Has porn increased the prevalence of homosexuality?

You know, I've considered this too, and it makes sense that it would play a role, but I never really say anything because I'm not at all qualified to talk about stuff like this, and feel like it'll cause the least amount of problems if I just give people the benefit of the doubt. If they think they were born that way, sure, I'll go with that.

But I totally get what you're saying. I just don't have a strong belief one way or the other. Sorry I didn't have much to contribute...

 

The dawn of internet pornography is nearly unprecedented in the history of human development. Sure, in a way it is nothing new BUT the availability and ways we access it are. Before computers, we had access to pictures, stories, our imaginations and other people. And, from my personal experience, pictures/stories relied heavily upon the imagination anyways. But now we have access to more nakedness in one night than we would have been able to see in a lifetime.

It would be grand if we could look at the causality of this upon us all without the baggage attached to the meaning of sexuality. Let the scientists do their science, and the let rest of us do our part in making this better in our own unique ways. Science shouldn't be about proving or disproving how we think things should be, that is bias. Science should be about discovering how things really are. Let the philosopher determine what it means, or the poet describe how it matters. Let the storyteller and moviemaker present that truth in an engaging way. Let people decide for themselves how they'll choose to live given the real deal of what's going on.

I believe it is worthwhile to discuss.

 

There are two ways to look at it. On the one hand, when I was having issues with my own sexuality (from excessive PMO), I spent some time browsing a local Internet forum frequented by gay people. I guess my sex drive was artificially hyped up and I thought I'd look for an easy hook-up. Well it seems a lot of other people have the same idea. One of the regulars on this forum commented that there seems to be a lot of sex addiction in the gay community. So I suppose that means a lot of "straight" men go looking for "variety".

On the other hand, there are a lot of gay people who don't watch porn (and have never watched it). These are people who just have no interest in porn at all. So if they weren't born gay, that means something else must have influenced their homosexuality, and chances are that something else has been around a lot longer than porn. The thing we need to realise here is that in recent decades, it's become more socially acceptable to be that way. I remember growing up in the 80s and hearing stories of people being bashed just for being perceived as gay (often they weren't, they just fitted some arbitrary stereotype, but I digress). There were probably a lot more gay people around then we realised back then, they were just afraid to come out.

Personally, I pretty much reject the labels of "gay", "straight", or "bi". I think we're all on a spectrum, or a continuum. On the one extreme you have people who might be 100% "straight", and on the other extreme you have people who might be 100% "gay". Maybe 1% of the population sit on those extreme ends. The rest of us are somewhere in between. If you want to know where you are on that spectrum, stop watching porn for a few months and see how you feel.

And if I'm totally honest, I think it's great that we live in a more tolerant age, where people who identify as "straight", "gay", "bi" or "transgendered" are free to be who they want to be. Heck, as a man attracted to women, I know that if I meet the woman of my dreams, I won't face any competition from men who are attracted to other men. The only problem I see comes from porn itself, where people get into relationships that don't match their true preferences because they were influenced by their porn preferences. But it's worth remembering that porn can even make a "straight" man hook up with a different type of woman because he just fapped to someone who looks like her.

 

I think heavy p use shapes people's sexual tastes.

Is homosexuality on the rise? If so is the increase in p use a contributor?
I don't know, and unfortunately it is politically incorrect for psychologists to research the causes. (Many people aren't willing to risk their livelihood by being labeled a "bigot") So it may be a long time before we scientifically understand some of these things.

 

@Rubidium,

Interesting Question!
I find that @exchronos comment about "no more need for imagination" is right. With the porn sites that grew in the last few years, the genres accessible are covering all bases. Coolidge effect will make addicts go look for alternate genres.

Even when the porn videos were accessible ion VHS, there was 4-5 scenes on the tape, and you were fast forwarding to the intense moments. You were re-watching the same scenes until you bring the tape back. There was maybe one scene that was really "what you like the most". With internet porn, there is videos just for you! You will find what you look for.

Now, with the huge porn collection, there is stuff for everyone! Young adults are accessing porn early in life. Their sex ED (if we can call that ED) is biased.
Early personality sinks in at around 16 yo (if I'm not mistaking). So, there is chances to confuse young people...trying homosexuality because the coolidge effect mad them look at that content on the net.

In the same vein, its possible that people develop fetishes and bsdm-variant acquired tastes....

 

So let's not go too deep into these thought processes because I think they have a higher chance of leading to an angry flame war. I think the OP's question was entirely about the influence of porn on sexual preferences. Let's just discuss that exact question.


I will first speak concerning the scientific aspect, since it's my area of expertise. As far as "being born" a certain way, this probably refers to the genetics, since that's all a person has at the point of conception (unless you are talking about the environmental factors during fetal development as @SnL mentioned). As far as genetic links, there haven't been any successful genome-wide associations (GWAS) between homosexuality and specific genetic loci. There was one suspected marker but if you put the study through the same rigorous standards as others, it doesn't go too far. Therefore it looks at this point like sexual preference is determined mostly by environment.

I think the power of environment in this case is much more influential than genetics can be. There are so many factors that can influence the brain during development and the brain is extraordinarily adaptable. It can become anything you train it to be (whether consciously or deeply subconsciously). In fact, genetic links to behaviors are almost always impossible to pin down scientifically. Either they are entirely environmental, or they are controlled by too complex of a genetic system to elucidate with our technology. That's not to say that homosexuality has no genetic component, but I believe the influence of environment is more a more potent modulator of this kind of characteristic. Evidence from twin studies suggest that homosexuality is either not genetic at all or has variable penetrance (traits not guaranteed to result from genetic makeup).

Some environmental factors I believe play a role are: porn (like we are discussing), parental influence, other social interactions, and perhaps hormonal or other signaling makeup. Anecdotally, I will mention that most gay/bisexual men I know had less of an exposure to their father's presence growing up (e.g. divorced parents, dads who spent too much time at work) than "normal" children. Maybe that has something to do with it. I think the porn-related pathway we are discussing here has a much stronger effect during later childhood though.

In terms of choice, while I think people are not necessarily born homosexual, I think it becomes a part of a person long before any choices are made regarding future sexual preferences, unless you count the choice of watching various types of porn, which is maybe indirectly affecting preference. We don't have control over our sexual desires. What we do have control over is our actions. I won't go further into that, as it becomes a different topic.

 

Are there more gay people today?

I think the answer is due to a greater acceptance in society in general of the LGBT community. Many who would have previously remained "closeted gays" are now coming out and identifying as LGBT.

Remember that before the Stonewall riots, same sex attraction was considered a mental illness.

With a larger market, the pornographers have increased production and distribution of lesbian and gay porn.

 

Another terrible porn lie is the "lesbian scene".

In the VHS days, most porn movies would have a scene where at least two of the female pornstars would have sex with one another. Yet this never happened with the men.

The observer was left with the false impression that all women are just as attracted to women as they are to men.

 

It doesn't matter if you're a Christian, like that matters about your sexual preference or if you like milk chocolate over dark chocolate. If homosexuality is more prevalent than it was 'X' amount of years ago is only because they're not doing it in secret anymore for fear of death. Plain and simple.

 

I read you post, and the premise seems very faulty.

Firstly, I believe whole heartedly that Christians are not homophobes, it's a just a few loud bigoted ones that have earned the whole lot an unfortunate bad name.

But no, I'm afraid I disagree completely with the statement that people are not gay from birth. Being gay is a sexual orientation, just like being straight is. So if no one is gay by birth, ergo, no one can be straight by birth too. So what, we are just born without a sexual preference? Not likely.

I'm not going to be nasty to you for having this assumption. Since straight heterosexual people form the majority of the population, it is expected of us to look at other sexual orientations as anomalous. But it is the wrong thing to do. Bring straight is our default setting, doesn't mean it's the same for others.
I know there are many here on Nofap struggling with HOCD, but I can say with certainty that the large LGBT population present in the world today is not a product of straight people gone homo due to the Coolidge effect. That is far fetched and impossible.

The reason why you see so many gay people today as opposed to previous years is because the fear of prosecution has been reduced greatly, not completely gone but still. As this fear and persecution decreases, more and more people will come out with their true orientations. Don't be alarmed. They are not being made gay, no one is converting them. They are simply coming out and telling the truth about themselves because they are certain they will not be penalised or bullied for it.

Consider this example - Maybe when you were a kid you ate candy you weren't supposed to and your mom asked you to confess. You didn't because she said she'd ground you. You may have denied it or lied to her. But when, after a while, your mom's anger dissipated and she decided not to punish you even if you ate the candy, didn't you go and tell her you ate it?

Your example for girls being lesbians is also quite troubling. I'm a girl, and I read news about rape and assault every day. It's hard not to, because it's happening in every corner of the world. Yet, not for one second has that "scared" me into becoming a lesbian or changing my sexual orientation. I like men, I will always be attracted to men. I'll fall in love with one. I'll just not fall in love with an abusive one and that should ensure that I live safely and happily in my own home. That is a straight girl's solution to abusive relationships and men who do not love and respect women, not going lesbian.

Bottom line, you seem to be under the erroneous impression that it's very easy to change one's sexual preference. Let me tell you that it is not. Some are straight, some are gay, some are bi, some are pan, and more often that not they're just born that way. If there are those that aren't born that way and their preferences have been screwed due to porn, well, they are working hard to go back to their original preference. Nothing apart from that.

Hope I've answered your query.

 

A different perspective on the matter of nature vs nurture, as that is where this thread seems to be going towards:



In short, the prevalent views of either nature or nurture dominating the human condition are both faulty. They work in tandem. The genetic potential is there, but needs to be unlocked by conditions in nature. See the video for more info.

If true, this presents a radically different twist on many of the arguements we still are having today. Let's face some facts first, homosexuality was repressed in recent history and thus whatever numbers we would have to make our opinions off of are skewed. We can neither say that homosexuality is on the rise, stable or declining in terms of statistical proportions of the population because of the skewed nature of the numbers. That is a flawed arguement for either side of this debate. The numbers merely comfirm that their are more numbers today because of the acceptance the LGBT community has gained, to go past this is non-conclusive.

It is true that some end up homosexual without porn, but it can also be true that porn has made some homosexual. Obviously there are conditions that are unique to porn and others that have nothing to do with porn. I think so far there seems to be a consensus that porn does affect sexuality, so I won't say any more on that. But porn doesn't always make people homosexual, that would be a ridiculous assertation. Perhaps some are led in by porn because of a genetic predisposition, perhaps because earlier life circumstances made it more tempting. But, conversely, some are more resistant and will end up heterosexual no matter how much porn they watch.

We really don't understand this issue all that much. More study is needed.