Thread: Sochi Olympics and the Law against Gays in Russia +

Everything that people do depends on biochemistry, but that does not mean that biochemistry is causing everything. Identifiable non-biochemical factors are evident.

Originally Posted by Seraph

Everything that people do depends on biochemistry, but that does not mean that biochemistry is causing everything. Identifiable non-biochemical factors are evident.

I've got to log off in a few minutes, but I'll say quickly: I agree that non-biochemical factors, including childhood socialization, are at work both in heterosexual and homosexual development. But I suspect that sexual orientation -- and gender behavior, and the subjective awareness of "being male" or "being female" -- all have biochemical roots that begin to take shape even before birth. (We KNOW that this things can be instinctive in animals whose brains are too simple to think about abstractions like "femaleness" or "opposite-sex-ness"; and it seems improbable to me that after millions of years of evolution, such instincts would have simply disappeared in recent human evolution.)

I would also insist on the point that although "What causes heterosexuality??" is a question that most people -- even some scientists -- forget to ask, it's just the other side of the same coin as "What causes homosexuality??" Both questions should be asked at the same time, and understanding the neurological basis of the normal case (heterosexuality) will indirectly shed light on the mystery of homosexuality.