Short answer: No. Longer answer: This is a highly debated topic, but there's absolutely no credible evidence to indicate that sexual abuse or molestation can have any effect on sexual orientation, which is mostly hardwired. However, there's also no question that sexual abuse can cause a child to think about and consider his or her sexual attractions and orientation earlier in life than a child who has not been abused, and it is also possible for someone who is abused to have confusion about his or her attraction as a byproduct of the abuse. But the actual orientation is not affected, according to the most reliable studies out there. There are various bullshit studies promoted by the reparative therapy quacks and religious bigots that make these claims, but there's no credible evidence, and no reputable mental health professionals believe that sexual orientation can be changed, nor can someone be "made gay" as a result of abuse.
I personally believe that no it doesn't. I always thought that people that stated that being molested made a person gay to be a little bit ridiculous and an extra addition to try and make the individual in question have even more personal trauma (sexuality in any form is bound to be a lot worse after being molested) in their life.
I can see how being molested or raped can make the victim very aprehensive about being touched, and make that person try to avoid anything sexual, since it could bring back very bad memories and feelings. But to say that molestation makes people gay, I think, completely ignores the number of victims who are straight. I'll repeat what Chip said:
if that was true, the catholic church would be banning the priest who molest kids, instead of simply moving them from parish to parish without reprecussion.
/well i have seen cases where a woman was molested so said she switched to girls and later back to men. I think it doesnt change anybodys sexuality at all people just claim it does. Or they get angry at the sex that raped them so switch for reasons other than sexual attraction.
I'm going to take the less trodden route and say maybe. It's definitely not all genes. If it were, then identical twins would always have the same sexuality. At the same time, cases of newborn males reassigned as girls due to intersex genitals, who almost always developed an attraction to women at puberty, make a compelling case that something is programmed. If it were environmental, if it were anything to do with their childhood experiences, they should've been straight. They were raised as girls... so.... I don't know.
I don't know if it does or not, but i've seen many situations where a gay or lesbian person claims to have lost all attraction to the other sex after being raped/ molested as a child. i never have, thankfully, but i can see how it would make sense. other people just are who they are and haven't had anything traumatic happen to them.
Ok I am going to rant about this subject for a little while. First off I do not think anyone who has been molested is more likely to be gay than anyone who wasn't. This is a major pet peeve of mine when people assume this. I recently came out to my mother an one of the first things that came out of her mouth, I kid you not was, "Did something happen to you when you were younger. Did someone touch you?" I was about to lose it. NO MOM ALL GAY PEOPLE WERE NOT MOLESTED in childhood!!!! It pisses me off majorly. She can't seem to get the idea out of her head that it must have been one isolated occurrence where I was sexually abused ( that I don't even remember) that made me gay. She keeps asking me like she did today and it is REALLY starting to disturb me. I never was touched by anybody.:tantrum: Now all kids go through that curious stage where they play "doctor" with each other or whatever and I am sure that happened. I don't really remember it but that's not the same thing as sexual abuse. She is blowing it out of proportion and it is really making me uncomfortable. How do I make her stop? Honestly if being molested was a huge factor i turning gay we would have a whole lot more homosexuals than we do now. I mean it's like 1in 3 women and 1in 6 men will be assaulted in their lifetime. Definitely not that many gays.
i was told my cousin was intersexed, and they chose to make her female. she has had 3 husbands and about 8 kids. she is very bossy, and wants money, and has no signs of masculine except maybe being bold with her mouth to get what she wants, not a nice person but very female and very straight. another cousin started acting very strange after a trip overseas, and within a few years we found out he was now gay. but the family hid this from us until his death. they said grandma would not love him if he came out to her, so he never did. grandma was pissed. she said she loved him cuz he's her grandson, and besides me only one who ever took her places or cared. then there is me. :/ i was not raped as a child or teen. i did have a lot of physical and emotional abuse at school and church and daycare. my friend who was 4 showed me how to have sex when i was 5, with panties on, not really doing it, just faking. i did that with boys and girls for years, and later came up with better more intimate things by preteens, when i began to imagine kissing girls as a boy. i was told that all gays were raped as a child or teen. this was also imaged in my head from my gay cousin. this is why i always pitied gays, as i felt deep sorrow that every single one of them were molested and are victims of sexual perverts destroying their lives. if this is not true for gays here, i want to know it! i realllllllly want proof that you were never hurt, cuz if it is truth that some people are not raped and become a part of gay life as an adult, i will feel better. it has made me feel so sad in past every time somebody said they were gay, or they knew a kid who is gay, i would tell them they were abused. i have no idea if my physical abuses or verbal bullying caused my condition, if it is genetic, or a birth defect, or free choice, or mental illness, or what!
I never had traumatic experiences of any kind. My parents were awesome. My childhood was pretty good. I got bullied a bit, but so did everyone else. Nothing unusual to complain about. I have a grandfather on my mother's side who might have the same thing I do. He's a crossdresser. I don't know about his sexual history but it's very possible that he's bi. He managed to stay with my grandmother for 50 years, but he was in the military... stuff happens in the military, y'know. He wasn't a great dad unfortunately; I'm told he was abusive towards one of my aunts. Not sexually but verbally/physically. She seems to be asexual. She's in her 50s, and to the best of our knowledge has never dated and never had much interest in it. She had kids through in vitro, raised them as a single mother. No desire for sex. Could it have been the abuse? Possibly. Could it have been something genetic, something related to what my grandfather and I have? Possibly. It's difficult to say, but I think that if fluid sexuality is something that runs in our family, then life events CAN influence us, at least.
