Homosexuality is a sexual attraction or sexual behavior among members of the same gender. It can be a bisexual habit (attraction and sexual behavior towards both men and women) or purely towards the same sex. The paper will shed light on the sociological, physiological and biological explanation of homosexuality in human beings.
According to biological concept of behavior, our characters are a consequence of our genetic makeup and our physiology. This biological approach to behavior has been studied in fraternal and identical twins. Identical twins have 100% of their genes identical while fraternal twins have 50% of their genes as identical (Sammons). The theory is based on the assumption that most of our genes evolved to adapt to the environment. Therefore, they determine our characters.
The sociological approach to behavior states that our characters are a factor of our environment. The people one interacts with, influence their character. The approach seeks to explain how someone can be influenced by their social interactions and start behaving in a way that appears similar to that of that surrounds him/her. It also explains how a character may be normal and common in a society and considered weird or uncommon in another (Jones 11).
The psychological approach to behavior states that our characters develop as a result of observing others and as a response to stimuli. It’s based on the cognitive theory and the stimulus response theory. One major assumption that this theory makes is that when born our brain is normally a blank or tabula rasa state (Jones 1).
Biological studies have shown that our genes highly influence homosexuality. The study was done in 800 men including fraternal and identical twins as well as non-town individuals (Balter). The study revealed most of these men had similar satellite regions in their genetic prints. It was also shown that in most identical twins either both of them were gay or none of them were gay. Another study was done by genetically modified the genes that code for eye color in fruit flies. The genetically modified fruit flies showed a tendency of preferring fellow male flies for mating. Some of the flies that had not been genetically modified did not show this tendency (Balter). The above research concluded that our genes indeed influence our characters.
The sociological approach to homosexuality explains homosexuality as a consequence of our changing social behaviors. The levels of homosexuality rose significantly due the factor of ladies preferring men of a certain social class. After the establishment of agriculture, men started amassing wealth. Ladies preferred these men over the poorer ones. This led to the poor men to prefer other men over ladies. The rich men of the society then became dominant and saw it pleasurable to have both men and women for sexual pleasure. These two incidences greatly influenced the spread of homosexuality in our societies (Jones 13).
The psychological approach to homosexuality associates homosexuality with our response to exposure to homosexuality itself. Studies have shown that in societies where the levels of homosexuality are low, the general rise in the number of homosexuals is also low. This theory explains the above phenomenon as a result of fewer people being exposed to homosexuality, and therefore, these people naturally have no desire to be homosexuals (Jones 2-5).
Works cited
Balter, M. Homosexuality May Be Caused By Chemical Modifications To DNA. Oct. 8, 2015. Web. American Association for the Advancement of Science
Jones, S. L. Sexual Orientation and Reason: On the Implications of False Beliefs about Homosexuality. 1st sept. 2012
Sammons, A. Approaches to Psychology Biopsychology. The Biological Approach. What assumptions do bio psychologists make? 9th Jan 2012. Web. psychlotron.org.uk
