Late-blooming lesbians: women can switch sexualities as they mature

[Renae]

One study even indicates that as many as two-thirds of women who feel lesbian attractions may have changed their sexual orientation over time.
The findings appear to pose a challenge to the scientific consensus that a person's sexuality is determined more by their genes than environment.

Christan Moran, a researcher at Southern Connecticut State University in the US, said that many women who develop lesbian feelings in later life refuse to “come out” for fear of society’s reaction.

Women in long-term heterosexual relationships, especially those with children, face even greater problems reconciling themselves to their new identities, she said.

Late-blooming lesbians: women can switch sexualities as they mature - Telegraph

So Gay ain't genetic it would seem.

 

[MaggieD]

Interesting article. Your conclusion is missing "always," as in "ain't always genetic." For 1/3, it's inferred that it is. I've always thought that people choosing a homosexual lifestyle can be the result of nature or nuture or one's own life experience. I wonder why we care so much that we study it.

 

[Thorgasm]

Yeah, they couldn't have always been lesbian or bisexual but repressed it in order to conform to society's expectations.

Matthew Moore wrote the article that you linked Mr. Vicchio. Did you also know that he wrote this article?

Female mice 'can be turned lesbian by deleting gene' - Telegraph

 

[Renae]

Yeah, they couldn't have always been lesbian or bisexual but repressed it in order to conform to society's expectations.

Matthew Moore wrote the article that you linked Mr. Vicchio. Did you also know that he wrote this article?

Female mice 'can be turned lesbian by deleting gene' - Telegraph

Nope. Missed that one. However, mice aren't human.

 

[spud_meister]

Study suggests difference between female and male sexuality ? Science Blog

it appears women are more inclined to be homosexual than men are.

 

[Thorgasm]

Nope. Missed that one. However, mice aren't human.

This is true. But a "journalist for The Daily Telegraph and Telegraph.co.uk, with a particular interest in the creativity, community and humour of the internet." is a far cry from a peer reviewed scientific journal.

Coming to a conclusion about scientific issue from this column is weak sauce.

 

[Hoplite]

Im sorry, when did newspaper articles replace science journals?

 

[Mell]

Late-blooming lesbians: women can switch sexualities as they mature - Telegraph

So Gay ain't genetic it would seem.

I think gayness is something a person is or isnt, but maybe those women did not want to accept they are gay, because of the social difficulties of it early in their lives, and maybe they also wanted children which being gay might hinder getting.

 

[Goshin]

Late-blooming lesbians: women can switch sexualities as they mature - Telegraph

So Gay ain't genetic it would seem.

Might as well not bother, Mr. Viccio. A certain large swath of the forum has decided that Gay Is Inborn, and no lack of proof of this assertion will sway them, and all evidence indicating otherwise will be dismissed with HandWavium or twisted like an MC Esher drawing.

I wish I had a body armor vest that was that impervious.

 

[mikhail]

I think women are generally more comfortable with idea to start with.

 

[CaptainCourtesy]

Late-blooming lesbians: women can switch sexualities as they mature - Telegraph

So Gay ain't genetic it would seem.

Correction. Sexual orientation may not be genetic. Researchers have been pondering how sexual orientation develops for a long time. Generally, it is seen as a combination of genetics/biology/biochemistry-hormones/environment. Remember, though this is about ALL sexual orientations, not just homosexuality.

 

[Andalublue]

Sexuality, as I've always believed, is a phenotype, like many or even most personality traits, i.e. a combination of the interaction of genes and environment. Until such evidence exists that genetics does not have any effect on personality development, I'll continue to believe that theory.

 

[roguenuke]

Late-blooming lesbians: women can switch sexualities as they mature - Telegraph

So Gay ain't genetic it would seem.

Why does it matter? It seems to be very important for the anti-gm side to "prove" that homosexuality isn't genetic. There are a couple of issues with this though. First, if it is proven that it isn't genetic at all, it still wouldn't prove that it is a choice. Second, as CC points out, it also would mean that heterosexuality isn't genetic either.

But my main argument against this is that it shouldn't matter if it is genetic, or even a choice. I don't think sexuality is a conscience choice because I know that I cannot choose to be sexually attracted to women anymore than I could choose to be sexually attracted to men who act certain ways. There are certain things that turn me off sexually. Sex with a woman does not appeal to me. Neither does sex with a guy who acts like Eminem or a guy who is grossly overweight or a guy who is shorter than me. But even if I could choose to become sexually attracted to all those above characteristics, why would it matter so much whether these attractions (not actions) are ingrained (through nature and/or nurture) or a choice? How do the relationships caused by these different attractions cause harm, and is that harm somehow more or even only seen if the attraction is a choice?

 

[CaptainCourtesy]

See, what most folks who argue this issue forget, is that heterosexuality is ALSO a sexual orientation. I challenge anyone to prove THAT is genetic. The location of the genetic coding will suffice.

 

[Andalublue]

I'm with roguenuke and CC on this, you probably noticed.

I fail to see how any genetic element to the delineation of sexual orientation is relevant in any discussion on the legal standing of civil rights. Whether it's genetic, a combination of nature and nurture, or wholly a product of free will and personal discrimination surely does not detract, in an American context, from the ideas of 'life, liberty and pursuit of happiness'. If it does, how so?

I find the arguments of the so-called 'small government Conservatives' on the issue to be the quintessential issue that gives the lie to their claims to want to keep the government out of the realm of the private. The Thatcher regime in the UK was forever bleating on about rolling back the encroachment of the State into the realm of the private and yet was the most repressive and coercive regimes in two centuries of British history.

 

[Befuddled_Stoner]

I've come to think that the difference between heterosexuality and homosexuality is the same as the difference between guys who love breasts and guys who love butts.

Some guys really love breasts and don’t care much about anything else, other guys are the same with butts. Most guys fall somewhere in between and have varying degrees of love for both breasts and butts.

If society totally vilified guys that loved female butts, and people lost their friends, families and jobs after being outed, how many guys would admit to finding butts even the littlest bit sexy? Probably only the guys that really love butts and see little appeal in breasts. This doesn’t mean that everyone else thinks only breasts are sexy, it just means that most people are content with breasts and don’t feel iconoclastic enough to contradict the majority.


I don’t think people that “change” sexual orientation later in life are really "switching teams." A guy that really loves asses can occasionally enjoy a girl with a nice rack, but does that really mean he’s no longer an ass-man?


Edit: wow, I can say "ass" without being censored?

 

[Gipper]

More power to 'em. Lesbians can suffer the hell straight men do by having to live with a woman.

If you ask me, gay guys get all the breaks. Ask jallman how many times his boyfriend has bitched about him leaving the seat up. I dare ya.

 

[Andalublue]

More power to 'em. Lesbians can suffer the hell straight men do by having to live with a woman.

If you ask me, gay guys get all the breaks. Ask jallman how many times his boyfriend has bitched about him leaving the seat up. I dare ya.

Oh ye of little understanding. You have never encountered a queen with a cleanliness fetish. They are more extreme and wield the passive aggression with greater effect than any woman could do.

 

[jambalaya]

I think gayness is something a person is or isnt, but maybe those women did not want to accept they are gay, because of the social difficulties of it early in their lives, and maybe they also wanted children which being gay might hinder getting.

Yours is a very narrow minded view in my opinion. I think it is very obvious that there is no very clear dividing line between gay and straight but a wider gray line that divides the two. It defies nature and logic to be any other way. Since your lean is undisclosed I can't say you are a liberal but I find it relatively speaking a conservative view point to say people are stricly one way or another.

 

[tacomancer]

Yours is a very narrow minded view in my opinion. I think it is very obvious that there is no very clear dividing line between gay and straight but a wider gray line that divides the two. It defies nature and logic to be any other way. Since your lean is undisclosed I can't say you are a liberal but I find it relatively speaking a conservative view point to say people are stricly one way or another.

I think there are three categories.
Definitely Straight
Potentially Bisexual (or realized bisexual)
Definitely Gay

I don't know what % falls into which category, but I do think there is a definitely straight camp as I am pretty sure I am in it. Tried experimenting, but there is nothing there that interests me, which I immediately discovered.

 

[Andalublue]

I think there are three categories.
Definitely Straight
Potentially Bisexual (or realized bisexual)
Definitely Gay

I don't know what % falls into which category, but I do think there is a definitely straight camp as I am pretty sure I am in it. Tried experimenting, but there is nothing there that interests me, which I immediately discovered.

At this point it seems relevant to quote the Great Kurşad Kahramanoğlu, former GenSec of the International Lesbian and Gay Association and popularly known as The Pink Pope in Brazil, the Philippines and his native Turkey....

"Daaahlink, zere are only 2 kinds of men: gay men and men wiz potentiaaal."

 

[digsbe]

If anything, homosexuality may have some very slight genetic influence via hormone levels, but it is ultimately a choice. I personally know someone who used to be gay (He was even "married" to a guy) and later stopped and became straight. I know guys who are straight, and then say they want to "experiment" to see if they like guys. People change sexualities, and I believe fetishes and things people find to be sexy can change over time.

 

[Thorgasm]

If anything, homosexuality may have some very slight genetic influence via hormone levels, but it is ultimately a choice. I personally know someone who used to be gay (He was even "married" to a guy) and later stopped and became straight. I know guys who are straight, and then say they want to "experiment" to see if they like guys. People change sexualities, and I believe fetishes and things people find to be sexy can change over time.

How much money would it take to get you to choose to be gay?

 

[Andalublue]

If anything, homosexuality may have some very slight genetic influence via hormone levels, but it is ultimately a choice. I personally know someone who used to be gay (He was even "married" to a guy) and later stopped and became straight. I know guys who are straight, and then say they want to "experiment" to see if they like guys. People change sexualities, and I believe fetishes and things people find to be sexy can change over time.

I think there may be a stronger genetic element than you cite, but yes, I have known people make the switch, mostly in the straight-to-gay direction, but occasionally in the opposite direction. I'm sure that's what the Christian extremists who attempt the Gay Deprogramming mullarkey are basing their ideas on. The trouble is, the make-up of one's sexual orientation is not programmable at the level of the conscious mind. You can't will yourself to fancy someone you just don't. Many have tried and failed and whole families have been wrecked as a result. Until the sexual revolution that was the fate of millions of lesbians and gay men, forced to pretend to be heterosexual when they weren't, often despite their desperate wish to be straight. Of course the nature of one's attraction can change over time, and probably does more often than most people recognise, bit it's not something over which you have much control.

 

[Your Star]

If anything, homosexuality may have some very slight genetic influence via hormone levels, but it is ultimately a choice. I personally know someone who used to be gay (He was even "married" to a guy) and later stopped and became straight. I know guys who are straight, and then say they want to "experiment" to see if they like guys. People change sexualities, and I believe fetishes and things people find to be sexy can change over time.

Let me ask you this then, could you change gay? Seriously this is how gay people know there gay, the same way you know your straight. Or how bi people know there bi. It's not different mental process, just a different attraction.