One More Thought
I was talking to somebody at lunchtime, and thought of one more thing.
There is only one way I can imagine anybody questioning the idea that sexual orientation is innate. If you hit puberty (or so) and realized you were attracted to your own sex, whether you were homosexual or bisexual, and you lived in a world where gay people were discriminated against and teased and hated, you just might decide to keep your true feelings to yourself. You could act straight, dating girls (if you're a guy), talking macho, joining in the badmouth and manly rowdiness. There's no disputing that people can do that -- I'll bet a lot of gay people will tell you they went through a phase like that, at least.
Talking to my friend about this, I realized that such a person just might not know that other people were different from them. If you chose to act straight, and never let anyone know, you would very likely think that everyone around you was doing the same thing. You would honestly believe that sexual orientation was a choice, since it was for you, and the apparently genuine heterosexuality of people around you would just be interpreted as excellent acting.
Otherwise, why would anybody question whether orientation is innate? It doesn't make sense on so many levels...
There is only one way I can imagine anybody questioning the idea that sexual orientation is innate. If you hit puberty (or so) and realized you were attracted to your own sex, whether you were homosexual or bisexual, and you lived in a world where gay people were discriminated against and teased and hated, you just might decide to keep your true feelings to yourself. You could act straight, dating girls (if you're a guy), talking macho, joining in the badmouth and manly rowdiness. There's no disputing that people can do that -- I'll bet a lot of gay people will tell you they went through a phase like that, at least.
Talking to my friend about this, I realized that such a person just might not know that other people were different from them. If you chose to act straight, and never let anyone know, you would very likely think that everyone around you was doing the same thing. You would honestly believe that sexual orientation was a choice, since it was for you, and the apparently genuine heterosexuality of people around you would just be interpreted as excellent acting.
Otherwise, why would anybody question whether orientation is innate? It doesn't make sense on so many levels...
posted by JimK at 2:06 PM
6 Comments:
Exactly
All through middle school and most of high school, I thought everyone was like me: we were attracted to guys, but pretended we liked girls. I had not idea why we did this, but I went along. Only my Junior year did I begin to realize that other boys were different from me (or I was different from them0.
Robert
Thanks, Robert. I realized today that if that was somebody's whole life growing up, they would just naturally (innocently and honestly) assume that everybody was doing the same thing.
It's the only explanation I can think of for somebody thinking sexual orientation was not innate.
JimK
I can see why you are not a lawyer
Who'd want to be a lying lawyer like the one who said ‘‘They seem to say that what CRC is saying is not true,” [and] ‘‘Everything we said is true,” in yesterday's Gazette? http://www.gazette.net/stories/022807/montnew202030_32328.shtml
Lying about the MCPS health curriculum is a CRC family value.
For example:
What truth is there to their lie that MCPS human sexuality classes are "opt out?" None. Every parent of an MCPS student knows the policy is "opt in." No student may enroll in these classes without a signed permission slip from a parent or guardian and this rule is applied to every MCPS student without exception.
What truth is there to their lie that the curriculum doesn't cover the risks of STD and HIV/AIDS? None. There's a whole section of the curriculum called "Disease Prevention" that covers risks. The two new 45-minute lessons plans on sexual orientation for 8th and 10th grades were added to the existing curriculum which already covers risks; nothing was removed.
MCPS Mom
Anon- You mean like Johnny Garza?? hahahahaha
I know some fine recovering attornies- like Warren who owns CakeLove- there is a man who found something fine to do with his life, Mr. Feldman -my daughter's former teacher for French and AP Lit- now teaching overseas, my friends Stephanie- who teaches religious school- and Ed who works in a bookstore. We do have a number of attornies here, Anon- and they, like Jim, are so far above your knowledge level that it may be immeasurable.
Nice design of blog.
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