Researchers Find that Homosexual Behavior is Common in Nature (plays an important role in survival)

The study of homosexual activity in diverse species may elucidate the evolutionary origins of such behavior. Researchers are now revealing, for example, that animals may engage in same-sex couplings to diffuse social tensions, to better protect their young or to maintain fecundity when opposite-sex partners are unavailable—or simply because it is fun. These observations suggest to some that bisexuality is a natural state among animals, perhaps Homo sapiens included, despite the sexual-orientation boundaries most people take for granted. “[In humans] the categories of gay and straight are socially constructed,” Anderson says.

Link to Scientific American article:

I thought this might make for some interesting conversation. Cheers!


edit: for typo error in title

[edit on 6-8-2008 by TheWayISeeIt]

[edit on 6-8-2008 by TheWayISeeIt]

It's not unnatural for me soupy old chum.

I've always thought i had a purpose of some sort. Mummy told me i was special,y'see.

The way i see it,it's a way of keeping the population down. Straight folk can be thankful that I'm not out there on the prowl stealing up al the lovely ladies. There's always going to be enough "breeders" out there to make sure the population doesn't fade away.

There are always difficulties when comparing human behaviour with that of other species. After all some species eat their own faeces, does that mean coprophilia is normal and/or natural to humans? That every human should do it?

Human is as human does, everything else is unhelpful in studying human behaviour.

Picked any fleas off your friends lately to bring you closer to them?

Originally posted by soup_sandwich
Your using SciAm as the only back up?


There is a better read about the entire homosexual topic at lemonparty.org

As far as homosexuality goes. There is no shortage of women. And ya it is pretty unnatural.

That site can and probably will get you a warning.

REPLY TO UFO

There are always difficulties when comparing human behaviour with that of other species. After all some species eat their own faeces, does that mean coprophilia is normal and/or natural to humans? That every human should do it?

Is your point to infer that homosexuality is unnatural?

[edit on 6-8-2008 by TheWayISeeIt]

reply to post by UFOpsychiczebra


There's a massive difference between something being natural, and something that everyone should do. Menstruation is pretty natural, but I'll be damned if I "should do" it.

Same with homosexuality. It's perfectly normal. It might not float your boat, but it'll float someone else's.

I don't see the problem with homosexuality. It's not like there are rampaging hoardes of gay men and women raping everyone they feel like, or that every single homosexual person is a portal to hell, spewing demons and hellbeasts at good straight folks.

Eating poop and corprophilia are two different things entirely. The correct term for poop-eating is "corprophagy". And if you equate corprophilia with homosexualty, you have some quite large problems of your own you should probably deal with before discussing this in public - for your sake.

Picking fleas off folks is not something we, as humans, need to do. We still engage in directly-comparable behaviours, such as drinking with buddies, to achieve the same social benefit.

Originally posted by UFOpsychiczebra
There are always difficulties when comparing human behaviour with that of other species. After all some species eat their own faeces, does that mean coprophilia is normal and/or natural to humans? That every human should do it?

It's true we aren't exactly like other species, but there are many similarities. And when there are, they can be studied. So, since there is homosexual behavior in animals AND humans, it's something we have in common, unlike feces-eating.

And no one is saying that every human should engage in homosexual behavior.

Human is as human does, everything else is unhelpful in studying human behaviour.

So, in studying humans, we find that homosexuality is a natural human behavior. So, human is as human does.