What age is too young to turn homosexual?
There has been a million blogs just on ProU about homosexuality but I feel strongly about this question. Secondly I am not saying whether homosexuality is right or wrong.
I was walking in the mall yesterday before I had to go to work. I saw a child exiting Gap Kids with his mother. He was obviously gay but no older than the age of 10. . . Upon arriving at work a few hours later a homosexual male came through my checkout line. He was a middle school student and very flamboyant. But what age is too young to turn homosexual?
Some people believe you can be born a homosexual and as you develop you realize this but I think children do what they see. People observe the most things in their youth years. Children a lot of times do or act as there parents act; or do things they see at school, home, stores etc.
I think it is the responsibility of the parent to hold themselves of high moral standard everywhere but especially around their children. Whether the parent is a homosexual or not; they should not push them in the direction of homosexuality until they are of age where they can make their own decisions about most things. So what age is this? Parents shouldn’t talk about the choice homosexuality until the child is the age of 14. I think this age is when many children are experiencing puberty and making more decisions without their parents. They know they are pre-teens (and think they know everythingJ) and start thinking on their own. If the subject comes up before this age the parent should respond in an appropriate CALM manner and see what the child is thinking and act accordingly! Sometimes children feel a need revolt from their parents that yell and scream at them about homosexuality because it is payback but more so because they are hurt. It is such a touchy subject and many parents blow up at their children.
Parents should limit the amount of time a child is in hazardous environments; keeping them involved in things that better themselves rather than degrading them selves. Lead by example parents!
I was walking in the mall yesterday before I had to go to work. I saw a child exiting Gap Kids with his mother. He was obviously gay but no older than the age of 10. . . Upon arriving at work a few hours later a homosexual male came through my checkout line. He was a middle school student and very flamboyant.
How do you know the child exiting Gap Kids was 'obviously gay'? A number of people think my boyfriend is gay (I'm a girl, please remember), because he enjoys music and theater and is very up to date on celebrity gossip. There are some men that just naturally have a good fashion sense. That doesn't mean that they are gay, even if most men that fit that description are.
But what age is too young to turn homosexual?
I have issue with your use of 'turn', but that's because I don't think homosexuality is a choice (it seems you do).
Whether the parent is a homosexual or not; they should not push them in the direction of homosexuality until they are of age where they can make their own decisions about most things.
I don't think that any parents (at least, any good parents) 'push' their children into homosexuality. In fact, I'm willing to bet that most homosexuals are raised by heterosexual parents. I'm sure a number of these parents are accepting, but they certainly wouldn't push their children into homosexuality.
As far as your actual topic, I think you should allow children to freely express themselves. However, most parents have rules about dating, and it should be no different for homosexual teens. A parent telling their child 'you can't date until you're 16' (or 14, or 30, or whatever) is a way to allow them to understand the choices they make. The same should apply to homosexual teens. After all, the only difference between them and the rest of the teen population is that they are attracted to people of the same sex, rather than people of the opposite sex.
~C
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I am agreeing with some of the things you are saying but this is completely false. . ."I have issue with your use of 'turn', but that's because I don't think homosexuality is a choice (it seems you do)."
Where I live right now it seems people (espically women) are justing joining a bandwagon. I have heard people admit they just want to try it out or they just decided so I definitely have to disagree.
...someone saying that they "they just want to try it out," the most obvious being that perhaps they are bi-sexual, or perhaps they have been raised to be uncomfortable with the idea, and need to make an "excuse" to protect themselves emotionally from the retribution of their friends and family. Bi-sexual people utterly confuse and ultimately destroy the "sexual orientation is switch with two settings" argument.
But, the point is that this question has been studied quite thoroughly, and when closely examined this sort of anecdote (i.e. "I know someone who chose their sexual orientation.") doesn't really stand up.
Is Sexual Orientation a Choice?
No, human beings can not choose to be either gay or straight. Sexual orientation emerges for most people in early adolescence without any prior sexual experience. Although we can choose whether to act on our feelings, psychologists do not consider sexual orientation to be a conscious choice that can be voluntarily changed.
http://www.apa.org/topics/orientation.html
But just for the sake of argument, even if there was someone who "just wanted to try it our," how would that be any different at all for someone of a similar age experimenting with sex to begin with? If a young person is too young to be experimenting with sex, then they're too young to be experimenting with sex regardless of who their experimental partner might be. And, if they're not too young, then what business is it of yours, anyway?
You said in your blog above that "I am not saying whether homosexuality is right or wrong," but it sounds to me that you are doing exactly that. You seem to be applying a double-standard that rather strongly suggests that gay sex is "bad" in a way that straight sex is not.
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"Vi Veri Vniversum Vivus Vici." ~ V.
...is the idea that parents (or that anyone, really) can "push" their kids towards a particular sexual orientation.
What you are "seeing" (though honestly, to think that you can tell a kid's sexuality just by looking at them is pretty silly...if it were that easy then there wouldn't be "metrosexuals") isn't kids that are being "pushed" to be gay, but rather kids who are growing up comfortable with who they are, and who are not being "pushed" by their parents to conform with the "expected" mannerisms and modes of dress that "straight" society prefers.
And even if the kid you see is straight, and simply copying the mannerisms and dress of his parents and their friends, how is that any different than any other kid who looks to his or her family for examples when deciding how to dress or act?
Interestingly enough, this phenomenon acutually works both ways. I have a pagan friend who is very flambotant and effiminate (and gay) and liberal. His mother is an old hippy, and also extremely liberal. His sister is a bi-sexual feminist (and atheist), and is also politically liberal (bordering on the radical). When his younger brother entered his teens and decided to rebel (as boys of his age often will), he cut his hair short, started wearing suits and ties, joined the football team, started dating a cheeleader, joined the Young Repubican's Club at his school and started sneaking out of the house on Sunday mornings to attend services at a local Southern Baptist Church. As you can imagine, his family was mortified. Now that he's older, they all think it was very funny the way that he did everything he could to be "not the same" as the rest of his family.
Perhaps if you learned to look past the obvious and got to know some of these kids, you might be less inclined to judge them based on how they "look." They're probably just like any of the other kids you know...just with better fashion sense.
percivale
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"Vi Veri Vniversum Vivus Vici." ~ V.
In answer to the question posed in your title----no.
Did you ever think to yourself, 'Okay, today is the day i have to decide whether I am going to be gay or straight.'? This lends itself to the fact that homosexuality is not a choice as you seem to think.
The ten-year-old was not gay. Ten year olds are only beginning to pick out their own outfits, do not buy their own clothes, and are often dramatic in nature just by being the age they are. Do you know any ten year olds? Because the way you talk makes it seem like you have very little interaction with children.
Hug a musician, they never get to dance.
People have been debating whether homosexuality is a choice or not. I don't agree with either side. I say that it's a choice inasmuch as what type of music you like to listen to is a choice. Sexuality is what a person is, but he or she might not realize it until very much later. However, some people realize it early. I was twelve when I first started experimenting with homosexuality. For the longest time, I thought that I was at least bisexual. Then I went down on a girl and now I'm completely straight.
--Mike
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I know a lot of people who seem to think that being bi-sexual means that you have to like both sexes equally, but that really isn't how it works. A bi-sexual person who likes women more is still bi-sexual. The meaning of bi-sexuality is that the person is capable of experiencing the physical and emotional aspects of sexuality with partners of either gender. People tend to see sexuality as a "switch" with two (or in the case of bi-sexual people, three) settings. but it is more accurate to describe sexuality as a dial with many settings. Some people are completely homosexual. Some people are completely heterosexual. But most people are actually mildly bi-sexual, with a strong tendency to prefer one sex over the other.
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"Vi Veri Vniversum Vivus Vici." ~ V.
Ok, I'm one of those people who strongly believe that someone doesn't get to decide if they are gay or not. I mean it's not like your parents come up to you and say "Are you gay? I mean the choice is yours, but if you decide to be gay let me know." I've recently read that homosexuality is the cause of the mother having extreme,continuous stress issues and not being able to relieve some of that stress. There are people who will try dating the same gender but most people explain it as experimenting, because like all people at one time or another get curious about something. Now how did you know that the boy was gay, not to offend you, but isn't that kind of stereotyping? There is also another term called metrosexual who may seem gay but they just like to take care of themselves. Another thing, just because the parent is a homosexual it does not mean the kid will be a homosexual too. There have been plenty of studies about that, and so far the majority of the kids with parents who are homosexuals turn out to be straight.
Okay, here we go again. A person dosen't just decide to be homosexual. I beleive that they are born that way and it has nothing to do with an imitation of what a child sees. How would you explain a homosexual child coming from a heterosexual family then? It has nothing to do with just being exposed to a certain atmosphere. And having parents watching a child's every move and trying to "fix" their child isn't going to change anything. A parent can't watch their child forever. Homosexuals are born the way they are ther's no way of changing it or trying to provent it. So to answer your question, there is no age to be too young to be homosexual., some just figure out that they are at an earlier age than others do.
EriJa
"compromising is not an option"
Your oreintation is based soley on your genes and the various chemical baths you did/did not undergo in the womb before you were born. You don't 'turn' gay. Kids get the little kid crushes on the same gender when they're like 4 just like straight girls crush on little Andrew when they're in preschool and sharing cookies. You're never to young - it's just an identity. You don't choose it.
However, if you are asking about the age people should start to publicly show such things, I'd vote for something past puberty, but hopefully before they start having sex.
That's an overly simplistic generalization. Sexuality is more an aesthetic taste than anything.
You can definitely be turned gay or straight as evidenced by American Indians victimized (sodomized) during the Canadian holocaust. Similarly, despite whether or not you believe that they are morally right or whatever, those Christian "fix me, I'm gay" camps (vomitus maximus) do prove that you can turn straight.
But as I said before, you can determine your sexuality as much as you can determine what kind of music you like.
--Mike
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I'm sorry, but I really don't think that the scientific literature supports you on this one, though I agree that the issue of sexuality is definitely complex.
I'm sorry (again), but if this was true, where is the evidence? Despite their claims of "curing" literally millions of gay people from the "affliction" of homosexuality, not even ONE of these groups has ever produced a peer-reviewed, longitudinal study that supports that claim. In fact, the extant research utterly rejects the claims of these snake-oil salesmen.
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The proof is in the people who claim to have been "cured" (whatever that means, that shit still scares me). It's simple brainwashing. A person, after enough psychological stress can be convinced to become anything, regardless of whether or not it is cos actual identity.
--Mike
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...is not the same thing as changing one's sexuality. And, what research does exists suggests that reparative therapy isn't really effective, even as a brainwashing technique.
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Check out Progressive PRIDE, a Gay-Straight Alliance for the Progressive U community.
I never made any kind of conscious choice to be straight - I just am. Just like homosexuals, they just are. Sexual orientation is not a choice so how can you assign an age limit to it?