Homosexuality - Nature or Nurture Essay

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Pages: 11

Homosexuality
Nature or Nurture Have you ever wondered what creates a persons sexual preference? Is it possible that their social influences and environment can lead them to certain sexual practices and same sex relationships or could it be that some people have a genetic makeup that makes it completely natural to be attracted to members of the same sex? These questions lead us to the long-lived debate of nature or nurture. Some scientists believe that people behave as they do according to their genetic predispositions or even "animal instincts." This is known as the "nature" theory of human behavior. Other scientists believe that people think and behave in certain ways because they are taught to do so. This is known as the
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In the same way, it is obvious that fraternal twins have more in common genetically than do their adopted siblings (J. Michael Bailey, and Richard C. Pillard, pg 1089-1096; D'Augelli, and Patterson, pg 102 ). To add to Pillard’s and Bailey’s findings, scientists have found that there are quit possibly other factors involved in the cause of homosexuality. It is during the fetus period when these factors will become important. During the fetus period when most brothers should have approximately the same concordance rates, the twins derived from separately fertilized eggs seem to exhibit much higher. It is possible that the hormone levels of the fetus, during the gestation period, could effect brain development changes. Research has shown that a male rat will have more feminine behaviors and traits if the male sexual organ is removed before the critical point of maturity. This point in time has been determined by the masculinisation of the brain by testosterone produced in the male sexual organs. Essentially the rat now has a female brain, a natural development due to the absence of testosterone. On the other had, if a male rat with sexual organs removed had not passed this point was then injected with testosterone would hold the male characteristics. In humans, embryos start producing sex hormones around the 6th week of gestation. (Lewontin and Rose