yougov gay choice survey This was quite a shock to read but I'm not sure what the results actually show. At first I couldn't believe that so many people could think it's a choice to be gay so I started to question, why would they think that? Surely the real shocker here is that 1 in 3 Brits potentially believe that they chose their sexuality. Maybe this is an indication that a huge number of 'straight' people actually experience a significant amount of attraction for the same gender and then 'choose' to be straight rather than act on those feelings and choose the 'gay lifestyle'. I wish this type of survey would ask more telling questions i.e. "did you choose your own sexuality?" What are your thoughts?
Shocking and very interesting. I'm not sure what to make of it. The age range with the highest percentage believing it is a choice is the 50-64 year olds. I'm surprised it's not the over 65s tbh but maybe there's a good explanation?
No matter how many times I hear about this it always just makes me so frustrated. How do people think it's a choice? They sure don't think heterosexuality is a choice. Honestly, I'd love it if for a week we could switch roles and all hetero/cis people get asked constantly the same questions we endure. I feel as though it would really change people's viewpoints.
I think it's a combination of the lackluster education system, expectations of society, and the media. When we are younger we're programmed with what's around us. Most of us have straight parents and relatives. We grow up seeing straight people showing affection openly in public, on TV, in movies, etc. The birds and the bees talk is expected to be about a cis guy getting a cis girl pregnant. Later in life schools focus more on straight sex along with the biology of it. When you align with that mentality it just reaffirms you're correct. This is normal. You don't have to question your attractions or your gender because it all fits together perfectly with everything you've seen growing up and were taught. So when they see someone who's out of the norm their thought goes to "I don't find guys/girls attractive at all and they must think like me. We all grow up with what I'm doing which is normal. Why would they choose this?". My take on the reason why the older generation thinks it's a choice is because homosexuality was compared to pedophilia. It was never taught in schools or seen on TV. If was it was shown or talked about it was mainly in the context of it being a mental illness or sin. So naturally people would carry that mentality later on in life and deny modern facts. Many people in the older generation teach their kids their incorrect beliefs and further the cycle of ignorance. My parents taught me being gay was a wrong choice. My Dad would watch Jerry Springer and laugh when trans women were on. If something was bad it was called gay. So not only was it instilled in me to be the wrong choice, but I was encouraged to openly make fun of people for it. With the internet readily available people hopefully will educate themselves away from this archaic mindset; but back before the internet or in its infant times the only thing readily available was our parents and books. It's not an excuse for them or our generation to remain willingly ignorant, but it's my hypothesis as to why so many see it as a choice.
On the subject of choice vs born this way, I'm not even totally sure myself if it's 100% genetically determined, and I kinda doubt it is, but that's not me saying that A) it's nature, or B) it's nurture. Sometimes certain characteristics or traits get expressed as a result of X reaction on my part or my body's part to Y event. I get this comment isn't directly related to the article but it just prompted my thoughts.
