Why are there homosexuals? page 6

[parrottrl]

I scored a zero on the Kinsey measure. I guess that means I failed. I wish it had more than two gender (role) options. I don't fit into either very well.

[magicmerl]

I scored a zero on the Kinsey measure. I guess that means I failed. I wish it had more than two gender (role) options. I don't fit into either very well.

Same. I always figured I was somewhere between straight and bi.

[parrottrl]

Same. I always figured I was somewhere between straight and bi.

I was figured I was actually an incredibly gay man, at least on the inside.

[Iron Fireling]

Interesting question... I read a theory that when a population of people (or animals) gets quite high there are more homosexuals born, I guess because there's less need to keep repopulating or something? However, I just think it's something that IS and not something that can be questioned. I mean, why are some people born trans?? There's no biological reason or purpose for it. It just is.

I scored a big fat 0 on the Kinsey, but that was to be expected (at least to me). I'm very boringly attracted only to men! Then again, gender wise, I'm not a very feminine or female woman either. I have a lot of masculine traits (not always obvious at first glance). I used to want to be a boy but I grew out of it (and always said that if I HAD been born a male I'd be a raging homosexual!!!) I just don't find women sexually attractive at all.

[Picaro]

You can make the same argument about anything. What is the point of theoretical physics? Why study the origins of the universe? Why not just dance and play and never think about anything to hard? The existence of homosexuality is a mystery of evolutionary biology. Like any scientific mystery, attempting to figure it out is rewarding and fun.

Hopefully we are working so hard, and putting our thought and energy into improving things in order to dance and play and rest from the hard thoughts.

Go Team 3!


I'm far more polar on the monogamy/non-monogamy continuum than on the sexual one. Women, men, doesn't matter that much to me, but I really only want to date one at a time, thanks.

This. All of it. In spades. And since I've emigrated I'm faced with everyone here assuming I'm straight, fair enough really, because I'm married. It seems utterly pointless to out myself, but it's also such an annoying asumption.

If a tree falls in the forest.....is a bisexual person who practices monogamy truly bi?
(Psst...the answer is yes)

[GuineaPigQueen]

If a tree falls in the forest.....is a bisexual person who practices monogamy truly bi?
(Psst...the answer is yes)

I remember back in High School, all the bi ( or at least bi-curious) girls thought bisexuality meant having two partners of different sexes at the same time. Silly girlies.

I wish I could get my brain scanned for possible answers as to why I feel the way I do.

[JWBooth]

Yeah, never said that knowledge was a waste of time. I just said I didn't want to spend MY time and money on figuring out why some people are gay and others are straight. I just don't care why for a multitude of reasons. People are what they are, and I don't really care why because I can't see how it would change anyone's life in the long run.
.

Well, to be fair you did make the statement, "in my opinion, the only point in "explaining" it would be to attempt to influence behavior in one direction or the other" which does come across as somewhat fundamentalist. There isn't an evolutionary biologist alive who hasn't wondered why homosexuals exist and hardly anyone in the scientific community has any desire to "influence behavior in one direction or the other". If you don't care about a particular scientific issue, that is certainly your right, but you shouldn't cast aspersions on people who do. The Paleo and Primal Diets wouldn't exist if there weren't people who were keenly interested in evolutionary biology.

But to get back on topic, and to try to address the original poster's question, we don't really know why homosexuality exists or why it persists. Kin selection, whereby having a gay relative confers a reproductive advantage on the close genetic relatives of the gay man had been a popular theory, but has been falling out of favor in recent years. Then you have the "David Beckham" theory, which suggests that men who are born with nearly all, but not quite, the genes required to make a homosexual are more attractive to females. Homosexuals are nothing more than these normally advantageous collection of genes crossing a tipping point from advantage to disadvantage. There is also the sexually antagonistic selection theory. This argues the same genes that produce gayness in men produce increased fecundity in women. Note that many of the theories to explain homosexuality are really theories to explain "gayness". Though we tend to lump them together some cultural contexts, there is no reason to assume gayness and lesbianism are related. The relatively strong evidence that gayness is largely genetic has not been been replicated among lesbian populations.

I mean, why are some people born trans?? There's no biological reason or purpose for it.

"Purpose" wouldn't be the right way to put it I agree, but surely there is a reason for it. We might not understand the reason right now. We as a species may never figure out the reason. But I think it is a pretty safe bet that a reason exists.

[magicmerl]

And then there's Fa'afafine. Cultured transgenders.

[wiltondeportes]

I don't think it's a question of why, it just is. Why do some animals commit infanticide?

At the end of the day, it's just a result of random mutations. You can conclude if this behaviour of homosexuality is recent and exclusive to certain conditions, then it may be an ailment or failure of some sort. If this behaviour appears to be widespread historically and culturally, then you have to conclude that these genes have been more successful in the past at competing for survival and reproduction than the other options.

[Alex Good]

I scored a 0. Although I can't help thinking that it would be really fun to be able to throw a Ranma 1/2.