How you become gay
by Fred Penzel, PhD
This article was initially published in the Winter edition of the OCD Newsletter.
OCD, as we recognize, is largely about experiencing severe and unrelenting doubt. It can cause you to doubt even the most basic things about yourself – even your sexual orientation. A study published in the Journal of Sex Research set up that among a group of college students, 84% reported the occurrence of sexual intrusive thoughts (Byers, et al. ). In direct to have doubts about one’s sexual identity, a sufferer need not ever have had a homo- or heterosexual experience, or any type of sexual experience at all. I have observed this symptom in young children, adolescents, and adults as adv. Interestingly Swedo, et al., , start that approximately 4% of children with OCD experience obsessions concerned with forbidden aggressive or perverse sexual thoughts.
Although doubts about one’s control sexual identity might seem pretty straightforward as a symptom, there are actually a number of variations. The most obvious form is where a sufferer experiences the mind that they mig
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How to be gay in 10 easy steps
The other day when I tweeted my distaste for the latest Kylie Minogue unattached (a form of sacrilege in some circles) one of my followers replied with one of my least favorite phrases: "We're going to revoke your queer card." Not only is this trite rejoinder (thanks to Ellen DeGeneres, we've been joking about earning toasters for nearly 15 years now) but it maintains the illusion that one must like certain things in direct to be gay.
There's no such thing as a gay monolith. There are as many ways to be gay as there are colors in the rainbow (now who is being simple and glib?). Dishing out queer cards is like telling people they aren't allowed to be gay because they haven't seen the requisite number of Glee episodes.
But, then again, maybe they gay community needs some sort of shared experience – outside of the experience of falling in love with a member of the same sex – to bring us together. Gay men and women don't share a place of origin, skin dye, socio-economic class, religion, or anything else that would typify
Why Are People Gay? Queer By Choice or Is Being Gay Genetic?
Estimates as to the number of gay people in the population range from 1-in to 1-in, so why are some people gay? Are they gay by choice or is existence gay genetic?
The simplest reply is to look at the definition of the word "gay." The designation gay is a synonym for homosexual, which is defined as,1,2
"Of, pertaining to, or exhibiting sexual need or behavior directed toward a person or persons of one's own sex."
In other words, % of people experience same-sex sexual attraction or behavior; of course, this doesn't communicate to what makes people gay. No one knows for certain why any individual is gay, but the current thought is that being gay is not a choice. (read: Cure the Gay: Queer Conversion Therapy – Genuine or Hoax?) The reasons people are gay are both physiological and psychological.
Why Are People Gay? – Physiology
Modern science is operational to show that genetics is one of the causes of being homosexual, although some science conflicts in this area. According to Psychology Today,3
"In recent years, evidence has accumulated