Is Being A Lifestyle Choice - 1270 Words

Kassy Plambeck 915244972 TITLE Is being gay a lifestyle choice, or does it’s existence come from biological variations? Many people have a preconceived notion that being gay is indeed a lifestyle choice. In the past mental health practitioners went far enough to diagnose it as a mental illness up until 1973. Society believed that people who were attracted physically or romantically to the same sex and even both sexes had something wrong with them. Various reasons such as homosexuality being a sin and the inability to reproduce with the same sex was reason enough to put it into the category of mental illness. It was only socially acceptable for a woman and a man to be in a relationship. This is something that has puzzled the minds of many†¦show more content†¦Experiments that have been conducted in the past have shown that when monkeys are given more testosterone that they become more rowdy, and when sheep have been given the same hormone, females tend to assert more dominance (Levay 2011: 78). As f or the human species the hormone congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is found to be a reason why girls may have more masculine traits later in their lives. CAH occurs in the process of a genetic mutation during fetal development where an enzyme from the corticosteroid hormones gets pushed out of the equation thus resulting in abnormally high levels of androgens. Women who carry this hormone have more childhood characteristics that are similar to a male such as playing with boy like toys, and engaging in rough-house play (Levay 2011: 78-79). Women who have CAH also may have genitilia closer to a male’s genitals, and it affects their behavior and brain patterns. A study that was conducted first in 1968 then replicated in 2007 showed that women with CAH had more sexual fantasies and dreams, during masturbation or during sex with their partners that included bisexuality and homosexuality. There actual partners that they were either physically or romantically attracted to and eng aged with were usually women as well (Bahlburg 2007: 95) So from evidence, women who have higher androgen levels are