I was going to post this in the gay bashing thread as a response to kiwi, but it's getting a bit unwieldy and it isn't directly related.

Historical evidence might indicate otherwise, see below.

Not as extreme as opponents of homosexuality might like to be believe.

In both of these contexts I'm of course referring to the Greeks. Hellenistic Greeks were gay. Well the men anyways, petty much all of them. But most were probably not genetically homosexual, there were culturally conditioned to be so. Homosexual activity was the norm for men. I read an account where an officer of King Phillip, Alexander's father, somehow wronged another man. His punishment was to be used, sexually, by the man he wronged. In Athens women weren't educated because they weren't considered normal humans. Love was though to exist only between two men. In Sparta younger soldier were paired in pederastic relationships with older soldiers. The Sacred Band of Thebes was a mercenary company of a 150 paired homosexual partners, one who fought with a big spear, the other a big oval shield (I (*)(*)(*)(*) you not). The point is, in this situation, we clearly see homosexual behavior as a social product. That doesn't mean that homosexuality can't also be genetic, evidence suggests it is. The point is it can be both.

The continuation of this of course is that men who might not want to have sex with other men and would preferred only women were almost certainly socially ostracized. So just such a situation as Kiwi puts forth has actually existed. Something for some people to think about I think.


Regarding the absurdity of the claim that homosexuality destroys societies, the Greek society was the progenitor to the Romans. And our government is based on them. Our philosophies are almost exclusively of Greek origin. Maybe the world would do a little better with more gay sex (just men though, sorry ladies).

O and Amazon's weren't lesbians. Lesbian refers to women from Lesbos (where women on women action was cool) and who, somewhat ironically, painted their lips white to emulate semen. I couldn't make that up.

I certainly agree there is a social component. I think it really depends on understanding that sexuality may be more of a spectrum rather than a dichotomy. One's natural position "somewhere in the middle" can easily be expected to shift either which way based on strong social forces... though a push too far, I believe, can lead to self hatred.

As a counter example, however, an APA policy statement cites studies claiming the sexual development of a child raised by gay parents is little different from that raised by a straight parent... thought they did note a child of a gay parent might be more open to "experimentation".


http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/policy/parents.html
I would imagine, perhaps incorrectly, that gay parents would incline children to be decidedly gay themselves more so than straight parents if sexuality was significantly a social influence.... on the other hand, perhaps it just because they receive enough "straight influence" from school/etc. to counteract the influence of the sexuality of their parents.

I'm inclined to think that with the gay parents willing to accept whatever sexuality the child is, the child is actually expressing more of what they would do naturally in a bias-less society... they experiment and eventually take their natural choice.

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True knowledge exists in being aware of what you don't know.

We also discourage sexually promiscuous behavior in our society. Sex is supposed to be linked up with emotional and social bonds. And is discouraged for entertainment value. I think in Greece where you have sex for fun, with men and coupled with men’s sexual promiscuity you get a whole lot of homosexual sex between men who may or may not be naturally inclined.

I'm not so sure it is a spectrum either, as I said, men are naturally very promiscuous. The attitudes of men and women regardless of orientation follows the same general patterns. Men don't discriminate, and desire to engage in sex frequently, even if they don't. It may be that women will be always be as monogamous as permitted, and men visa versa. The fact that men’s sexually promiscuous attitude is so suppressed in our society might have more show women have had a more control over relationships for a long time than men might be willing to admit.

Hellenistic women were lesbian, at least the smart ones. They just didn't talk about it outside the women's quarters.

__________________
Theodore Lamar Heiks
BA, History/Political Science, Western State College of Colorado, 1984
MBA, Entrepreneurship/Marketing, City University of Seattle, 1993