Nature vs Nurture

@DragonFruit Thank you for sharing this detailed response and your experiences. This sheds a lot of light on the matter. If one were never exposed to the opposite sex in an intimate way, would they be more likely to be straight? Or, as you mentioned, if you didn't already have an innate attraction to men would you have been repulsed? Your response gives a lot to think about!

@BananaBrown I must agree that the environment does seem to shape the outcome. How to determine if there's a genetic predisposition is beyond me, though probable.

@SW-User It is hard to tell if there's a genetic predisposition. I also must agree that we are all products of circumstance.

@StrayTom yeah. It surprises me every day though to still witness that being the public opinion

@BalmyNites Good one, and something to seriously wonder about. Glad I'm in the boonies and drink from a well!

@StrayTom It stands to reason, if we’re all consuming plastics from the pollution being eaten by the sea life & we in turn then eat the fish, we have to be affected by all those hormones, which are proven to have a profound effect on the human brain

@MushroomFaerie I like this response. There's something to the feelings of comfort as a child here. I could see that being a factor.

@lovelywarpedlemon It is an uncomfortable subject, but an interesting one none the less. I like the answer "both, but more than that too." Perhaps it's an ongoing product of our environment and genetics?

@Faust76 So, a combination but the outcome is dynamic? Does human sexuality continue to develop after adulthood? Interesting response!

@StrayTom I should probably read more into the psychology of just why people think so, but it seems entirely clear even without the voluminous research into it that "nature vs. nurture" isn't one or the other.

First of all, almost everything is affected by genetics, but not because there's a "gene for gay". No, but there's probably one gene that makes your face a little more feminine, another gene which makes your voice just a little bit higher (And I'm making up this as well as the psychology for illustrative purposes, which are way too simplified) with the end result that, perhaps, most women don't find you as attractive as the guy next door.

That's where nurture enters into play, maybe there's someguy with similar genes next door, and maybe you don't have an religiously repressive father, or maybe you do but other life-experiences have taught you to rebel against him. Bearing in mind that in adulthood, people usually DON'T change their sexual orientation just because they got rejected. But sometimes, for whatever reason, people do and they might have been quite happy in their previous orientation. (Also, you said "sexuality" so I'm including fetishes etc. too which is perhaps easier to imagine).

And that longish example should also illustrate that "determine" is the entirely wrong word to use...

@SW-User Another response that makes me wonder if human sexuality is dynamic beyond simply adulthood. I imagine, given the environment, one could develop as a result of current circumstances as well.

@SteelHands Quite the opposite. Everyone is unique, I'm querying on human sexuality specifically.