Molestation Does Not Make One Gay

[+ Avalon]

On the Brit soap opera "Hollyoaks" a 15yo boy is being molested by his soccer coach. Now the boy is wondering if he is gay.

 

I don't like this storyline. I don't know if he will turn out to be gay or not but if he is some will say that it is because he was molested.

 

I read the autobiography of Tab Hunter. He related that he had been molested. Some no doubt think that's why he was gay.

 

Sexual orientation does not work that way.

Edited August 9, 2018 by Avalon

[+ Kman]

15 is a highly impressionable age. It might be that he is questioning his sexuality because he actually enjoys it or that he thinks that the coach would only molest a gay guy. Sexual abuse can make you think of/question a lot of things.

[+ WilliamM]

15 is a highly impressionable age. It might be that he is questioning his sexuality because he actually enjoys it or that he thinks that the coach would only molest a gay guy. Sexual abuse can make you think of/question a lot of things.

 

Thoughtful response. Thanks.

[+ jeezopete]

Sexual orientation does work that way.

 

Did you mean, does not work that way?

[+ Avalon]

Did you mean, does not work that way?

 

Thank-you! I did mean NOT and have corrected my mistake. Again thanks for alerting me.

[+ jeezopete]

I totally agree with you there. Watching that storyline would make me feel uncomfortable, wondering which direction it's taking the character.

[+ Avalon]

I totally agree with you there. Watching that storyline would make me feel uncomfortable, wondering which direction it's taking the character.

 

Several times the teen has wanted to talk to his father but the father is an alcoholic and each time when the boy is about to the father is drinking and the boy stops. Mother not in the home; there is a step-mother.

 

Lately - last two episodes - the youth has been talking to a gay adult. He is a good guy. The adult and boy went to see the father. The boy turned on the adult and said that it was he (the adult) who had been questioning him. Another time the boy and adult were talking but the coach was in the room and the boy turned on the adult.

Edited August 9, 2018 by Avalon

[+ harey]

Yes, I agree. I've seen some studies online about that topic and it's pretty sad. I seem to recall reading an idea that sexual predators may select gay boys more often because the boys are shy or seem more vulnerable. If that is true, then adult men who report being molested as children could more likely be gay because that's how they were born to begin with - not because childhood rape changed their orientation.

[Vulgarii]

We're not born gay either and the gay twin studies continue to prove that. Dr. Patricia Newton is great at explaining that it's nurture and the environment, and the majority of glbt that go through trauma, neglect, abuse, etc in their earliest stages of development.

[+ Avalon]

We're not born gay either and the gay twin studies continue to prove that. Dr. Patricia Newton is great at explaining that it's nurture and the environment, and the majority of glbt that go through trauma, neglect, abuse, etc in their earliest stages of development.

 

Does that go for heterosexuality also?

[+ IronMaus]

We're not born gay either and the gay twin studies continue to prove that. Dr. Patricia Newton is great at explaining that it's nurture and the environment, and the majority of glbt that go through trauma, neglect, abuse, etc in their earliest stages of development.

Why does it have to be one or the other? In some ways we can be born with a set of traits that steer us gay, and in other ways we just learn along the way and decide what works for us at certain points in our lives.

 

Our chance of being gay is greatly effected by the population density of where we're carried to term, and the amount of children our mother birthed prior. This implies a biological (and evolutionary) trait to the effect of population control.

 

I had a healthy childhood and when I think back on what could have led me to be gay my mind goes to professional wrestling, Clint Eastwood, and He-Man. I fooled around with many of my friends starting at 8 years old. Did the same influences in their lives lead to this possibility? Were we just having fun as boys do? Or were some of us gay and just reaping the benefits at an early age?

[+ robear]

Vulgarii, can you link to "Dr." Patricia Newton's credentials and published research? I can find nothing but youtube appearances. She seems to be a crusader for "reparative therapy," a wholly debunked and dangerous weapon of religious zealots.

[Rudynate]

I totally agree with you there. Watching that storyline would make me feel uncomfortable, wondering which direction it's taking the character.

 

 

Not necessarily a bad thing.

[maninsoma]

We're not born gay either and the gay twin studies continue to prove that. Dr. Patricia Newton is great at explaining that it's nurture and the environment, and the majority of glbt that go through trauma, neglect, abuse, etc in their earliest stages of development.

 

You believe that nonsense? Sounds like something out of the 1950s.

[Rudynate]

We're not born gay either and the gay twin studies continue to prove that. Dr. Patricia Newton is great at explaining that it's nurture and the environment, and the majority of glbt that go through trauma, neglect, abuse, etc in their earliest stages of development.

 

 

That is incorrect. Twin studies show exactly the opposite. Among identical twins separated at birth, there is a high concordance rate for sexual orientation.

[caramelsub]

I know I wasn’t born gay. I distinctively remember being curious about topless women online and being aroused by it, and being interested in playboy. But I was only 11. I didn’t even begin to masturbate until I was 12. Then I started getting interested in male and female sex. Then I realized men were turning me on more than women, so I began looking at male and male sex pictures on the internet. I think prior to age 12 you never no whether a person will be gay or not, because our bodies haven’t even developed at least from a sexual perspective.

[bnm73]

That is incorrect. Twin studies show exactly the opposite. Among identical twins separated at birth, there is a high concordance rate for sexual orientation.

 

You got to it just before I did.

 

While genetics may not be the only factor in how sexual orientation develops or is determined, there is strong evidence for a genetic component.

[Rudynate]

I know I wasn’t born gay. I distinctively remember being curious about topless women online and being aroused by it, and being interested in playboy. But I was only 11. I didn’t even begin to masturbate until I was 12. Then I started getting interested in male and female sex. Then I realized men were turning me on more than women, so I began looking at male and male sex pictures on the internet. I think prior to age 12 you never no whether a person will be gay or not, because our bodies haven’t even developed at least from a sexual perspective.

 

 

Well, then you could just change your mind and go straight. Why haven't you done that? It's an easier life. Could it be that you're more comfortable being gay? That it has more appeal than being sraight? That it's what you're predisposed to?

[caramelsub]

Well, then you could just change your mind and go straight. Why haven't you done that? It's an easier life. Could it be that you're more comfortable being gay? That it has more appeal than being sraight? That it's what you're predisposed to?

 

I’m not saying we choose our sexuality. If that was the case we would all choose to be straight. I’m saying that there is no way to predict a child will grow up to be gay, even based on the hobbies of a child. I think it is a combination of nature versus nurture. This is just my humble opinion.

[Rudynate]

I think it is a combination of nature versus nurture.

 

Agree with qualifications. More nature than nurture.

[MikeBiDude]

You believe that nonsense? Sounds like something out of the 1950s.

@Vulgarii seems to be a newbie-one-post provocateur

[marylander1940]

We're not born gay either and the gay twin studies continue to prove that. Dr. Patricia Newton is great at explaining that it's nurture and the environment, and the majority of glbt that go through trauma, neglect, abuse, etc in their earliest stages of development.

 

I was born gay.

 

What do you think made you gay?

 

Should we @Avalon start a thread-POLL about what made us gay or if we were born gay?

[marylander1940]

@Vulgarii seems to be a newbie-one-post provocateur

 

Maybe he's on here to convert us... pray the gay away!

[+ Avalon]

Maybe he's on here to convert us... pray the gay away!

 

[+ harey]

We're not born gay either and the gay twin studies continue to prove that. Dr. Patricia Newton is great at explaining that it's nurture and the environment, and the majority of glbt that go through trauma, neglect, abuse, etc in their earliest stages of development.

What a fascinating choice for a first post on this forum.