Is sexuality a choice?

[Bluekirby2]

I'm going to say beforehand, if this is already an existing topic that has died a long time ago, I apologize in advanced.

As somebody who considers themselves bisexual, I honestly don't even know.

I feel like I could say that might have something to do with a few developments that have happened to me, but a good friend of mine (Who also happens to be my ex) who is homosexual himself says that it is a choice.

However I've heard that (apparently) there is scientific evidence that it is not a choice, although I haven't looked into this evidence myself, so it is something I take with a couple of grains of salt.

 

[Chainz]

I think thats a common question for Bisexuals, from what most my bi friends tell me.

I don't think its a choice, im hetero and never felt attracted to any male.

 

[Whia]

Your friend is either screwing with you, or is out of his damn mind.

 

[Bluekirby2]

Your friend is either screwing with you, or is out of his damn mind.

How so?

 

[Frizz]

Great question! Quite the baffler, too. As far as my knowledge reaches, I don't believe that sexuality is a choice. I can't really explain it, but it's like a feeling. Right from the start you should already know what sex you like. If you ever do doubt your sexuality, you can always try a sexuality test. I hope that my answer will clear some confusion.

 

[Whia]

How so?

'Cause it's very evidently not a choice.

We might as well be discussing whether or not the sky is blue.

How about, just as a fun little experiment, you, right now, choose to be attracted to someone you weren't prior and see if you find success.

 

[Teran]

No

 

[wedl!!]

I don't know how you can deny that sexual orientation is genetic when there's really obvious common sense things about it.

I, for example, did not choose to be bisexual. I didn't one day wake up when I was eight and say "Gee, I love boobies" or "Gee, I love scrawny guys". It's just something that's ingrained into you, you can't really control it.

 

[Sucumbio]

The idea that one can choose their sexual preference is nothing more than a silk screen for homophobes to decry homosexuality as abnormal thinking. Though it's agreed in some cultures that it's a sin to act on homosexual impulses (to which I disagree - **** who you want) even they don't deny that it's a part of one's nature, not a conscious decision.

 

[Izayoi]

Yes and no.
No because, ultimately, the sexuality you are born with is what it is.
Yes because you actually have a choice here...
To submit yourself to social "normalcy", or to choose what makes you happiest.

 

[M15t3R E]

Sexuality is not a choice. This shouldn't even be a hot button topic today. The other people who give credence to this illogical presupposition are conservative homophobes who feel grossed out by the thought of this precisely like a kindergartner feels about cooties. Therefore, they, due to their inherent knee-jerk psychological aversion, make up crap such as "it's not God's way" in an attempt to ostracize homosexual individuals who want nothing more than to live like the heterosexuals in their own community. In essence, homophobes are juvenile, psychologically insecure, deceitful, backward and detrimental to society.

 

[Bluekirby2]

The only thing that makes me feel confident that sexuality is a choice is because I don't understand why somebody choose to be persecuted really.

 

[DBZHedgy]

They would probably choose to be persecuted because having sex or having a love interest is more important to them then being socially accepted.
That or they just flat out don't care about being persecuted at all.

 

[M15t3R E]

The only thing that makes me feel confident that sexuality is a choice is because I don't understand why somebody choose to be persecuted really.

Nothing points to sexuality being a choice. At most, one can discern that public displays of homosexual affection and fighting for gay rights are choices, but the sexuality aspect is not.

 

[Sucumbio]

http://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/orientation.pdf

As stated by the American Psychological Association (page 2 first paragraph)

"... most people sense little or no choice about their sexual orientation."

In the same paragraph it is stated there is no concensus as to how one's orientation is determined.