Dank, the first article I posted was a year old and not the recent study. The new one does, however, include females and they are fully matured sperm. I will find the link tomorrow. Gotta make happy hour!
But as Moegreche said, I think your definition of natural is skewed.
Physically, it may not seem that way. But there is homosexuality in animals as well, that is just as natural to them as anything else. And although we may be more advanced in some ways (not always in others), we are still animals. In fact it may be part of our instincts not to discriminate between how we feel about males and females. How it is viewed today could just be a skewed representation of what WE think nature should be. Not what it really is.
I've never actually seen homosexual behavior in animals of any kind. I would, however, like to hear a specific example or an article or something if you can post a link to one. I do also find that instances of parthenogenesis and spontaneous gender change in certain animals are very interesting, though they don't really have anything to do with homosexuality.
All you have to do is Google it, its all over the place. I tried to find examples of the more scientific and reputable sites, but there is a lot more information out there:
I am also reading a book right now called "Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation: The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex", by Olivia Judson. It also has examples of different species behaviors and adaptations. Homosexuality in different species is one of the topics that she addresses.
If you are interested in any reading on the subject, I highly recommend that book. It goes through different biological adaptations and behaviors or all kinds of species. It goes into why different species would practice homosexual behaviors when it cannot lead to reproduction.
It is a very interesting read. If you are interested in biology, evolution, or even better: evolutionary biology, it is a good read.
Thank you for the links, Carlie. Yes, that article on the Medical News site had a few grammatical errors that made it look a bit unprofessional, but I suppose the premise was good. So at times, with animals the behavior is to define the "chain of command," so to speak. I don't see it as a way to express dominance among humans much, but there are reasons for that, I'm sure. I hope you won't mind me dragging God into the issue once more, but the thought I just had is that perhaps God dislikes homosexuality among humans (as Christians would believe) because He considers it an animalistic behavior and wants humans to be different from the other animals. Just a thought.
Using that explanation, Bloody, seems to be an attempt to explain away the facts...make the facts fit the theory, so to speak, rather than the theory fit the facts.
The facts are that many animals exhibit homosexual behavior, and it is often simply for enjoyment. There have even been studies that have shown animals preferring a homosexual bond instead of a heterosexual one.
I was searching for more information on the topic when I crossed an article titled 'The Animal Homosexuality Myth'. Curious, I went to it. It was hosted by a site called NARTH. Ever heard of it? First I was shocked by the website title, but wanted to see what they had to disprove homosexuality as natural. The arguments are way off, the results are skewed, and the premise for it all is nauseating. This website actually made me feel sick.
Great articles, Carlie! I really enjoyed those. So, I can give personal experience here. What feels natural is subjective to each person. Someone else cannot tell me what feels right for me. I know that being with a male feels extremely unnatural for me, it is unenjoyable.
everbody look...god made people and he probably had plans on how people would be so he must of planned on some people being gay so why would they go to hell...im sure god make people just so they can go straight to hell...people who think being gay is a sin think about that
But we still are animals. And even though I am sure a lot of you people want to believe we really are so far distanced from the rest of the animal kingdom...Well guess what? We are not. The only reason we even bother to think about homosexuality is because...well..we can think. Do you think penguins really care about it? No, so why should we.
We like to think we're special. We like to think we're better than the rest of the animal kingdom and that somehow we have a divine purpose or mandate given from above.
We're not and we don't.
We're the next step on the evolutionary chain, that's it. Eventually we'll be looked back upon as a common ancestor for other species - barring our own self-extinction, that is.
