do we know why some men are gay?
Gay is the term used to describe males that are homosexual. Numerous studies have looked into the origins of homosexuality in males where largely biological or social explanations have been used. The view of homosexuality being the deviant and heterosexuality as being the norm has had a great impact on research approaches. However such evidence is far from conclusive. Kinsey et al (1948) found in a survey that 4 per cent of males were homosexual and 37% of males had any least one homosexual experience that lead to an orgasm. They believe that sexual orientation was a continuum that ranged from exclusively homosexual to exclusively heterosexual. However, Cass (1990) argues that it places more focus on behaviour as opposed to sexual identity. It can be argued that this is a misleading indicator of sexual orientation because the person may only engage in heterosexual behaviour but identify him or herself as being homosexual. Money (1988) believes that sexual orientation is determined early in life. But the studies such as Sander's et al (1990) showed that sexual orientation may switch from homosexual to heterosexual and back again. Psychoanalytic approach view homosexuality arising from distur
Neuroanatomical evidence has found differences in male homosexual and heterosexual brain structure in the anterior hypothalamus (Le Vay, 1991), anterior commissure (Allen and Gorski, 1992) and the suprachiasmatic nucleus (Swaab and Hoffman, 1919). However the study hasn't been replicated, and not all sample had this marker gene. However, such studies are based on retrospective memory. Suggesting a particular gene for sexual orientation. However, a sample of gay patients is not a representative sample of the gay population as a whole. Where, biological, psychological and cultural differences would have an influence, where the individual would play an active part like other processes (Cass, 1990). Baum et al (1985) argued that Gladue et al findings may be due to differences in testicular functioning as opposed to brain organisation. However such an explanation doesn't tell us why their lack of interest in rough and tumble play will have an effect on the preference for exclusively male sexual partners. Le Vay (1991) looked at autopsies of homosexual males, heterosexual males and females. But we can question why there is the difference and how this difference affects sexual orientation. Children with gender identity disorder have a strong desire to be of the opposite sex and participate in cross-gendered behaviour. Hunt (1974) found a lower percentage of homosexuality in men as opposed to Kinsey (1935) where only 25% were exclusively gay. They found that 97% of the homosexual males had experienced at least one of these experiences whilst 74 per cent of the heterosexual men hadn't had any of these experiences.
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Acceptance Essays
