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Gender and sexual orientation
Gender and sexual orientation
Gender and sexual orientation
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Sexual Differentiation and its Effects on Sexual Orientation What controls a human's sexual orientation? The long-standing debate of nature versus nurture can be extended to explaining human sexual orientation. Is it biological or environmental? The biological explanation has been gaining popularity amongst the scientific community although it is only based on speculations. It is argued that sexual orientation is linked to factors that occur during sexual differentiation. The prenatal exposure to androgens and their affect on the development of the human brain play a pivotal role in sexual orientation (2). Heredity is also part of the debate. Does biology merely provide the slate of neural circuitry upon which sexual orientation is inscribed? Do biological factors directly wire the brain so that it will support a particular orientation? Or do biological factors influence sexual orientation only indirectly? Gender is determined by the sex chromosomes, XX produces a female, and XY produces a male. Males are produced by the action of the SRY gene on the Y chromosome, which contains the code necessary to cause the indifferent gonads to develop as testes (1). In turn the testes secrete two kinds of hormones, the anti-Mullerian hormone and testosterone, which instruct the body to develop in a masculine fashion (1). The presence of androgens during the development of the embryo results in a male while their absence results by default in a female. Hence the dictum "Nature's impulse is to create a female" (1). The genetic sex (whether the individual is XX or XY) determines the gonadal sex (whether there are ovaries or testis), which through hormonal secretions determines the phenotypic sex. Sexual differentiation is not drive... ... middle of paper ... ...ally factors are responsible for sexual orientation. There are so many variations within society that could affect at person's sexuality, that it is impossible to make any assertions at this point. Therefore the nature and nurture debate is still open. Works Cited: 1) Carlson, Niel R. Physiology of Behavior. 7Th ed. Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon, 2001. 2) Swaab, D.F., and Hofman, M. Sexual Differentiation of the Human Hypothalamus in Relation to Gender and Sexual Orientation. Trends in Neuroscience. 18, 264-270. 3) Breedlove, M.S. Sexual Differnetiation of the Brain and Behavior. In Becker, J.B, Breedlove, S.M, and Crews, D. (EDS). Behavioral Endocrinology. Pp 39-70. 4) Money, J. , Schwartz, M. and Lewis, V.G. Adult Erotusexual status and Fetal Hormonal Masculinization and Demasculinization:46, XX. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 1984, 9, 903-908.
To begin with, gender must be examined at the basic level of science in regard to physical and biological development of humans. We all understand the physical differences between the male and female gender, but how is our sex actually determined. After conception,
Rader states that baseball was founded by Abner Doubleday in 1839 at Cooperstown, New York. In the next couple decades, the game developed the simple concept of bases. After having bases introduced into the game, the kids in bigger cities started club based teams which played each other. These teams started to develop a personal passion and respect for baseball which led them to adopt written rules. He conveys the idea of fellowship within the team and how the players celebrated all aspects of the game. He gives an example of a club team called the New York Knickerbockers and how they celebrated with their opponents and teammates whether they won or l...
Homosexuality is a product of biology because according to research, the hormones of the females are stronger. Dr. Hamer states that sexual orientation, male homosexuality is genetically influenced. This is passed down through their mothers to the hormone of their offspring. Sexual identity is wired into the genes, which discounts the concept that homosexuality and transgender sexuality are a choice. Since sexual differentiation occurs within the womb, as a result of hormonal influences, it has been hypothesized that homosexuality may result from differential hormone balance in the wombs of those who eventually exhibit a homosexual orientation. According to a study, the question is whether homosexual practice changes the brain or whether the brain results in homosexual practice. According to Dr. Hamer, male homosexuality might be linked to a set of five DNA sequences located on the Xq28 region of the X chromosome. Therefore, if homosexual orientAtion were completely genetic, one would expect that it would not change over the course of one's life.
Sports are the biggest source of entertainment around the world. There are many sports in America, but baseball is our pastime. Baseball is what started America’s interest in sports, and millions of people love the sport to this day. A baseball game is a very special event. Attending a game makes you realize that baseball really is more than a game.
I stood yesterday afternoon engaged in the immense time consuming game of baseball. I stood there contemplating on what ideas, mainly about baseball, were being distorted and confused. Then it hit me…
Human trafficking is the third largest international crime industry followed behind illegal drugs and arms trafficking (“11 Facts” pg. 2). The International Labour Organization estimates that women and girls represent the largest share of forced labor victims with 11.4 million trafficked victims compared to 9.5 million men ( ). Trafficking comes in many forms, forcing victims into prostitution, subjecting victims to slavery or involuntary servitude, compelling victims to commit sex acts for the purpose of creating pornography, and misleading victims into debt bondage (11 Facts. Pg 2). According to federal reports estimate that 14,500 to 17,500 victims are trafficked into the United States each year (What is Human Trafficking. Pg 2). Traffickers will often make their victims’ new birth certificates, passports, and drivers’ licenses making it almost in possible for them to ...
“Human Trafficking: The Facts.” Global Initiative to fight Human Trafficking. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. .
One of the most disputable issues among society nowadays is homosexuality. Is it sin and genetic virus that we have to prevent or just personal choice and a right to be different. But on the other hand it is also unnatural genetic mistake that should be prevented in order not to spoil the whole humankind. The other factor that can not be ignored is religion that claims homosexuality to be one of the unforgivable sins ever and prohibit such transgenics to exist within society, but does religion imply that people are entitled to judge and punish each other. Why society can’t just let them live and love each other nonetheless their love somehow differs from conventional ones? Conservative society tends to blame homosexual people, though science has proved that homosexuality is inherent in genetic foundation, but not personal choice therefore can not be denied, ignored moreover discriminated.
The first possible cause of homosexuality is genetic factors. Homosexuality is a trait from birth (Buchanan, 2000). Studies found that identical twins share many common traits. A study found that identical twins normally share homosexual behavior if one of them is homosexual. This proved that genes are likely to cause homosexuality. In addition, according to (Santinover, 2002), homosexuality is a heritable behavior. Based on heritability studies, almost any human trait is heritable including the homosexual behavior. He stated that behavioral genes are found in specific chromosome. Thus, the behavior is obviously heritable. Moreover, Italian University of Padova (2004) believes that homosexual trait is passed from mother to male offspring by natural ...
Dr. John Lewis, veterinary director of Wildlife Vets International and veterinary advisor to the Amur leopard European captive breeding programme, said, “The Amur leopard is facing a situation which may face a number of other big cats in the future, with populations which become so low th...
In just the last 50 years, gay marriage and more specifically, homosexuality, has made great strides in social reform. For example, as of May 2014, 18 states in the United States have legalized same-sex marriage with some other states allowing same-sex unions. The main issue during these last 50 years is the debate between fundamentalists and scientists who argue the controversial debate of nature vs. nurture. Some fundamentalists argue that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice. Conversely, some scientists argue that homosexuality is biologically-determined in the womb due to genes or hormones. Moreover, research conducted by the journal Science and other sources will be examined within this paper that denotes that homosexuality is biologically-determined. This paper will argue that homosexuality is natural. The crux of the issue is that homosexuality is natural due its biological roots and ancestry in humans and animals.
Since the 1800's, psychiatrists and psychologists have concluded that homosexuality is a mental disorder. They have believed it is brought about by misguided upbringing and their social environments. For instance, it was believed that if the child was lacking a male - figure in the home, he would most likely be gay. Or that child abuse can lead to lesbianism when the special needs of a little girl are denied, ignored, or exploited and the future womanhood of the child is in risk. However, inconsistencies in the research subjects' abuse records ruled these theories out. And if this were the case, then why is homosexuality present in different cultures? Some believed homosexuality was caused by a difference in brain structure. In 1991, Simon LeVay published research stating that sexual orientation may be the result of differing brain structures. The hypothalamus, a region in the brain that governs sexual behavior, was the structure that LeVay was pointing as the structure at fault. In his studies of the hypothalamus, he found that in homosexual men, the hypothalamus was smaller than that of heterosexual men. Instead, it was the size of the female hypothalamus, consequently explaining their sexual tendencies.
Even the debate on who founded baseball becomes a battle of individual achievement, between Abner Doubleday and Alexander Cartwright. Doubleday, being a War vet, is known as the Father of Baseball, but doesn’t receive the recognition. Cartwright is in the Hall of Fame for his contributions, but it has been proven that many of his ideas were forged. John Thorn says that a Colorado mining engineer had been present at a schoolboy game where Doubleday used a stick to draw a diagram for the game. When this new evidence came to light that Cartwright may not have been the inventor of baseball, investigations took place to check the validity of the statement. As it has been demonstrated by experts, “Bruce Cartwright (grandson) inserted fabricated baseball exploits into a typescript of Alex Cartwright’s handwritten Gold Rush journal, which contains no baseball remarks and itself has been judged a forgery.” Although Cartwright is not considered the father of baseball his contributions in Knickerbocker Baseball Club helped shape the game to what we know it as today
Genetics, biology, and upbringing are all key aspects in determining one’s sexual orientation. Many of the factors are combined to make up how a person feels or who he or she is attracted to. There is no definite answer to why someone has a particular orientation, but there are studies that sugge...
In order to discuss the biology of gender identity and sexual orientation, it is necessary to first examine the differences between multiple definitions that are often mistakenly interchanged: sex, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Sexual orientation is defined by LeVay (2011) as “the trait that predisposes us to experience sexual attraction to people of the same sex as ourselves, to persons of the other sex, or to both sexes” (p. 1). The typical categories of sexual orientation are homosexual, heterosexual and bisexual. Vrangalova and Savin-Williams (2012) found that most people identify as heterosexual, but there are also groups of people that identify as mostly heterosexual and mostly gay within the three traditional categories (p. 89). This is to say that there are not three concrete groups, but sexual orientation is a continuum and one can even fluctuate on it over time. LeVay (2011) also defines gender as “the ...