Several decades ago, I knew a gay man who got into frequent arguments whenever "we're just born this way" came up in a gay rights group we both worked with. He was very much convinced he had been "recruited" as a youngster by what, from his description, sounded like predatory behavior to me. He didn't feel bad about his sexual orientatio…
Several decades ago, I knew a gay man who got into frequent arguments whenever "we're just born this way" came up in a gay rights group we both worked with. He was very much convinced he had been "recruited" as a youngster by what, from his description, sounded like predatory behavior to me. He didn't feel bad about his sexual orientation. He just saw himself as having been young and not even having sexuality on his radar, and then being shown something he decided he liked.
Who am I to question his experience and evaluation of that experience.
To a certain degree, "born this wayism" seems like a trap for LGBTQ persons. It denies their agency. The proper view, in my opinion, is "so long as you don't harm others, who cares whether your orientation/identity is innate or chosen?"
It doesn’t matter what some dude ‘thinks’. There are people who believe they are gay due to demonic possession. The best test of this hypothesis comes from the Sambia tribes in New Guinea. All males have to fellate older males starting from age 7 until age 13, and then they must teach younger males to do the same. This is because they believe semen causes male growth into manhood. Yet they don’t turn gay, just a few percent of men are same sex attracted.
If heterosexuals "recruit," then doesn't the presence of heterosexuals nearby (and IN) families potentially harm the children? -- since they now run an increased risk of being recruited into a lifestyle that precludes half the human race as partners, or exposes them to elevated risks of unwanted pregnancy?
"Potential consequences of poor decision-making" and "actual harm" are two entirely different things.
It also has disadvantages. For example, the medicalization of unfulfilled transgenderism as a mental illness ("gender dysphoria") raises the question of whether the appropriate "treatment" is attempting to align the body to the mind or vice versa. The current medical trend is toward the former, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way. And once you've medicalized something, especially in the mental health field, the trend can easily be codified in coercive ways.
Several decades ago, I knew a gay man who got into frequent arguments whenever "we're just born this way" came up in a gay rights group we both worked with. He was very much convinced he had been "recruited" as a youngster by what, from his description, sounded like predatory behavior to me. He didn't feel bad about his sexual orientation. He just saw himself as having been young and not even having sexuality on his radar, and then being shown something he decided he liked.
Who am I to question his experience and evaluation of that experience.
To a certain degree, "born this wayism" seems like a trap for LGBTQ persons. It denies their agency. The proper view, in my opinion, is "so long as you don't harm others, who cares whether your orientation/identity is innate or chosen?"
It doesn’t matter what some dude ‘thinks’. There are people who believe they are gay due to demonic possession. The best test of this hypothesis comes from the Sambia tribes in New Guinea. All males have to fellate older males starting from age 7 until age 13, and then they must teach younger males to do the same. This is because they believe semen causes male growth into manhood. Yet they don’t turn gay, just a few percent of men are same sex attracted.
If heterosexuals "recruit," then doesn't the presence of heterosexuals nearby (and IN) families potentially harm the children? -- since they now run an increased risk of being recruited into a lifestyle that precludes half the human race as partners, or exposes them to elevated risks of unwanted pregnancy?
"Potential consequences of poor decision-making" and "actual harm" are two entirely different things.
Yes, "born this way" has rhetorical advantages.
It also has disadvantages. For example, the medicalization of unfulfilled transgenderism as a mental illness ("gender dysphoria") raises the question of whether the appropriate "treatment" is attempting to align the body to the mind or vice versa. The current medical trend is toward the former, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way. And once you've medicalized something, especially in the mental health field, the trend can easily be codified in coercive ways.