Causes of sexual orientation

The determinants (or etiology) of sexual orientation are controversial.

The debate over what causes someone to be heterosexual vs. homosexual or bisexual is in some aspects a classic nature vs. nurture question.

Certain schools of thought often emphasize theories of or evidence for genetic determinants of sexual orientation. Opposing camps often emphasize theories of or evidence for environmental determinants, including upbringing, social pressures, and personal choice. Some people criticize the binary nature of "nature vs nurture", and emphasize interaction and other hard-to-classify influences like non-genetic biological factors and random chance. Some people also object to the classification of people into the three sexual orientations listed above. Indeed, such classification is at the very least complex and difficult in practice; see the article on sexual orientation for details.

The role, if any, of personal choice in sexual orientation is particularly important in the ongoing public debate. Many people consider same-sex sexual behavior to be immoral; many of these also believe sexual orientation is a conscious choice which can and should be avoided. On the other hand, those who believe sexual orientation to be an immutable characteristic usually consider discrimination based on that attribute to be immoral and believe that people should seek healthy relationship with people of whichever gender(s) they prefer. Some people who find same-sex sexual behavior immoral, however, distinguish those conscious actions from what might be an immutable and spontaneous erotic desire.

Beliefs about the empirical determinants of sexual orientation may influence a person's conception of morality, and moral beliefs do tend to influence one's perception of the empirical mechanisms.

Scientific research into the determinants of sexual orientation are described in the articles on genetic and environmental factors, as appropriate.

The relative frequency of various sexual orientations is another complex and controversial question. See the article on the demographics of sexual orientation.

See also

• Ascribed characteristics (for a more general look at the morality of innate vs. non-innate characteristics)

External link

• GLBTQ.com: Etiology (http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/etiology.html)

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia article. Browse Wikipedia for more information.