by Stephen Asma - October 30, 2011
Excerpt:
…The solution is not to argue that there is no such thing as "male/female" or "normal/abnormal" or "typical/atypical." Instead of arguing that nothing is normal and we're just making it all up, we should learn how to celebrate diversity and uniqueness for what it is. People who do not fit into traditional gender or sex categories should be able to say, I'm different, and different is great. There are ordinary sex categories, but we should celebrate the extra-ordinary. In that way, we don't have to dismiss reality just to make sure people are treated with respect.
Tolerance is premised not on a denial of reality, but on a better interpretation of the facts. Perhaps we should start to adopt Panksepp's suggestion of four categories or combinations of male/female traits—which are based on brain/body configurations—and merge those with Fausto-Sterling's original genitalia-based five sexes. In any case, we should not follow the foes of biology. We should probably retain the useful distinction of sex and gender, and accept that biology gives us significant access to human nature and even male and female natures—but also that gender studies gives us understanding of the rich diversity inside those malleable natures.
Thankfully, increasing numbers of humanities scholars—ignoring Louis Menand's warning—are slowly getting over biophobia. What's needed, however, is a smart fusion, not just any fusion (see the often dumb reductionism of both evolutionary psychology and literary Darwinism). Academics might follow the clearheaded analysis of Natasha Vargas-Cooper's recent Atlantic article, "Hard Core: The New World of Porn Is Revealing Eternal Truths About Men and Women" (Jan./Feb. 2011). Vargas-Cooper, who calls egalitarianism about sex/gender an "intellectual swindle," may get some things wrong, but at least she is trying to understand the biological roots that feed the cultural fruits.
Evelyn Fox Keller, who spent her earlier career disentangling gender from sex, may now be showing us the way forward by re-entangling them. In her recent book The Mirage of a Space Between Nature and Nurture (Duke University Press, 2010), she emphasizes the plastic relationship between genes and environment, and tries to counteract our tendency to privilege one cause over another by emphasizing "developmental pathways" rather than just bottom-up (molecular) explanations or top-down (structural) explanations. Regarding the sex/gender issue,
then, we should be asking, among other things: Which traits are malleable, and to what degree? The answers will come from a prudent marriage of biocultural analysis, because developmental pathways don't recognize academic divisions.
Stephen T. Asma is a professor of philosophy and a fellow of the Research Group in Mind, Science, and Culture at Columbia College Chicago. His latest book is Why I Am a Buddhist (Hampton Roads, 2010). His book On Monsters: an Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears has just been released in paperback by Oxford University Press
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Against nature? Homosexuality and evolution
Video Lecture - Thursday 17 November 2011
Same-sex sexual behaviour is often condemned on the grounds that it is "against nature". Indeed, biology tells us that selection favours those who leave more offspring. But then, homosexual behaviour is widespread - not only amongst humans, but other animals alike, be they flamingos, gorillas, dolphins or bisons. Doesn't this constitute a paradox for Darwinian Theory? And is there a connection between what goes on in nature and what is morally desirable? This talk addresses these controversial topics.
Professor Volker Sommer (UCL Anthropology) Thursday 17 November 2011
University College London
View video:
Psychology Concepts
Is the Development of a Persons Sexual Orientation Based on Biological (Natural) Factors or the Environment (Nurture)?
Ron Sheese, York University, Toronto – 2012
Bibliography & Related VIDEOS
Excerpt:
Introduction
The concept of human development is one which is surrounded by controversy and which has been discussed in great magnitude within the field of psychology. However, despite such immense focus on human development in particular, along with innumerable amounts of research and experiments conducted, a conclusion has yet to be reached by the psychology community as a whole. The question at hand is seemingly simple at first glance, that is, whether certain human characteristics and traits are based on our genetic make-up (nature) or the environment in which we are raised (nurture). However simple this question may appear, its complexity and complicated nature are revealed once one submerges themselves into the research and evidence in support or against either the nature or nurture concept. Our group decided to research the question of whether or not ones sexual orientation is based on biological or environmental factors, thus paralleling the debate of nature vs. nurture debate. We will discuss four aspects within the debate with regards to sexual orientation including: Nature support, against nature, nurture support and against nurture. By doing this, we will be able to present the many ideas and beliefs surrounding this topic in a simple and succinct manner.
Read complete research data – view videos:
and
Conclusion:
In conclusion it becomes apparent exactly why, figuratively speaking, there hasn't been a chosen winner in this debate. Each aspect, whether for or against nature or nurture, presents a great amount of valid research and experimentation. In fact, the amount of research and experimentation dedicated to proving or disproving one side of the debate or the other has actually done more to prove that the two are inextricably linked to one another, and that they are both incredibly important to the development of a persons sexuality, specifically their sexual orientation. Both biological and environmental factors shape many aspects of a humans personality.
National Geographic explains the biology of homosexuality – Video
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and
Bibliography & Related VIDEOS
By Ron Sheese - York University, Toronto
For further descriptions – projects & current work:
True Nature: A Theory of Human Sexual Evolution
by Christopher Gomes 2000 - Journal of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, Vol.4, No. 1
Abstract
There exists an unfounded and unproven ‘common sense’ belief that human beings possess the innate mechanistic urge to reproduce clearly evident in the behavior of all other sexually reproducing animals. As such, the heterosexual component of human behavior is by and large viewed as being genetic, whereas it is homosexuality that is primarily the focus of scientific investigations into human sexual orientation. A historical review of homosexuality in diverse cultures reveals that significantly many cultures have existed where (male) bisexuality has been rather universal and that all cultures have condemned exclusive homosexuality, either legally or with the threat of social rejection. Neither of these facts can be rationalized using the ballpark ‘10%’ statistic for homosexuality believed to be representative of human beings. This paper will attempt to provide a general underlying explanation for human sexuality as a whole. It will be argued that the varied forms of human sexual expression may be explained to some extent with the view that by virtue of their supreme intelligence, human beings do not possess an instinct to engage in heterosexual intercourse, human sexual orientation is fully determined by environment alone, and that due to rather universal childhood behavioral tendencies, human beings have a bias for acquiring a homosexual orientation over a heterosexual one or a bisexual one. Controlling this dominant homosexual tendency has always been a basic requirement for the propagation of societies.
Homosexuality - A New Theory – Website
Christopher Gomes
The theory of human sexual evolution appearing on this website was first published in two installments in the Journal of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association in spring and summer 2000 (True Nature – A Theory Of Human Sexual Evolution, C. Gomes, JGLMA Vol.4, No.1 and JGLMA Vol.4, No.2.
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UK - Churches' hostility to GAY MARRIAGE only underlines their impotence - by Ian Birrell - Thursday 27 December 2012
"I Hate You Then I Love You" … Gay? - J. EDGAR HOOVER and BENEDICT XVI - Homophobic Men - a "tragic story...about HOW DANGEROUS SEXUAL REPRESSION IS." 12/09/12
Gay Marriage ILLINOIS – President OBAMA - believes in treating EVERYONE fairly and equally, with dignity and respect - …it's wrong to prevent couples who are in LOVING, committed relationships, and want to marry, from doing so. | FREEDOM - This is the United States of America – 12/30/12
Gay Marriage - Benedict XVI’s Christmas Address - Not preaching social justice - same-sex marriage in civil law | Construct "human nature" just out-dated? | Each human person is so unique that there are virtually as many human natures as there are human persons? - By Professor Thomas Farrell - 12/21/12
Gay Marriage – Benedict XVI Antigay Christmas Statements – DISMISSES SCIENCE – Renders - NATURAL LAW - "NONSENSE UPON STILTS" --- Kids Are Being Hurt!!! – 12/27/12
The Pope's Christmas Condemnation of Transsexuals – 12/23/08
Pontiff equates GENDER THEORIES with threat to rainforests – 12/23/08
AUSCHWITZ -- CHRISTMAS 2008 -- A flashback far more severe than in --- BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN – December 26, 2008 – by Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Benedict XVI - Vatican out of step on gay rights, says Tony Blair – 4/4/09
Last year, Pope Benedict XVI sparked fury in the gay community when he suggested that homosexuality was as big a threat to humankind as the destruction of the rainforests.
Blair, who converted to Catholicism after leaving Downing Street in 2007, said that views on homosexuality had to keep "evolving".
"There is a huge generational difference here. There's probably that same fear amongst religious leaders that if you concede ground on [homosexuality], because attitudes and thinking evolve over time, where does that end? You'd start having to rethink many, many things."
He added: "If you went and asked the [ordinary Catholic] congregation, I think you'd find that their faith is not to be found in those types of entrenched attitudes." Photo
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A [gay] year to remember – 12/30/12
There’s no denying that 2012 was a revolutionary year for LGBT people across America. Evolving public opinion brought about real social progress — more has changed in the past 12 months than in the entire decade of the ’90s. Now that the world hasn’t ended, it’s a good time to look back at an amazing year, and look forward to an even better 2013.
The year started as the first to allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. armed forces. Shortly after, a gay solider was booed at a GOP presidential debate for asking why the candidates would overturn the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Instead of creating opposition to gays in uniform, the event was viewed by most as a key sign that the Republican base had gotten too extreme and out of touch.
The year saw not only progress, but setbacks as well. On May 8, voters in North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. The debate wasn’t over, though. The next day, Barack Obama became the first sitting president in U.S. history to endorse same-sex marriage. While mostly symbolic, the gesture gave a huge PR boost to LGBT equality and caused no public backlash against the president…
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"I Hate You Then I Love You" … Gay? - J. EDGAR HOOVER and BENEDICT XVI - Homophobic Men - a "tragic story...about HOW DANGEROUS SEXUAL REPRESSION IS." 12/09/12
J.K. Rowling – “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination”
Excerpt:
…One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working at the African research department at Amnesty International’s headquarters in London.
There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to Amnesty by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony of torture victims and saw pictures of their injuries. I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes…
…Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power. I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard, and read…
…Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s places…
And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.
…I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.
What is more, those who choose not to empathise enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy…
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Luke 16:23-26
The Rich Man and Lazarus
There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' Photo
But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'
He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'
Gay Marriage & Benedict XVI Mirroring – “Hitler Youth” supporting Nazis Brutal RE-EDUCATION of Homosexuals | 1997 Orders RE-EDUCATION for Gay Priest, Fr. Marty Kurylowicz’s Public “Coming Out” for Protection of Gay Children |---No USA Civil Laws to Protect Gay Catholic Priest or Children – 9/15/12
PRESIDENT OBAMA‘S letter – August 2012 - Appreciate Perspective on Gay (LGBT) Rights of Fr. Marty Steven Kurylowicz - LGBT Rights Begins with CHILDREN | VATICAN CRACKDOWN – August 2012 - Gay Catholic Priest - Fr. Marty Kurylowicz “Coming Out” 1997 for “Protection of CHILDREN from Antigay Social & Religious Norms - 10/10/12
Developmental Narratives Growing Up Gay - Overview - Fr. Marty Kurylowicz - November 16, 2008
Perpetuation of Generational Violence On Children -- Who Grow Up to Be Gay - Kids Are Being Hurt!!! – December 19, 2008
Homosexuality: Coming out of the confusion, by Sidney H. Phillips, M.D. – December 8, 2008
Ecclesiastes 1:5 (New International Version)
5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
Ecclesiastes 1:5 (New American Standard Bible)
5 Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again.
1 Chronicles 16:30 (New International Version)
30 Tremble before him, all the earth!
The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
1 Chronicles 16:30 (New American Standard Bible)
30 Tremble before Him, all the earth; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.
Psalm 93:1 (New International Version)
1 The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty;
the LORD is robed in majesty
and is armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
Psalm 93:1 (New American Standard Bible)
1 The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The LORD has clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.
Psalm 96:10 (New International Version)
10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns."
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
Psalm 96:10 (New American Standard Bible)
10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity."
Psalm 104:5 (New International Version)
5 He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.
Psalm 104:5 (New American Standard Bible)
5 He established the earth upon its foundations, So that it will not totter forever and ever.
Injustice anywhere is a
threat to
Justice everywhere
Martin Luther King
The Nobel Peace Prize 1964
Martin Luther King Jr.
What you cannot do is accept injustice.
From Hitler – or anyone.
You must make the injustice visible
– be prepared to die like a
soldier to do so.
Mahatma Gandhi
Kids Are Being Hurt!!!
“Someday, maybe, there will exist a well-informed, well considered and yet fervent public conviction that the most deadly of all possible sins is the mutilation of a child’s spirit.”
…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6
Important note: No disrespect meant to Pope Benedict XVI or the hierarchy, the one and only concern is the safety and well-being of children.
Kids Are Being Hurt!!!
