This is probably one of the most debated and most controversial societal influences that affect our lives. We are sexual beings and we reflect this is in almost everything we do from our movies, television programs – to our art and apparel – to our gender conformism/revolutions and in the ways we interact with society. Over the years people have become more open to sexuality but there are still people who are adamant that their beliefs are correct.

What I want to discuss is sexuality in terms of heterosexuality and homosexuality; this may seem to be very broad generalisations but I would like to share my opinions and the opinions of others I have heard and read throughout my life. Hopefully I will be able to cover all that I have to say in this article about sexuality being the lifestyle choice of a person or the person being born with sexual predisposition appearing at the onset of puberty. If I offend anyone’s beliefs I apologise beforehand.

het•er•o•sex•u•al•i•ty
n.

1. Sexual orientation to persons of the opposite sex.
   
2. Sexual activity with another of the opposite sex.
   

ho•mo•sex•u•al•i•ty
n.

1. Sexual orientation to persons of the same sex.
   
2. Sexual activity with another of the same sex.
   

Let me start with heterosexuality; the fundamental nature we owe our existence to; without people, or animals we are supposed to have evolved from, being attracted to people, or animals, respectively, of the opposite sex, then conception would not have occurred and life as we know it would never have existed. However over the past century we have come to understand that there are other preferences that men and women have towards each other; homosexual/bisexual people were “discovered” and classed as a group; which in turn led to the founding of various gay groups such as the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transsexual Foundation) PlanetOut, etc. These groups allow people of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transsexual orientation to be in a group and share information about themselves; pretty much like a social group.

Due to societal routines, the majority of the people in the world are brought up to “be” straight and any homosexual behaviour is immediately shunned; in fact, most people believe that sexuality is defined at the onset of puberty, but many people fail to realise that sexuality could also be realised in a child who has certain effeminate qualities; dressing in women’s clothes, wearing makeup and such (watch the movie “Billy Elliot”).

However, the subject at the moment is heterosexuality; of which the majority of people assume that other people are. Heterosexuality is considered by some to be “natural” or “how ‘God’ intended” but broadly speaking you get your passive heterosexuals; who are usually quiet, acquiescent and docile and your proactive ones; the ones who almost always accentuate their “straightness”, play sports, hit-first-and-ask-questions-later-type people; but there is always a mix of characteristics in most people.

For some reason, most ignorant/old fashioned heterosexuals dislike homosexual men but lust over lesbian women which seem to me like a contradiction because they accept lesbian (gay) women but hate gay men. One of my gay friends say that “people who are homophobic often question their own sexuality”, which could be true to an extent where homophobes gay bash people in order to convince themselves of their “straightness”. In retrospect, homosexual activity has been a part of heterosexuality especially in the Ancient Greek/Roman era where same-sex orgies were commonplace in public baths. One can argue that this proves that homosexuality is a choice. Similarly, homosexuals tend to “be” straight until they come out, but again this could be due to society’s influences.

I remember reading a message post in the Yahoo! Forums and one person mentioned their understanding of homosexuality as they thought it to be. His statement was as follows:
“Homosexuals have a mission to contribute to society in a productive manner, yet have tendencies which prevent them from naturally reproducing. I feel that this is nature’s way of curbing the population, almost as if some of us are destined to reproduce and be members of society while homosexuals, be it lesbians or gays, are predisposed to be members of society and allow society to gain benefit, but without the population growth that inevitably follows straight people. Therefore I accept gay people and respect them for their contribution to society”

This statement seemed really convincing to me because it is a theory which seems to be correct. Although some homosexuals nowadays choose to have children through adoption, surrogate mothers and such, it is most likely that the majority of them do not want children purely for the fact that having them means having sex with the opposite sex.

One of my gay friends said that he was “born a woman in a mans body” so that could be another theory; a genetic mutation or some change during development which kept the emotional characteristics in the developing fetus but changed the physical aspect of it.

I could go on forever but I seem to have explained most of what’s on my mind. However I recognise that homosexuality is determined in the womb and nothing else. Although then you get your bisexuals who are probably just confused and turn out to be gay anyway. Well that’s my story. What do you think?