Natural Rights

1Samuel8 · #1 12-31-2008, 11:48 AM

Farren,
That extensive quote you included up above can be interpreted in more than one way. Those researchers provided their interpretation of the information they collected but theirs is not the only plausible explanation. It is still plausible to say that those men were originally partly homosexual.

I think I have only two useful objections about the research that you quoted.

1) The distinction between "consensual and non-consensual sex" in prison is pretty phoney. The concept of "consent" is meaningless when it comes to anything a person does in prison -- excluding the warden and the guards who are there out of their own free will.

How a person behaves sexually is just a sub-set of his best ability to survive being in prison. So, when a person "choses" to dominate or becomes dominated in these prison relationships, we are being very blind by just looking at the sex.

2) All of that research data seems to hinge on people saying things. For instance, the researcher asks a prisoner and the prisoner tells him whether he is gay or not. That is not convincing evidence, in my opinion, because it does not distinguish whether a person is lying or not. Furthermore, it assumes that the object of the research is unbiased and even has the capacity to know the truth.

So, I will repeat: the only thing that an outsider can verify is what a person does. Even though I truly believe that sexual orientation means more than what a person does, there is nothing that can scientifically observe that.

beyelzu · #2 01-01-2009, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1Samuel8

So, I will repeat: the only thing that an outsider can verify is what a person does. Even though I truly believe that sexual orientation means more than what a person does, there is nothing that can scientifically observe that.

Bullshit. We can verify all sorts of interesting things that aren't actions. Brain chemistry changes, other physiological changes. Even if one argues that what a person thinks they feel is somehow not what they actually feel. The self reporting should at least be able to get at what they think they feel.