At 01:07 PM 03/07/2000 -0800, Tedd Hadley wrote:
>MikeBGene@aol.com writes
> in message <11.1a4fb90.25f66f3f@aol.com>:
> <snip>
> > Perhaps what we need is more research to determine the extent
> > to which homophobia is genetically based. Maybe one day we can
> > combat this problem by educating young boys that nature made
> > most of them into homophobes. This, of course, would follow
> > their education about how natural selection worked so that most
> > are also potential rapists.
> >
> > Just trying to make this topic fit on a evolution board,
> > Mike
>
> Although this is obviously a parody, the point begin attempted
> seems to be severely undermined as soon as one realizes that
> homophobia is very likely a subcategory of a larger human tendency
> - xenophobia - which, despite probable genetic basis, is still
> successfully treated by educational approaches. Homosexuality,
> on the other hand, is not so easily "fixed" and programs to
> "convert" homosexuals often fail spectacularly. Thus, the parody
> fails on a key difference.
In other words, "biological attitudes" can be "corrected" by retraining,
but "biological behavior" cannot. Hmmm. This isn't too far from the silly
belief that sex roles are artificial but being gay is natural.
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