Human Sexuality (Essay Sample)

Title: Human Sexuality
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Introduction
Human sexuality refers to the way people express themselves in a sexually. In this essay, I seek to relate the Darwinian evolutionary changes to the current changes in human sexuality. I will also discuss the roles played by genetics, culture and human experiences in influencing the development of sexuality.
Human Sexuality
Sexuality is classified into heterosexuals; they are attracted to the opposite sex. Homosexuals; they are attracted to the same sex. Bisexuals; they are attracted to both sexes; Asexual people are attracted to no sex. Asexual behavior has not been explored to deeper lengths, but it is associated with psychopathology. A celibate individual is totally different from an asexual person as the celibate person has a sexual orientation but chooses to not indulge in it, (Kleinplatz, 1996). In cases where a person is comfortable with their asexual nature, they will rarely seek psychological help. Heterosexuals are the majority in the world, while the homosexuals and the bisexuals make a small percentage.
Homosexuality can be classified under the following groups; situational, compulsive and institutionalized. In situational homosexuality, an individual who was originally not a homosexual becomes one as a result of being in an environment where there is no access to the opposite gender. An example of such a situation is boarding schools, detention camps and army barracks among others.
Compulsive homosexuality arises as a result of coercion. The affected individual does not have the choice of not being a homosexual. In such cases, homosexuality is embedded in the mind of the unwilling partner, either by persuasion or force. This occurs mainly in prisons.
In institutionalized homosexuality, an individual has naturally imbibed sexual orientation. Their sexuality is instinctive, and in certain cases, it is genetic. It is institutionalized because it is practiced in secret as the person concerned is ashamed of their behavior.
Certain types of sexual orientations are considered repugnant in the society. They are called perversions. There are many kinds of perversion for instance pedophilia, zoophiles, necrophilia, and asphyxophilia. In pedophilia, the individual associates children with sexuality. They are likely to abuse children sexually. The pedophile feels that they want to protect the child, but in many cases, they abuse the child sexually. Zoophiles, on the other hand, are people who practice bestiality. Thirdly, necrophilia is a state where a person has sexual relations with dead people. Asphyxophilia is a risky sexual indulgence where a person reaches gratification as they are being chocked (Kleinplatz, 1996).
Other disputed sexual behaviors are the frottage. They are transvertism; a case of perversion where an individual derives pleasure from attire that is associated with attire from the opposite sex. In the extreme cases, they dress up completely as the opposite sex. The most common case is where they dress in the attire for the opposite sex as underclothes. Another case of frottage is masochism, where a person derives sexual gratification from extreme pain. In such relations, there is a dominant partner who dictates the role playing, and a submissive partner.
Causes of homosexuality; are inheritance, counter-socialism, economic gain, career, rebellion, gender bashing, curiosity, failure and exposure.
Counter socialism is where a person is put in a situation where homosexuality prevails and they adopt homosexuality as a means of fitting in or under coercion. This has been noted in schools and camps where statistics show that homosexuality is practiced. Homosexuality has always been portrayed as behavior for the rich. In some cases, a person may take up the behavior as a way of earning a living.
Certain careers promote homosexuality because the people in those careers are not allowed to enter into relationships with the other sex. A good example is priesthood. During teenage years, an adolescent will take up the behavior so as to show disrespect for the guardians. Some teenagers experiment with their sexuality.
Human genetics play a major role in the determination of a person’s sexuality. Charles Darwin postulated that natural selection would serve to eliminate those factors that reduce the productivity of a person in terms of propagation of species. This was thought so because homosexuals reproduce less than heterosexuals, and so they would have no species propagation. This, however, did not turn out to be the case as the homosexual people did not diminish, they increased instead. This increased the speculation on the origin of the homosexuals. It was found out that the productivity of females from a homosexual family was more than from the paternal side. This showed that females belonging to a family of homosexuals produced more homosexuals as compared to their male counterparts. This led to the hypothesis that the sexuality of a homosexual is determined by the x-chromosome. In females, this gene trait in the x-chromosome increases their fecundity while, in males, it increases their chances of becoming a homosexual. This provided an answer to the reason why natural selection did not get rid of the homosexuals. A study was conducted on a sample of two fifty males, among whom one hundred and fifty two were homosexuals. “We observed a significant fecundity increase even in primiparous mothers, which was not evident in the previous study. No evidence of increased paternal fecundity was found; thus our data confirmed a sexuality antagonistic inheritance partly linked to the x-chromosome that promotes fecundity in females and a homosexual sexual orientation in males” (Lemmola & Camperio, 2007).
Homosexuality has been proven to be a familial trait. Currently, research has shown evidence that homosexuality among brothers and monozygotic twins are more likely when there are homosexuals in the family tree. Homosexuals with a genetic linkage found that homosexuality is seen more along the maternal line. There has been a tentative postulation that the homosexual gene is found on the x-chromosome at the q28 region. (Lemmola & Camperio, 2007).
A recent study showed that females in the families of homosexuals are more productive than their counterparts from heterosexual family lines, “they produced approximately 33% more offspring”, (Lemmola & Camperio, 2007). The Darwinian Theory suggested that survival was for the fittest and the less disadvantaged; nature would select them and eliminate them. In the case of homosexuals, the advantage they have is the increased fecundity females from such family lines. They, therefore, ensure that homosexuals are not wiped out. Studies have shown that homosexual families are larger than the heterosexual families. The studies go on to show that homosexuals have been reported to have more siblings than the heterosexual people.
In the study conducted on two hundred and fifty men of whom only ninety eight were heterosexuals, it was found out that the homosexuals got married less, ninety percent of them were not married as compared to the heterosexuals whom fifty eight percent of them were married. The study also showed that homosexuals are less productive as they were documented to have sired only twenty percent what the heterosexuals had. The homosexuals are, therefore, less productive in terms of marriage and reproduction (Lemmola & Camperio, 2007).
The study showed that the fecundity of first-line relatives along the maternal line had increased fecundity among the homosexuals as compared to the heterosexuals. The paternal line differences between the two sexualities were found to be insignificant. This contradicted a previous study by Kinger et al. He had documented that fecundity was irrelevant whether maternal or paternal in the explanation of the large families’ homosexuals have. In their research, Kinger et al. had also stated that there were more family members from the paternal side as compared to those on the maternal side; this was also contradicted in this study. The study also confirmed that the siblings homosexuals have are significantly more than those of the heterosexuals. The difference between the younger siblings among the two groups of sexuality was considered trivial.
Homosexuality triggered the research on whether the genetics behind is based on a single locus or many loci. The single locus hypothesis was found to be somewhat impossible because homosexuality is universal. A single loci gene is either definite or not present at all. The multiple loci gene was a more logic explanation. It provided a logic explanation to why the trait is distributed all over the world, and the reason why the trait is not seen in everyone, and why it has not yet disappeared completely. There is no conclusive evidence yet and further studies are being conducted. The conclusion to this study was that homosexuality originates from the maternal side of the family. The reason why they have not yet been eliminated is because; the trait enhances the fecundity of the females. They can, therefore, not be wiped out.
Another avenue of speculation is the immune reactions of a pregnant woman to her unborn male fetus. A hypothesis was developed on the immune system of the mother, and it is believed that women produce antibodies against the H-Y antigen that is usually produced by a male fetus. The antibody produces affects the development of the hypothalamus, therefore, leading to change in sexuality from the normal heterosexuality to homosexuality. It is said that the antigen is like the Rhesus factor antigen, and the reaction to it increases with subsequent pregnancies. Therefore, the males born later are more likely to be homosexuals as compared to the first ones. This has bee...