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AVEN Census to the cause of sexual orientation?


R_1

AVENites' beliefs on sexual orientation  

  1. 1. Are we born this way, or was it a choice, or neither?

    • We are all born this way.
      26
    • We all have a choice in what we do, so therefore, we have a choice.
      0
    • It's neither for all of us.
      3
    • Depends.
      3
    • Some of us are born that way, but some of us had experienced changes in sexual orientation through no faults of our own or anyone else
      51
    • Don't know, and don't care.
      4
    • Other
      5
  2. 2. If you are a believer that we are all born this way, then what's the main culprit to why we are that way?

    • Pre-natal hormones
      10
    • Epi-genetics
      7
    • Genes
      22
    • Pre-natal hormones and epi-genetic
      9
    • Pre-natal hormones and genes
      16
    • Other
      27
    • I'm not a believer in this
      34
  3. 3. If you are a believer that we are all chose to be that way, then what's the main culprit to why we are that way?

    • We have been given free will by the name of an anthropocentric/anthropomorphic conception of god
      2
    • I'm not a firm believer of an anthropomorphic conception of god, but I still believe we have free will in what we do.
      3
    • Other
      7
    • I'm not a believer in this
      81
  4. 4. If you are a believer that it is neither for all of us, then what's the main culprit to why we are that way?

    • I stick by the neuroplasticity theory of sexual orientation. Any changes that affects area which is related to sexual orientation can alter one's sexual orientation or even the degree of sexuality
      9
    • I stick by the complex interaction theory of sexual orientation. It seems that there is no single cause of sexual orientation.
      30
    • All current theories of cause of sexual orientation has validity, but there's no adaquate evidence to suggest which should be the dominant theory.
      17
    • Other
      9
    • I'm not a believer in this
      52
  5. 5. For those that don't believe in all choices listed on the above

    • I have not made up my mind about the cause of sexual orientation.
      12
    • There's no answer and there won't be. So, thus I don't have a conclusion.
      5
    • There may be an answer, but we don't have them yet.
      23
    • It seems to be a case-by-case scenarios on the cause of sexual orientation
      29
    • Other
      6
    • I'm not a believer in this.
      43

This poll is closed to new votes


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So, what do you believe in when it comes to the cause of sexual orientation?

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I am too lazy looking up what each of these things mean :p

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I am too lazy looking up what each of these things mean :P

I made some answers up, but anyone who have studied sexual orientation should be able to have an accurate guess on what the answers is about.

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And what for those who haven't? ;)

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As a medical student, I think that sexuality (like most things) is primarily influenced by some combination of genetics, epigenetics, and prenatal hormones, as well as early formative experiences and environmental factors during early development. However, there is evidence that a few people do experience fluid sexuality as adults, or even undergo a dramatic and lasting change in orientation. Therefore, some combination of environmental factors and/or changes in physiology/hormones/the brain appear to be able to affect an adult's orientation. Like most things in human neurology, it's complicated. It may take us quite a while to figure out how it works, and it might be slightly different among different individuals.

I don't think that sexuality is at all a matter of conscious choice, though. Sexual behavior is obviously a choice, but not actual orientation, with maybe a tiny handful of exceptions (none of which I have yet met or heard of, but hey, open mind).

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Janus the Fox
Almost all the above, the 'cause' or sexuality is such open ended in biology, psychology, neurology and others, there's no real cause, it just simply exists in all its flavours.
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Vivaldi Ives

  • Science may be able to find explanations for facets of sexuality, but I doubt it will ever be able to fully explain every person's individual sexuality

I don't think "born this way" can be tested, since very small children can't know their sexuality

I believe sexuality is fluid, though not everyone experiences noticeable changes over their lifetime

I like the idea of sexuality's cause being a "complex interaction" as described in one of the poll options

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littleheartsofjoy

This was an interesting poll. I believe that some people are born that way, and some experience changes just because. I'm not a believer is what I chose for all of the other questions, excluding the last one. I strongly believe that it is a case by case basis really.

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I believe I was born this way, as there is nothing I know of in my life that offer an alternate explanation.

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noparlpf, on 05 Jul 2014 - 2:59 PM, said:

However, there is evidence that a few people do experience fluid sexuality as adults, or even undergo a dramatic and lasting change in orientation.

Can you give us some cites for that evidence?

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noparlpf, on 05 Jul 2014 - 2:59 PM, said:

However, there is evidence that a few people do experience fluid sexuality as adults, or even undergo a dramatic and lasting change in orientation.

Can you give us some cites for that evidence?

I dunno about large-scale studies, but for something that can only be measured subjectively like sexuality, knowing one person who frequently complains that his sexuality swings back and forth between guys and girls and won't settle to one or both is good enough for me. And I know another guy who says he identified as a butch lesbian before he realised he was trans, and at some point after transitioning to male, he somehow became a gay man. In other words, switched from gynosexual to androsexual. Obviously this isn't scientifically rigorous unless I take data on another couple hundred people and publish it, but a real study on sexuality is just a subjective questionnaire anyway.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The human brain is a fantastic organ. I think that sexuality is much more complex than the sciences currently make it out to be. Prenatal hormones seems to be a start for sexuality and gender, yet there are multitudes of other things that shape these more. Experiences shape our understanding and self. We may also have some say in this since our own desire is a powerful experience on the mind. To me it seems like everything has an effect on our brains, and thus what our brains control.

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Pretty sure it's formed in the early developmental stages due to environmental factors.

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I am in the 'Don't know, don't care' camp because I don't. There's more to life than that. I am asexual and that's all there is to it and everyone must just accept it.

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  • 1 month later...
verily-forsooth-egads

I won't pretend I know the answer, not really, but I believe our sexuality is determined by our genes and/or possibly prenatal factors. It's also possible some individuals are changed by circumstances—I think, though, that if that were always the case, we'd know. That hypothesis also implies that one sexuality, usually straight, is the default and all others are deviants, which is problematic for obvious reasons.

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I think many of us are born the way we are, while with others, events out of their control make them the way they are.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I don't like the use of the word 'cause'. What caused you to be hetro sexual sounds weird as well doesn't it?

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Since the cause is not (and may never be) known, there's no point in voting on it.

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I believe we are all born with our ultimate orientation pre-programmed into us. Societal conventions and upbringing may lead people to try and conform to a different orientation, but ultimately or basic orientation is innate

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  • 10 months later...

This poll is being locked and moved to the read-only Census Archive for 2014. As part of ongoing Census Forum organization, and in an attempt to keep the demographics of the polls current with the active user base at the time, each poll will last for one year. However, members are allowed and even encouraged to restart new polls similar to the archived ones if they like them.

Census Moderator

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