Volume 12 - 2021​
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Nature and Nurture: Proposing a Reconciliation, pages 41-47
DOI:
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AUTHOR
Flavio Junior, Ph.D., Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of São Paulo, Brazil
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ABSTRACT
This article addresses an historically controversial topic: the question of whether the same-sex attraction (SSA) in men is innate or acquired. Several studies in the field of genetics have shown that there is a possible genetic influence on SSA. On the other hand, psychology debated contributions from psychoanalysis on this subject, such as the perspective of the absent, abusive father as well as traumas caused by other members of the same gender leading to defensive detachment. Presently, there appears to be a consensus that same-sex sexuality develops from both biological and environmental influences. But how? In this article, I posite a possible route for such interaction. I raise the hypothesis that biological factors involved in the homosexual tendency would manifest themselves in the high sensitivity of some children, since this trait would predispose boys to defensive detachment as well as to gender wounds caused by other men. This hypothesis suggests a possible way to integrate the various published studies which show that the causes of the origin of SSA in men could be both genetic and environmental.
Keywords: homosexuality, biology, psychology, sensitivity, conciliation
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