» Sexuality » Gays, lesbians, straights - what is sexual orientation and can it be predicted?

Gays, lesbians, straights - what is sexual orientation and can it be predicted?

Gay, lesbian or straight? Often we do not immediately know the orientation of the person with whom we stopped. Some people believe that orientation can be determined from the eyes by looking at the movements of the pupils. And although homosexuality is not a disease, there are often factors that influence people's orientation.

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1. Who is a homosexual

A homosexual is someone who is physically and mentally attracted to members of the same sex. This means that men fall in love with other men and connect their future with them, and women connect with other women in the same way.

It is worth remembering that homosexuality is not a disease and it is not entirely correct to identify its causes. It is believed that we are born with a certain predisposition to homosexual behavior, but in fact this is not fully understood.

Some scientists believe that genes or hormones that influence the development of the fetus during pregnancy are responsible for sexual orientation. Other researchers argue that gay, lesbian, or straight individuals acquire their orientation as a result of social and environmental factors.

2. Research on sexual orientation

Research Search reasons for the formation of sexual orientation many. Depending on who performs them and what research methods have been adopted, the results obtained vary greatly.

However, most scientists agree with the theory that a person is already born with an established and unchanging sexual orientation. This means that gays, lesbians and heterosexuals are born with their own sexual orientation and do not have much influence on it. Sexual orientation - being gay is not a disease. Just like it's not a disease that someone is straight.

3. Do you see homosexuality in your eyes?

Scientists from Cornell University conducted an experiment in which they showed nude photos of women and men of the study group. They examined pupil dilation at the sight of a naked body.

Straight men's pupils only dilated when they saw images of naked women, while gay men's pupils dilated when they looked at erotic images of men. The scientists obtained the most interesting results when examining women. In the same way that gay men reacted to pictures of men, women reacted by dilating their pupils after being shown pictures of naked men and pictures of naked women. However, it is not sign of bisexuality.

A similar study has been done previously. Dr. Gerulf Rieger from the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex studied a group of 345 women who were also shown erotic pictures both ladies and men.

During the experiment, eye movements and physiological reactions of the body were observed. Before the study, 72 percent. women claimed to be heterosexual, but the results showed otherwise. 82 percent of respondents reacted strongly to viewing photos of both genders.

3.1. Conclusions from the experiment

The reasons for this reflex are not fully known. Some psychologists suggest that this is the result of the evolutionary adaptation of women who have been raped and sexually abused in the past. The excitement that led to moisturizing the genitalswas supposed to protect them from injury.

Others, such as one study author Dr. Rieger, argue that: "Men are simple, but women's sexual responses remain a mystery to us."

Therefore, it is not completely known why women are equally interested in both men and women, while declaring a typical lesbian or heterosexual orientation. With men, the situation is more clear. A gay man is more interested in the male sex, while a heterosexual is only interested in the female.

It is difficult to say whether the conclusions drawn from the cited studies are valid or not. In one case, there is no set number of people tested. Secondly, the number of women participating in the experiment is small enough to make conclusions about all the fair sex.

However, experiments show how difficult it is to hide the reactions of your body. So you can go even further and hypothesize that a gay, lesbian or straight person can be recognized by the reaction of his eyes, his body. There are things that simply cannot be hidden.

Recommended by our experts

It is also true that gays and lesbians are still considered sexual minorities. Few people, and perhaps more and more these days, understand that sexual orientation can be independent of ourselves.

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