A review by morgan_blackledge
Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation by Simon LeVay
5.0
I conceptualize Human behavior as emerging from a confluence of biological, psychological and social factors.
As for the (tiered AF) nature v nurture debate.
I assume that nature (innate traits) writes the rough draft, and nurture (social and environmental factors) finishes the final edit.
Nature and nurture (a false dichotomy if ever there was one) feed back and forward upon one another and out pops everything Human.
When people debate between biological determinism and blank slate, contra-causal freedom I get crabby. It seems hopelessly last century.
Particularly when the subject becomes a political football.
The obvious examples that come to mind include the hideously inhuman eugenics movement of the early 20th century on the right, or the regressive and intellectually stultifying criticisms by factions on the 1960's era academic left of E. O. Wilsons writing on social biology i.e. evolutionary psychology in today's parlance.
Dude.
Trading out the lame AF nature v nurture (NvN) debate, for the LOVELY both nature and nurture (both/and) synthesis is one of my favorite things about this century.
That being said. Nothing resurrects the Spector of NvN like a reasonable, intelligent, systematic, naturalistic, adult conversation regarding the biological substrates of human sexuality.
Particularly sexual orientation.
On the left, you have people arguing that homosexuality is natural, but not biologically determined, because.....well I'm actually not sure why.
And on the right you have people arguing that homosexuality is against nature, and a lifestyle choice.
Umm no.
Not.
In Gay, Straight and the Reason Why, Simon LeVay offers a comprehensive, open minded overview of the current research on the biological, psychological and social determinants of human sexuality, gender identity and sexual orientation.
I love bio-psychology (an outdated term for what people are mostly calling neuroscience now-a-days).
Far from oppressive, I find biologically grounded explanations for human behavior to be normalizing and empowering.
And I LOVE the way LeVay putts Human sexuality on the slab for dissection. It's fun and it makes a lot of sense.
According to that one Darwin guy, animals (including us) evolved traits for survival and reproduction.
So I think it's at least a reasonable hypothesis that sexual orientation and gender expression are subject to those same biologically based evolutionary processes.
I'm not saying we're just bags of chemicals.
Wait....no actually, I am.
Anyway. I for the life of me can't even come close to fathoming why everyone isn't in 100% agreement that this is the fucking coolest subject in the world!!!!
Get this book. If you're feeling adventurous, and if you're into this sort of thing it's a very interesting and entertaining read.
As for the (tiered AF) nature v nurture debate.
I assume that nature (innate traits) writes the rough draft, and nurture (social and environmental factors) finishes the final edit.
Nature and nurture (a false dichotomy if ever there was one) feed back and forward upon one another and out pops everything Human.
When people debate between biological determinism and blank slate, contra-causal freedom I get crabby. It seems hopelessly last century.
Particularly when the subject becomes a political football.
The obvious examples that come to mind include the hideously inhuman eugenics movement of the early 20th century on the right, or the regressive and intellectually stultifying criticisms by factions on the 1960's era academic left of E. O. Wilsons writing on social biology i.e. evolutionary psychology in today's parlance.
Dude.
Trading out the lame AF nature v nurture (NvN) debate, for the LOVELY both nature and nurture (both/and) synthesis is one of my favorite things about this century.
That being said. Nothing resurrects the Spector of NvN like a reasonable, intelligent, systematic, naturalistic, adult conversation regarding the biological substrates of human sexuality.
Particularly sexual orientation.
On the left, you have people arguing that homosexuality is natural, but not biologically determined, because.....well I'm actually not sure why.
And on the right you have people arguing that homosexuality is against nature, and a lifestyle choice.
Umm no.
Not.
In Gay, Straight and the Reason Why, Simon LeVay offers a comprehensive, open minded overview of the current research on the biological, psychological and social determinants of human sexuality, gender identity and sexual orientation.
I love bio-psychology (an outdated term for what people are mostly calling neuroscience now-a-days).
Far from oppressive, I find biologically grounded explanations for human behavior to be normalizing and empowering.
And I LOVE the way LeVay putts Human sexuality on the slab for dissection. It's fun and it makes a lot of sense.
According to that one Darwin guy, animals (including us) evolved traits for survival and reproduction.
So I think it's at least a reasonable hypothesis that sexual orientation and gender expression are subject to those same biologically based evolutionary processes.
I'm not saying we're just bags of chemicals.
Wait....no actually, I am.
Anyway. I for the life of me can't even come close to fathoming why everyone isn't in 100% agreement that this is the fucking coolest subject in the world!!!!
Get this book. If you're feeling adventurous, and if you're into this sort of thing it's a very interesting and entertaining read.