Genes determine sexuality

Our sexuality, the gender we prefer to get it on with, is not a choice. Most reasonable people already knew this, now science has proven it.

The New York Times printed an article on April 10 explaining how scientists now see sexuality as something written in our genes the same as green eye color and curly hair. Yes, scientists, people who think in terms of hypotheses and research based on fact and observation, are telling us sexuality is not a choice.

The human fetus is female by default - those are the factory settings. If there happens to be a Y-chromosome in the mix, it will convince the fetus to develop testicles, which produce hormones that change the fetus into a male. When you get right down to it, men are mutants and women are the standard model.

Fast forward to puberty. When conditions are favorable, the brain sends magic juices to the reproductive organs. After that, you officially begin to crave the embrace of others.

The New York Times article suggests we must begin to look at the human brain as a sexual organ. After all, if you cut off the penis the man and his desire remains. The development of the brain and the way it works is greatly influenced by where each brain falls along the gradient we call sexuality. Testosterone not only mutates the gonads and the pectoral muscles, it mutates the whole brain.

The overly politically correct notion that men and women are essentially the same is garbage. On their default settings, the female brain is better at certain things while the male brain is better at others. Remember, we're talking about nature here - nurture is another story altogether. Also, I'm not asking for home economics to make a comeback. It's not men are better at football and women are better at making pancakes. The female brain is better at forming memories, performing verbal tasks and so on. Men are better at forming mental maps, better at focusing attention.

The differences are often slight, but can also be rather pronounced. For instance, men and women use opposite sides of the brain when prioritizing memories according to their emotional strength.

The average IQ is the same for both men and women, but there are far fewer men who test as average and far more at the extremes. Why? The X chromosome carries a lot of brain-building information, and women have a backup X which diminishes discrepancies. Little mutations and variations are more prevalent in men because they have only one set of those essential brain-building instructions.

The point is, the brain determines our sexuality, not our penises and vaginas.

If you hook people up to a machine that measures their arousal (yes, they make such a thing) and have them watch a screen flipping through photos of both attractive men and women, the men respond accordingly.

Straight men find the women appealing. Gay men find the men appealing. But, both straight and lesbian women find both men and women equally appealing. Yes, that's right, according to research conducted by J. Michael Bailey of Northwestern University, women have no specific sexual orientation.

So, it follows, both gay and straight men are the same when it comes to objectifying those they desire, being overly concerned with sex and more likely to seek out multiple partners and cheat. Women, on the other hand, are more selective and consider a variety of factors before bumping uglies. When the genes start forcing their hands, women are more likely to prefer men.

The New York Times article cites a number of scientists who agree with these principles saying, "sexual orientation, at least for men, seems to be settled before birth."

A number of possibilities exist to explain why homosexuality persists despite it being overtly maladaptive. After all, homosexuals don't reproduce nearly as much as heterosexuals do. So how do their genes persist?

Research published by the National Academy of Science points back to when the early testicles are mutating the brain and turning it male. If you are a male with older brothers, you are far more likely to be gay. If you have older sisters, nothing changes; if you have never met your older brothers, the likelihood is still great. The mother's body is saying, "OK, enough is enough." Fifteen percent of gay men can be attributed to this effect. So, it's possible all gay men's sexuality could be attributed to something similar.

The evidence is piling up. If you think being gay is a choice, you are a fool. Desire is not a choice. No one can be turned gay or straight; if you think they can, you are blind, numb to the human condition and a waste of human tissue. Given that, if you think people are born into this world destined to be eternally damned, you are soulless and empty - damned, I suppose, to eternal ignorance.