Nature or nurture?

[Adnama]

Hmm. Very interesting... very interesting...

So then if it's nuture... all of our parents did something horrible to us when we were litttle, or we were all raped, or sexually abused, molested, dropped on our heads, ect ect. Yes?

So in that case, some stupid shrink could fix us all right up.

"What? You are happy as you are? Tut tut, nonsence! You are in denile! You must come to grips with what happend to you and release it!"

"But nothing happed do-"

"Quite! You are in denile!"

Yep, they're gona lock us all up in a nut farm. Well... it may not have been our first choice of location for our commune but.... lol

[fluffy_hime]

Amanda, who are you talking to? Who said it's caused by nurturing?

[Adnama]

Well no one said any thing definitively, every one is throwing things around, and so I figured I'd throw that in. Though the original post hinted at it if I understood it right.

Note the "so then if it's nuture..."

Heh, sorry bout that, I probably could have been clearer.

[LostDaemon]

I know for myself at least, there's a nuture experience that I can source for my asexuality, but just as likely a chemical lack of libido (nature), and some free will from the effects of the nuture experience that might cause it. I don't think it's much genetic, if at all - my parents had me, after all, thus kind of proving their sexuality to some extent.

-LD

[Autumn]

So then if it's nuture... all of our parents did something horrible to us when we were litttle, or we were all raped, or sexually abused, molested, dropped on our heads, ect ect. Yes?

"Nurture" is often a bit more subtle than that... It depends on our personalities and how they devlop, how we respond to various incedents in our life and lots and lots of other things.

Pick any of your personality traits, like... your reaction to children, could you say that disliking children was caused by a single factor- did a baby bite you when you were younger causing you to have an irrational fear of them? i doubt it... its more likely that you dont really like the physical contact that chidren demand, you like understanding what people want clearly, you dont like mess, you perfer to be in control of a situation.. and a hundred other things- all of which contribute to you not much liking kids.

(you might love kids for all i know, im not calling you a control freak who hates physical contact, just using an example off the top of my head)

Your personality isnt formed by jumping from one big life event to the next, its formed subtley over time with many many factors influencing it.

Not that i believe sexuality is entirely formed by nurture.

[snowplow]

Well, I went to a human sexuality class in which the prof said up front that although he's willing to discuss pretty much any other question, he can't discuss questions about what "causes" sexual orientation. Why? a) he doesn't know and B) the question seems inherently homophobic- if we know what causes "it", we might then be able to "fix" homosexuals.

I suppose the same line of logic could be: This question about asexuality is inherently anti-asexual: if we know what causes "it", we could then "fix" it.

I don't know if the argument is valid. I chose "who cares?" anyway. It's who we are. Like some of us might prefer blue to red, and that could be inherited or environmental. I don't see any great debates on nurture vs nature in the red vs. blue contrast.

[PlatonicPimp]

Well, you can "FIX" any personality trait, thats what we call brainwashing. A trained Psychologist with the right selection of drugs and no morals can do anything they want to with your personality.

The question of whether it's nature or nurture is interesting, but the danger of assuming that either answer Justifies any reaction is boundless. Science cannot be allowed to dictate ethics - see social darwinism for an example of why. Irregardless of what Causes sexual orientation (And such a deterministic attitude to humans went out with strict behavioralism) It is a part of personailty, which is not socially harmful, and therefore is a protected right like your belief system. (In an Ideal society. Then again I'm a socialist anarchist.)

[Rukin Vinter]

...I'm honestly stumped here.... o.o I'm usually skeptical about something being attributed entirely to nature (as so much else comes into play with human beings), but how else to explain how I (and evidently others) have always felt asexual?

[bard of aven]

bump