One thing I can never understand about all these nature vs. nurture studies on homosexuality is why they invariably divide the human race into two categories -- straight and gay. Haven't scientists heard of bisexuality? If gay men's brains resemble straight women's, what do bisexual men's brains resemble? Or bisexual women's? What about people who "experiment"? What about men who are perfectly straight until they go to prison, and then they're, uh, not? What about women who identify as lesbians and then one day start dating men (ask anyone in the lesbian community; it happens a lot)? What about boys who have sex with other boys and then "grow out of it"?

Don't these people count?

I agree. Human sexuality is much more complex and multifaceted than these studies indicate. Even if we just consider gay men, the notion that there is one single cause of their sexual orientation is laughable, especially to people who know sizeable number of actual gay men. We all know sets of twins where one is gay and one is straight, despite being exposed to identical levels of fetal hormones. And we all know hyper-masculine gay men and hyper-feminine gay men, whose brains I'm guessing are not quite identical.

That's why these studies don't bother me that much -- a study might identify one factor that is important to the development of sexual orientation in some people, but that same factor is likely to be completely irrelevant for other people. Without any single cause, there will never be any single "cure." And there are so many levers and switches involved in this particular aspect of humanity that any attempt to influence one of them is undoubtedly going to have unintended consequences on others. I have little doubt that a hormonal treatment that might cause some otherwise gay male fetuses to be born straight will have the effect of causing otherwise straight male fetuses to be born gay.

What about sincere, loving, caring gay men who never once in their lives have the opportunity to share their love with another person because they are celibate, or because they were forced by society to marry a female whom they may 'love' as friend but with whom they will never connect spiritually.

Sexual orientation is not defined by behavior but by what is in your soul, at the deepest core of your being.

the incidence of live births of infants with hermaphroditic tendencies (ambiguous or mixed genitalia) is about 1 in 3,000 births.

most such infants are immediately "assigned" to one gender or another, and receive surgery to impose that single gender on them.

bisexuality could work the same way - it could be a birth defect which triggers an ambiguous sexual attraction to both genders.

Science HAS been studying these issues. They're very perplexed by bisexual women; bisexual men don't exist. More specifically, a study was engineered that determined various levels of physical arousal across various levels of bisexuality in women. The same test was performed on a group of men, and it was discovered that all of the men had a slight bisexual response; 1 out of 5 images shown to arouse a specific man was of an orientation opposite the other 4 images. None of the men tested to be predominantly bisexual, reguardless of how they self-identified.

Look up the article "Gay, straight, or lying?" on New York Times; they have the details.

Or were you only interested in bisexuality as a cheap, unfoudned shot against the androgen theory?

"Or were you only interested in bisexuality as a cheap, unfoudned shot against the androgen theory?"

Or, maybe it is just someone trying to make the point that life is complicated, and that not everyone feels they have all the answers. Some folks want to boil everything down to a simple chemistry formula or scientific study, while others think the human condition is an almost unfathomable puzzle. Most of us are somewhere in between. Treating everyone with respect would go a long way to figuring it all out together.

I love being told that I "don't exist." I'm very nearly 50/50 myself and have been for quite some time.

Something about this topic almost compels people to make ridiculous generalizations and then scurry to divide the mess into convenient little bins. I'm not quite sure why that is.

The scientists divide people into 2 distinct groups in order to define what is normal (heterosexuality) and what is an alternative to normal (homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgendered). Of course since it’s politically incorrect to say that they say “alternative lifestyles” or something else vague and overly cautious.

Sexuality is determined by biology and environment. If a male or female child is hormonally balanced and has a healthy environment with strong role models that encourage normal sexuality then they will develop normal sexually. They will seek out the opposite sex because it will feel normal. If they have an untreated hormone imbalance and/or an unhealthy environment where abnormal sexuality (same sex, incest, adult/child sex, etc) is practiced and encouraged by weak role models then they will develop sexually confused. They will not understand the difference between normal and abnormal and they will seek out comfort wherever they can find it. Their sexual identity is screwed up. People who engage in bisexual activity are simply exhibiting one of the forms of confusion.

People who have grown up sexually healthy and well centered but find themselves in a situation where they are starved for attention and affection (such as prison) will often turn to homosexual or lesbian behavior. This is a result of environment.

Lastly, people are turned on by what they allow themselves to be turned on by. If you go there, concentrate on it, and sexualize it then it will become sexual to you. Lips are lips, tongues are tongues, and hands are hands and they all feel good if you let your mind go there.

The scientists are simply lumping all forms of abnormal sexual behavior together because there’s little difference between them on a scientific level.

Which is a choice.

Cassandra

These babies are born with a hormonal imbalance and that imbalance should be treated starting as soon as possible. Sexual attraction is developed over time through hormones, environment, and role models. What is considered attractive to a person is determined by what a person is encouraged to believe is attractive by their parents, siblings, peers, and others. If they receive nothing but same sex attraction encouragement then they will develop that sense of attraction. This is why the vast majority of parents develop normal children.

It's ok. I've been told that I don't exist either.

Cassandra

People are notorious for being self-deceptive about their sexuality and sexual appetities. Are you female? The test results don't apply to females: they were indeed found to have many "true" bisexuals.

While I certainly have no right or place to tell you what to do with your own body or how to define yourself, don't act so SHOCKED! when I'm less impressed by your antidotal evidence than a scientific study.