Matt Snowden
11-04-2005, 07:53 AM
Nature v. Nurture is a question that has plagued the minds of sociologists for decades. Whether someone is born (nature) or becomes (nurture) gay is a very contradictory idea. My sociology professor had asked my class to write a position paper about our stand on this topic, I of course researched both sides of the argument and then formulated my opinion. I believe that people become products of their environments, what I mean by this is that people who are around homosexual behavior are much more likely to become gay. But having thought about this side of the argument you have to question, "why would someone want to be part of a group of people that is 5 times more likely to commit suicide" "why would someone want to be part of a group that is 15 times more likely to fall victim to hazing and being hassled?" "And why would someone want to be part of a group that is 4 times more likely to be thrown out of their homes?" One man that presents a different view of the topic is Mr. Ridley, the Author of Nature v. Nurture: an end to the war? - Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience and What Makes Us Human
Nature via Nurture proclaims an end to this war by setting out to show that the terms of the debate are entirely illusory. Far from attempting to blind us with science on behalf of one side or the other, Mr. Ridley is determined to open our eyes to what is staring us in the face: the fact that we are the product of a transition between the two. Evidence for one side is not evidence against the other, he asserts, for the discovery of how genes actually influence human behavior and, equally importantly, how they are influenced in turn, has recast the terms of the debate. Genes, Mr. Ridley argues, are not gods in the sky but cogs in the machine, not puppet-masters pulling the strings of behavior but puppets at the mercy of behavior.
After having read this part of me understands how we are born with a set of directions and then after receiving this given set we alter and shape them to how we best feel fit. In this particular case homosexuality. There is much evidence in the path of both options, but neither can be proved yet, so I would like to know what other people think.
Nature via Nurture proclaims an end to this war by setting out to show that the terms of the debate are entirely illusory. Far from attempting to blind us with science on behalf of one side or the other, Mr. Ridley is determined to open our eyes to what is staring us in the face: the fact that we are the product of a transition between the two. Evidence for one side is not evidence against the other, he asserts, for the discovery of how genes actually influence human behavior and, equally importantly, how they are influenced in turn, has recast the terms of the debate. Genes, Mr. Ridley argues, are not gods in the sky but cogs in the machine, not puppet-masters pulling the strings of behavior but puppets at the mercy of behavior.
After having read this part of me understands how we are born with a set of directions and then after receiving this given set we alter and shape them to how we best feel fit. In this particular case homosexuality. There is much evidence in the path of both options, but neither can be proved yet, so I would like to know what other people think.