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Originally Posted by Harnbrand
If one strips away society's fetters, however, and in social environments that are more accepting of the LGB demographic, one finds that there seem to be more lesbians, gays, and bisexual people. This is not only because there are more who 'come out of the closet' in such an environment, but also because there are more people who examine their own sexual preferences without fear and realize that they too are not entirely heterosexual.
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People generally flock to places where they're more socially accepted, which can also lead to an increase in minority populations in the specified area.
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But these are things that many of you already know. What I wrote this piece to talk about was the argument that 'sexual orientation' may even be a limiting term that fails to take into account all the variables involved. When one has decided, following introspection, that sexuality is not a matter of absolutes, one's eyes are opened to other possibilities. Consider this: Most monogamous sexual relationships consist of one person who is sexually dominant, and one who is sexually submissive. This, again, is on a continuum. Some will be more dominant than submissive, and some more submissive than dominant. Some can switch.
Hypothesis: Sexual attraction, while primarily a result of the 'genetic imperative' (or the drive to reproduce), gains many more important dimensions with sapient sexual species such as humans. I think that because of the way humans are 'socialized', a person's Dom/Sub disposition (or any sexual kink!) may have more to do in the long run with sexual orientation than genes.
For example, all other things being equal, males who are disposed toward being more submissive are more likely to identify themselves as 'gay' and be attracted to other males, because men are expected to be dominant by society, and there are many more dominant males than submissive ones.
On the other hand, females who are dominant may prefer submissive partners, and possibly preferring women to men, identify themselves as lesbian because there are more submissive women than dominant ones in western society.
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While I agree that dominate/submissive roles can play a part in sexual preferences... Genetics play the largest role in determining sexual orientation. (Genetics also has a part in a person's core personality, but that's beside the point...)
I hate to use personal experiences to debate a hypothesis of scientific nature, but I've never done research on the subject and I can't find any articles at the moment (10 cool points to someone who can [scholarly journals preferred])... Personally, I have a preference for women but I'm mostly bisexual. I'm also very dominant in both my public life and in the bed. Since I could go either way on gender, dom/sub roles do have a large effect on my choice of partner... But I know more than a few men who are submissive and open to all types of sexuality, but they still choose women. And I know women who are dominant, yet strongly prefer men. I even met a gay man once who was very submissive and feminine, yet he was the toppiest top I've ever met.
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I'm only truly physically attracted to women - but since I'm sexually dominant, and submissiveness turns me on - I found that it was still possible to be sexually interested in submissive members of my own sex, even if I wasn't really physically attracted to males. Pleasure, after all, is pleasure. And one's sexual kinks can make sexual attraction as psychological as it is physical.
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As someone incapable of compassion, love, or any of that other nonsense, I would agree that "sex is sex". But I don't exactly see people as "people", rather mere objects. So my point may be moot here considering my lack of understanding, but...
That sounds more like curiosity than being truly sexually attracted to males and females equally. If you've ever seen
American Pie, you would know that you can get sexually aroused from sticking your d*ck in a pastry (among a number of other things). That doesn't mean you're sexually attracted desserts or have "objectophilia". It just means you're adventurous (or no one's taught you about about adult toys yet).