elicit a violent reaction from some people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 3, 2003, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532 "2003-02-03T17:05:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/61 "2003-02-04T17:04:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zwaldd \* > \*\* > I will concede that how the aversion manifests itself may be cultural, but the end result - that you instinctively and explicitly avoid gay sex - supports the possibility of a hard-wired aversion. \*\* And yet, put that person in prison and they may manifest same sex sexual behavior. It’s a situational thing, once outside they likely won’t continue to manifest that behavior, but it’s clear that human sexuality is a maliable concept. This would tend to conflict with your hard-wired theory. ---
**Author:** ![EyeballBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecc23a/32.png) [@EyeballBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EyeballBoy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/62 "2003-02-04T17:11:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zwaldd \* > \*\*I don’t see how you can make a definitive statement like that. I am a heterosexual that finds gay (male) sex disgusting. I grew up in a modestly liberal community and the town where I live now has a large and vocal gay population. There is no social pressure preventing me from releasing my sexual urges with men. I don’t really even have any close male friends that I’d be afraid of offending. Yet I cringe at the site of men kissing. It’s a gut reaction. \*\* I hear this sort of argument a lot, and I think some people, mostly those who are quick to attach personal preferences to an inborn origin, are under the impression that you have to be part of Reverend Phelp’s immediate family to be socially pressured towards heterosexuality. It isn’t so. The small things count, especially when it’s a whole lifetime of small things. Perhaps your parents, teachers and peers never told you that gay men and women will rot in hell, but how many times, growing up, have you heard ‘ewwww’ or ‘that is gross’, childish as it may be, towards homosexual behaviour? Maybe as a child you also thought girls had cooties, but at the same time you were bombarded by idealized or at the very least, normalized, images of heterosexual couplings. Couldn’t these have worked toward erasing any aversion you might have had to heterosexual acts, and actually strengthen them, while reinforcing your aversion towards homosexuality? The truth is, our culture continually broadcasts heterosexual-positive messages, and wether you like it or not, even in a modestly liberal small town, negative portrayals of homosexual behaviour are still all too common. Kids are influenced by this. They are. You know what? I am physically repulsed by the idea of eating larvae. It’s disgusting. Watching someone eat a nice handful of squirmy little critters makes me want to throw up. I wasn’t actually taught in school that larvae eaters were going to hell, but it’s just nasty. Yet I am almost positive that if I was born and raised within a culture in which larvae were a common dietary staple, this seemingly instinctive and natural repulsion of mine would more than likely not exist. Yum. Larvae. I might be the odd freak who hates larvae, much as I am the odd freak who hates cheese where I live, but statistically speaking, I’d probably think larvae were finger-lickin’ good. See where I’m getting at? I think a lot of our gut reactions are learned. They aren’t taught explicitly, but they are nevertheless learned as we interact with the world around us. Just because you feel something as a gut reaction and can’t quite pinpoint the moment in which you developped that feeling does not necessarily mean you were born with it. It just means it was a gradual process, for the most part unconscious, much as I have learned to think larvae are gross. I used to be disgusted by homosexual behaviour. I didn’t really think about it, but the sight of two men kissing used to trigger my ‘gross’ reaction of repulsion. Since then, I’ve started to think about it, I’ve been exposed to homosexual behaviour, both real and fictional depictions, and I’ve realized what a dumb reaction that was. I recall, as a foolish youngster, letting my mind slip beyond the initial revulsion, and discovering that I wasn’t _really_ grossed out. Moments later, I was typically shutting myself to the idea, more or less unconsciously, because while I had nothing against gays, it was just sort of gross and I “just don’t swing that way, not that there’s anything wrong with that.” I actually reinforced my revulsion, because it suited the idea I had of myself at the time. We do this every day without thinking about it, particularly where memories are concerned. Intellectually, thinking about it, it was never gross, and I’ve learned to ignore my initial gut reactions and let my mind open to other things. I don’t think I’ll be eating larvae any time soon, but I’ve been known to experiment with a culinary delight here and there that would have thoroughly grossed me out if I hadn’t stopped to think how irrational I was being. I’m still not a fan of cheese, and much like larvae, I don’t think I’ll be having a homosexual encounter any time soon, but I’ve conquered the revulsion I had learned to feel and am now sailing in the calm waters of mild bisexuality. It’s just an example of how gut reactions are…well…what they are, and hardly evidence for anything. YMMV. IANAEBASOTI. ---
**Author:** ![Kurai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@Kurai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kurai)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/63 "2003-02-04T17:31:11Z")
Well, since my girlfriend would say Im girly but straight I’ll pipe in: Homoeroticism doesn’t bother me (aside from bearish stuff which I cant help having a revulsion to) and in fact I find two beautiful men kissing and fondling and what not to be asthetically pleasing. ---
**Author:** ![zwaldd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a9adbd/32.png) [@zwaldd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zwaldd)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/64 "2003-02-04T19:00:32Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by EyeballBoy \* > \*\* Couldn’t these have worked toward erasing any aversion you might have had to heterosexual acts, and actually strengthen them, while reinforcing your aversion towards homosexuality?_\* They could have, but it’s possible (and at least as likely, IMO) that they didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/65 "2003-02-04T19:09:53Z")
Mmm…two cute guys kissing-what’s not to love? 😉 (I’m just being silly, I know). My reaction, when I was younger, wouldn’t be EEEEWWW, but more like, “Oh my god-they’re kissing! HAHAHEHEEHEHEHE…” Which is pretty immature. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/66 "2003-02-04T19:44:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lamia \* > **Consider how the homosexual man might appear to a heterosexual man who unfortunately believes all sorts of stupid, sexist things about sex and proper gender roles. To him the homosexual man is a man who, shockingly, may not want to “do sex” but rather wants to have sex “done to” him! By another man! As if he were a lowly _woman_! Or perhaps he does want to “do sex” himself, but not to a woman as is good and proper, but to other men! Reducing them to the status of lowly women! If you can imagine what the world looks like through such warped lenses it almost becomes understandable how such a man might think that gay men deserved to be beaten or killed, either as punishment for allowing themselves to fall so low or as a preventative measure to keep them from bringing down other men.** An intersting point. It does make me wonder, though, why in some patriarchal cultures, the social stigma of male homosexuality is only attached to the passive partner, whereas in ours it’s attached to both? ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/67 "2003-02-04T19:49:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zwaldd \* > \*\*I’ve never met a heterosexual male that feels differently. Heterosexual male dopers that disagree, please weigh in. Is it possible that the reaction is purely cultural? Of course. But to entirely dismiss any biological explananation out of hand without scientific proof is needlessly close-minded. > \*\* Cultural evidence suggest otherwise. If an aversion to homosexuality was natural, then most cultures would be averse to homosexuals correct? However, this is not the case. I think the scientific proof is in studying other cultures’ view of homosexuality. I have been studying this for a while now, and I have found that most cultures felt there was nothing wrong with homosexual behavior and that a lot of males in said cultures engaged in it. An interesting example is some of the tribes in Malaysia. Males were thought not to have semen in them naturally, so they would have semen implanted in them by older males from the tribe through oral or anal sex. In order to become a man, each boy had to go through this. I do not see why such a practice would arise if natural human thought were against homosexual behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/68 "2003-02-04T19:54:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DaddyMack \* > \*\*I going with **Captain Amazing** observation. It is only the gay men who are beaten or killed, and this is done by other men. Gay women are not spoken of highly but that maybe because of the feminist movement that they are usually also a part of. The gay female is more desirable because in a threesome fantasy you don’t have to worry about being poked only stroked and thus they are not as abhorrent. \*\* Well, lesbians are beaten and killed, and are sometimes raped. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/69 "2003-02-04T19:57:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hamish \* > \*\*An intersting point. It does make me wonder, though, why in some patriarchal cultures, the social stigma of male homosexuality is only attached to the passive partner, whereas in ours it’s attached to both? \*\* Actually, during the time of Mollys (1950s? Correct me if I am wrong…) only the passive partners were looked down upon. I am trying to find information on this online, as I don’t have any of my books with me, but there was a huge sting involving a bunch of army or navy soldiers who were engaged in homosexual acts. In order to avoid being convicted, a lot of people claimed they were only involved as active partners. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/70 "2003-02-04T20:09:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duke \* > \*\*Granted, a lot of the attacks were fed by religious intolerance, but there is at least some connection. I guess there aren’t really any monk-bashers today mostly because there just aren’t many around any more in Western society. In the 16th century, monks and nuns comprised a significant portion of the population. \*\* True. I was just making the point (after **MEBuckner** ’s point) that if human beings were automatically revolted by any activity that discouraged reproduction, then one should have an automatic disgust of monks. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/71 "2003-02-04T20:12:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hamish \* > \*\*An intersting point. It does make me wonder, though, why in some patriarchal cultures, the social stigma of male homosexuality is only attached to the passive partner, whereas in ours it’s attached to both? \*\* I think because the “active” or “dominant” partner may be seen as a threat to heterosexual men – they fear he may want to make _them_ into his “passive” or “submissive” partners! Now, why this is a concern in our culture and not some others I don’t know. It may have something to do with differences in stereotypical gender roles. For instance, in the US it seems to be pretty commonly accepted that men, regardless of sexual orientation, are real horndogs who will sleep with practically anyone of the right sex who’s willing – and maybe even some who aren’t willing. But as I mentioned before, in Ancient Greece the common opinion was that men (unlike those foolish, overemotional _women_) had the intelligence and willpower to control their sexual urges. That might be why there’s a stigma against macho gay men in the US while the Ancient Greeks tended to look down only on effeminate gay men – guys in Ancient Greece didn’t think it was likely that a macho gay man would be overcome with violent lust at the sight of them even if he _did_ think they were cute, but American guys figure such things happen all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/72 "2003-02-04T20:25:43Z")
Just a few really small historical nitpicks – though I realize you were giving an overview, and so you probably weren’t trying to be too specific. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissa \* > **The Greco-Romans admired homosexual love and encouraged it among their soldiers, the idea being that a soldier would fight harder and more loyally out of fear of being disgraced as a coward in front of his lover.** Was this ever the custom outside of Thebes, though? I thought it was specific to one city-state. > [@](#): > > \*\*The philosphers lauded love for young boys, as being the only “pure” love. A man was expected to marry and father children, but to save his emotions and lust for his young male lover. \*\* I think it depends on which philosopher. Just a few details gleaned from Plato’s _Symposium_: [ul][li]Plato seems to think lust between anyone was less evolved. [/li][li]One of the guests at the party does suggest that there is a “high love” and a “low love,” and that women can only experience the latter. Can’t remember the man’s name, though. [/li][li]Plato’s Aristophanes didn’t seem to have any problem with heterosexuality or lesbianism (one of the few mentions of lesbianism in Ancient Athens is in Aristophanes’ speech in _The Symposium_).[/li][/ul] Other than that, I agree with the post. ---
**Author:** ![zwaldd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a9adbd/32.png) [@zwaldd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zwaldd)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/73 "2003-02-04T20:33:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ava \* > \*\*If an aversion to homosexuality was natural, then most cultures would be averse to homosexuals correct? \*\* Incorrect. An aversion to homosexuality does not necessarily translate to an aversion to homosexuals. Also, just because a trait is natural, doesn’t mean it is dominant. Left handedness is natural, but most people are right handed. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/74 "2003-02-04T20:56:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Ace of Swords \* > \*\*(Easy, the above was just making a point) Feel threatened? Sure! That’s your social value being eroded, and your hard work, your “social capital” depreciating as the meme propogates, and I don’t blame you at all for emphasising the old meme to protect your capital. \*\* There’s a problem with your analogy. If your graduate diploma becomes useless, it’s not just your social status that’s compromised, but your survival. If you have the education but not the work experience, and then your education becomes useless, you haven’t just lost a certain amount of self-image – you might not be able to find a job, might not be able to pay for things rent and food… Another person’s homosexuality presents no such direct threat. I do understand fears surrounding “social irrelevancy,” and I’ve seen examples of it, but I’ve never seen it turn into violence – just disgust, and a snobbish sense of superiority. Many of my goals are different from the people around me. I don’t want to be rich, I don’t own a TV, I don’t want a house or a car. Most people accept these. A few try to convince me I’m missing out on something, that I’m lying to myself, or that my tastes will change as I get older. I think their need to convince me probably speaks to their fear of “social irrelevancy” – that what they’ve worked hard for will cease to earn the respec tof others. However, I have no reason to be afraid my life from these people. So, to return to my OP – the question is not why some people dislike homosexuality or think it’s wrong, but why is the raction so much more extreme than for other things people dislike or think are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ace_of_Swords)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/75 "2003-02-04T21:23:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hamish \* > There’s a problem with your analogy. > > If your graduate diploma becomes useless, it’s not just your social status that’s compromised, but your survival. If you have the education but not the work experience, and then your education becomes useless, you haven’t just lost a certain amount of self-image – you might not be able to find a job, might not be able to pay for things rent and food… People without work experience can find work – it’s not all that unusual, you just have to start at the bottom. > [@](#): > > Many of my goals are different from the people around me. I don’t want to be rich, I don’t own a TV, I don’t want a house or a car… A few try to convince me I’m missing out on something … I think their need to convince me probably speaks to their fear of “social irrelevancy” – that what they’ve worked hard for will cease to earn the respec tof others. Yes, but reproductive status is second only to power in the social order. Imagine if you wore your subversion of the social order on your sleeve – say you live simply, as you say, like a Buddhist, maybe you pitch a tent somewhere. You walk around your small town, no problem. Now suppose you had a visual signifier, in our case, the appropriate bright orange robes. And it can’t be just “you” to have a social order competition. One person can’t affect a group status – you need a competing group, so imagine that a Buddhist sect was growing in popularity, and maybe 1 our of 10 people you see on the street was wearing these bright orange robes, staring at you as you drive to your CEO job in your H2, accusing your capitalist values, the way you were raised, as being worthless. That’s a social threat – not an individual one. Any invading cultural value can cause this feeling and the outcome you describe, whether it’s American McCoropate values propogating in France, or the Chinese leadership panicking and banning FalunGong. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/76 "2003-02-04T21:26:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by me \*\*\* > I’m going to have to disagree with this statement, unless you are saying that homophobia automatically makes someone an asshole (which may well be true, but makes the statement a tautology). I find myself in the unfortunate position of knowing people who are otherwise quite nice, wonderful people, except for the fact that they are rabidly anti-gay. \*\* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ranwashingt \* > With all due respect, I have a problem with such a calivalier stance toward individuals that harbor such attitudes toward any specific group( this group being homosexuals). How could any further redeeming qualities overshadow this irrational and malignant hatred? For this is much more than a minor character flaw, as I’m sure even Hitler loved his puppy. And by imposing your definition of “Rabidly Anti-Gay”, it assumes that these good folks would at their best behavior, secret their smiles over the news of a gay being viciously brutilized. These are people I would not care to share high tea with. \*\* The reason I brought them up, and tried to differentiate them from meatheads who would just go out looking for _anyone_ to beat up, is because it’s these sorts of people who are the key to the question that **Hamish** is asking … in other words, why is it **just** homosexuality that gets people so violently disturbed. It wasn’t to give a justification of them, saying that they are really good people so you should forgive them for their hatred. I really had the opposite intention - to wonder why people who aren’t otherwise full of hatred _do_ hate gay people. I suppose we all choose who we stay friends with, and we don’t always have a moral ten point plan to follow when choosing friends. We all have our limits. This is your limit, and I have my own limit. > [@](#): > > \*\*And excuse the redundency, but it seems to me that you are saying that some of my best friends are assholes. \*\* I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you mean by this. ---
**Author:** ![ranwashingt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@ranwashingt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ranwashingt)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/77 "2003-02-04T22:33:24Z")
It wasn’t to give a justification of them, saying that they are really good people so you should forgive them for their hatred. I really had the opposite intention - to wonder why people who aren’t otherwise full of hatred do hate gay people. ## I suppose we all choose who we stay friends with, and we don’t always have a moral ten point plan to follow when choosing friends. We all have our limits. This is your limit, and I have my own limit. I do apologize if I have misintrepreted your previous post…Being a member of a specific group who has faced at least humiliation, and at worst life threats, I do get a little irrational when it seems someone is calling for the understanding and forgivness for the purveyors of the abuse. I can’t tell you how many times the good folks who did nothing in concert with these bullies, but still did nothing, would tell me not to fret about it, they’re really good boys at heart. I also appologise for the redundency comment…As you stated, to consider these darlings assholes, is a tautology…and I mistakenly thought you were sayin enough of the overkill, they’re really good boys at heart. Sorry about all that…Rand ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/78 "2003-02-05T00:37:29Z")
No worries, **ranwashingt** - I suppose there’s another discussion about how tolerant we should be of our friends or acquaintances if they hold particular views, but it doesn’t belong here. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/79 "2003-02-05T01:15:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zwaldd \* > \*\*Incorrect. An aversion to homosexuality does not necessarily translate to an aversion to homosexuals. \*\* If a culture finds behavior X to be disgusting, wouldn’t it stand to reason that the culture would deem the people who participate in behavior X to be disgusting as well? “Love the sinner, hate the sin,” doesn’t seem to apply with homosexuality: people seem to see them as “tainted” by their sexual preference. > [@](#): > > \*\* Yet I cringe at the site of men kissing. It’s a gut reaction. There’s no distinction between my reaction to gay sex and anything else to which I have an instinctive aversion, say, eating shit. I’ve never met a heterosexual male that feels differently. \*\* Perhaps you should make an effort to meet more people. I still believe that your so-called “instinct” is a learned reaction. Some people are disgusted by inter-racial dating, and have the same “instinctual” reaction to it. An automatic predjudice does not an instinct make. > [@](#): > > \*\* Also, just because a trait is natural, doesn’t mean it is dominant. Left handedness is natural, but most people are right handed. \*\* And most people like ice cream and cake, but I don’t. What does it matter? Because a trait is not dominant, then it must be somehow wrong, or corrected? ---
**Author:** ![zwaldd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a9adbd/32.png) [@zwaldd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zwaldd)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532/80 "2003-02-05T03:38:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissa \* > \*\*If a culture finds behavior X to be disgusting, wouldn’t it stand to reason that the culture would deem the people who participate in behavior X to be disgusting as well? \*\* Not necessarily. > [@](#): > > \*\*Because a trait is not dominant, then it must be somehow wrong, or corrected? \*\* You lost me here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-homosexuality-elicit-a-violent-reaction-from-some-people/152532.md?page=5)