Factors That Affect Sexual Orientation - 2003 Words

Factors of Sexual Orientation Nicole Mercer Muskingum University EDU 500 Joy Cowdery Abstract What does it mean to be a woman or a man? What is it that influences us as individuals to live as a man or as woman as well have the feelings of attraction to someone else? Furthermore, what is it that influences us to have those feeling to someone of the same sex? What does this all mean? Approximately 100 years ago a German physician by the name of Magnus Hirschfeld suggest that the brain of a fetus could possibly show early signs of whether or not a person would be of homosexual or heterosexual nature when they became an adult. Can testing and research really tell us how our innermost thoughts and feeling lead up to a preference of Sexual Orientation? Major changes took place in the early 19th century when homosexuality started to be looked at in a different light. Homosexuality started to be looked at and considered as part of nature. Up to this point the idea of homosexuality was considered wrong in many cultures as well as a punishable crime in some cases. Even though in ancient Greece the practice of homosexuality was accepted from a very young age, it was considered out of the norm outside of that culture. Through numerous research articles the question, what factors influence sexual orientation in male and females is studied. The research studied comes from research journal articles that have been published in the Journal of psychology and sociology.Show MoreRelatedEssay on The Cause of Homosexual Behaviors1255 Words   |  6 Pagespsychologists, and many others among the general population. The Newsweek article Born or Bred discusses many possible causes of homosexuality. According to the research done in 1991 by neuroscientist Simon LeVay, the area of the brain that controls sexual activity called the hypothalamus, was less than half the size in homosexual males compared to heterosexual males. 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