Are you born gay or do you become one? Since it became possible to do so, thousands of researchers have looked into the question of the cause of homosexuality. Although several hypotheses have been made, almost no concrete results have been established. Why continue to persist in answering this question, you will tell me? Simply because sexology, which is a social science, borrows characteristics from more traditional science. And human beings seem to want to know everything, understand everything and analyze everything. Here is an overview of what emerges mainly from research on sexual orientation .
The biological hypothesis of homosexuality
First, let’s be clear. Researches are unanimous, there are no “homosexual” genes . The first theoreticians of sexuality had an essentialist vision of eroticism. What does it eat in winter? According to this view, an individual’s eroticism is like a survival instinct stemming from nature that must not only be controlled, but must also feature in heterosexual monogamous reproduction.
Biological theories explain that homosexuality would be, among other things, caused by a hormonal modification caused by stress during pregnancy. A shock suffered by the future mother could cause a slight hormonal imbalance in the embryo and thus modify its sexual orientation . The unusual development of masculine characteristics in the fetus could be explained by too great a variation in androgen during pregnancy.
Environmental explanations of homosexuality
Beyond the explanations offered by biologists, others are looking at how sexuality manifests itself as a social construct. In this then constructivist vision, a person’s eroticism is seen as being plural and changing over time and able to exist in an infinity of amorous or sexual configurations. According to social theorists, sexuality is greatly influenced by the environment. A homosexual experience during the period of awakening to sexuality, an absent father, an overly present mother, etc.
Some even mention that wanting too much to please a cold and absent father, a boy will want to reproduce this scenario with the male sex once an adult. The woman of homosexual orientation, meanwhile, would have been marked by the image of a man who was too intimidating. Its comfort would then be transposed to women and this need for security would have been sexualized at puberty.
An unnecessary explanation
In all honesty, writing these lines, I wonder about the need to understand where homosexuality comes from . To me, it’s like researching left-handed people further. Who has ever wondered about the plausible explanation of being left-handed, right-handed or ambidextrous? And why do some like strawberries while others prefer blueberries? Because they have a “blueberry” gene? Because they have brothers who love this fruit? Because they had a bad experience with their right hand?
Why seek a cause for something that is neither a problem nor a disease nor a perversion? Personally, I believe that the debate started within the Church. As homosexuality is a deviance according to religion, it is as if the biological nature favors the acceptance of non-heterosexual people.
What would accurate results yield? Greater acceptance of homosexuality? In short, sexual orientation is neither genetic nor environmental. She is what she is, just a part of each of us.
Even today, the acceptance of LGBTQIA+ people is far from won . We only have to think of the multiple homophobic, biphobic and lesbophobic comments that can be read on social media.
Be that as it may, homosexuality has always existed, everywhere in the world. And since we have never wondered about the “causes” of heterosexuality, I dare to hope that one day the genetic versus acquired debate will be far behind us.