Armor Games

...I can't be bothered deleting all the inappropriate flaming, but I took a note of the incriminating posts. Any more like that and I'll start banning, kthnx.

I'm not sure brain damage can turn you gay, but I have a hard time swallowing that "you're born with it." It seems a lot like a copout from the real issue.

That statement probably requires dissection. Since the homosexuality thread seems to have sunk a few pages back (surprisingly), I'll deal with it here.

I am also skeptical of the "you're born with it", to the extent that I'm skeptical of certain uses of the statement "God created everything" (seeing as I'm non-theist agnostic). That is to say that in some way or another both could be construed to be true but in what sense, if any, is this actually meaningful?

I have an answer for the former, at least. "You're born with it" most properly refers to arguments that support the existence of a hardwired sexual orientation. Proving such a thing is difficult obviously because the only real indicators of sexual orientation is sexual behavior, and behavior itself is influenced by a plethora of factors.

Nonetheless I'm of the belief that there is some use for believing that to some extent (or a variable extent), individuals are predisposed to their own sexual behaviors, just as they are predisposed to other behaviors. There is no fundamental/taxonomical difference between 'sexual' behavior and other 'social' behaviors. The only reason people make such a big deal of it is due to the cultural significance of sex.

Which is where the "you're born with it" starts to become a copout: in the political arena. "You're born with it" is frequently used as a catch-all, the bottom line of many an argument in which constructive "fact-bashing" has ground to a halt. It is also used to preempt such arguments by conclusively asserting that there is nothing you can do otherwise...or rather there is nothing you can do to persuade the person to engage any points to the contrary.

That's not good argumentation and like saying "GOD CREATED EVERYTHING THEREFORE EVOLUTION IS A CROCK", it just leaves so much out. That's why to me it's a copout from the real issues, because it precludes discussion of such.

I have no idea whether brain damage can change your sexual orientation per se. I have however seen how sexual behavior changes in certain cases of brain damage, in particular frontal lobe lesions.

For what it's worth I can trace my psychosexual roots a long way back and they've stayed pretty consistent despite my self-beliefs and perceived orientation changing. Perhaps it is fair to say that I was "born" with something, but retrospective analysis is always limited.

Issues, what kind of people does Strop hang out with??? Creepy...

First as Zophia said, I was speaking English. I'd go so far to say that it was perfect English insofar as I made no grammatical or spelling errors.

People who tell me to 'speak English' can expect to get e-backhanded because for one it's rude, and for another I don't speak any other language except a smattering of French.

Also you'll eventually learn that the world is full of all sorts and not every single one of them are creepy. At least I hope so.

if a female was abused by a male relative, it's common for some to become lesbian

I think it would make more sense to say first that they would attempt to behave as a lesbian. Also I don't think it's at all that simple.

The same applies, for example, to those who repress their homosexuality having been sent to a "Jesus camp" specifically for that purpose.

As to whether this is successful will only become apparent in the fullness of time, on a case-by-case basis. Some people die repressed, others never quite figure themselves out.

Overall, I also don't think it is very useful to treat "gay" and "lesbian" as things people can be so much as modes of behavior they can demonstrate. Getting caught up in the whole "what is being" is a tricky trap to free yourself from.

What exactly does this mean? I have a friend who's agnostic

Hmmm...off-topic but seeing as you asked so nicely I'll answer anyway :D

"Agnostic" is the umbrella term meaning "don't know". This can mean a range of things, but either way one isn't committed to the idea that there is, or isn't a God. There are two broad categories: the ones who simply haven't decided, and the ones who say that by principle it is impossible to "know" for some reason or another.

When I say I'm non-theist agnostic, it means I'm the latter. I treat the principles of skepticism and the deeper questions of "justified belief" and "knowledge" seriously, and so if I will claim to know something, it is that one "can not know" of the existence of God.

Politically speaking agnostics are a group quite separate from the atheists. Their stance purports to be more neutral, and in some cases, more rigorous.

lol

Guys, that is like, totally off-topic and stuff...and I think this time I'm going to need to delete a whole page of posts...

I'll do it later. Back to the thread:

I don't like the "I was born a girl in a guy's body" thing

This is quite legitimate- known as gender non-conformism or the psychological state of being transgendered. Not to be confused with intersex conditions, which is physical.