"Born that way" or "It's a choice"? Evaluate the evidence supporting biological and environmental explanations of sexual orientation.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The neuroscience perspective offers the explanation that sexual orientation is innate. This perspective presents evidence that hormonal changes that happen while the fetus is developing in utero may correlate with sexual orientation. The strongest evidence for this includes studies on congenital adrenal hypoplasia. These women, who receive more testosterone during the prenatal period, are more likely to identify as lesbian or bisexual. Genetics may contribute as well, because studies of identical twins demonstrate that if one twin is homosexual, there is a 52 percent chance that the other one will be as well. For fraternal twins, the rate is only 22 percent, which indicates a strong genetic influence in homosexuality. Lastly, there are some indications that there are anatomical differences in the brains of homosexual men and lesbian women, such that homosexual men's brains are similar to heterosexual women's brains, and lesbian women's brains are similar to heterosexual men's brains.
Another field of thought is that sexual orientation is a combination of learned factors, including socialization and life experiences. Early studies looked at having dysfunctional parents or a bad sexual experience with the opposite sex and whether they were related to sexual orientation. Unfortunately, none of these studies have yielded reliable results. Further, a theory proposed by Daryl Bem, "exotic becomes erotic," proposed that your genes predisposed you to select either masculine or feminine activities and playmates. Then, during adolescence, that behavior became reinforced. Unfortunately, data does not support this theory. It is likely that your sexual orientation is determined by a complex interaction between biological and environmental contributions.