Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Homosexual?

This is a matter that has been haunting people's mind and
really bothering some people.
Is it a psychological case?


Dr. William Byne and Dr. Bruce Parsons of the Department of Psychiatry of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons state, “Recent studies postulate biologic factors as the primary basis for sexual orientation. However, there is no evidence at present to substantiate a biologic theory … Critical review shows the evidence favoring a biologic theory to be lacking.” [W. Byne M.D., Ph.D., B. Parsons, M.D., Ph.D. (1993), Human Sexual Orientation: The Biologic Theories Reappraised, Archives of General Psychiatry, p. 228]

After reviewing the scientific studies on genetics and homosexuality, Masters and Johnson concluded: “The genetic theory of homosexuality has been generally discarded today.” [W.H. Masters, V.E. Johnson, R.C. Kolodny (1985) Human Sexuality, 2nd Ed., p. 411-412, Little, Brown and Company: Boston]

Dr. C.A. Tripp summarizes the scientific experience regarding hormones and homosexuality as follows:

… A number of clinicians have seen fit over the years to run their own experiments by administering testosterone to both effeminate and ordinary homosexuals. The results have been consistent: When there were any behavioral changes at all, the subjects became more like themselves than ever. Their sex drives were usually increased and sometimes their effeminate mannerisms as well (when they had any), but there were never any directional changes in their sexual interests. From these experiments it has become abundantly clear that the sex hormones play a considerable role in powering human sexuality, but they do not control the direction of it.” [C.A. Trip (1975) The Homosexual Matrix, p. 12, McGraw-Hill: New York]


More recently some have argued that the problem lies in our prenatal hormones. They suggest that stress during pregnancy may alter the production of sex hormones in the mother at a crucial time, changing the level of hormones reaching the brain of the fetus, thus affecting sexual orientation.

Here too, however, the available evidence is against the theory. Thus, researchers have found that “… in the majority of intersex patients with known hormone abnormalities, the sexual orientation follows the sex of the rearing. Consequently, we have to assume that prenatal hormone conditions by themselves do not rigidly determine sexual orientation.” [A.A. Ehrhardt, H.F.L. Meyer-Bahlburg (1981) "Effects of Prenatal Hormones on Gender-Related Behavior," Science, p. 1316]

The available data … suggest that sexual orientation … is base on social learning rather than hormones.

Dr. Judd Marmor reported on the work of Richard Green who, “… in a long series of studies on boys who showed effeminate behavior in childhood has demonstrated that although over half of these boys do become homosexual, a substantial minority of them do not. This indicates that gender-discordant children are not born homosexual, but rather are born with certain behavioral tendencies that, given contributory environmental factors, can predispose them towards homosexual behavior. 

Thus, a little boy whose behavior is effeminate, who does not like competitive athletics, and who prefers music and art, may be disappointing to a macho father, who tends to reject the boy and distance himself from him. The mother may respond by overprotecting her son. Such reactions disturb the boy’s capacity to identify positively with his father and cause him to over identify with his mother. He may then ultimately develop homosexual erotic responses which are reinforced by later experiences.” 
[J. Marmor, "Homosexuality: Nature versus Nurture," The Harvard Mental Health Letter, October 1985, p. 6]

Dr. John Money says, “With respect to orientation as homosexual or bisexual, there is no human evidence that prenatal hormonalization alone, independently of