60 minutes on homosexuality
On the one hand, I’m glad to see this piece done; I think there are still many, many people in this country who will benefit from seeing perspectives that emphasize the biological nature of homosexuality (whether genetic or in utero hormone levels or a combination). And the article does offer some of that:
In case you missed the…: In case you missed the 60 Minutes Lesley Stahl piece on sexual orientation the other night, The Malcontent has a clip of it.
(Via towleroad.)
We have for instance the following:
Today, scientists are looking at genes, environment, brain structure and hormones. There is one area of consensus: that homosexuality involves more than just sexual behavior; it’s physiological.
But so much of the story is maddeningly, insufferably frustrating. So much of it is just plain ignorant. So much of it wants to equate homosexuality with femininity that it just . . . ruins, I think, the larger benefit that demonstrating homosexuality’s biological causes would have. Discussing two twins, one of whom is “normal” and the other who exhibits childhood gender nonconformity:
When Stahl came for a visit, Jared was eager to show her his G.I. Joe collection. “I have ones that say like Marine and SWAT. And then that’s where I keep all the guns for ‘em,” he explained.
Adam was also proud to show off his toys. “This is one of my dolls. Bratz baby,” he said.
Adam wears pinkish-purple nail polish, adorned with stars and diamonds.
[ . . .] Asked how he would describe himself to a stranger, Jared says, “I’m a kid who likes G.I. Joes and games and TV.”
“I would say like a girl,” Adam replied to the same question. When asked why he thinks that is, Adam shrugged.
Why? Why why why? Children who exhibit gender nonconformity might typically grow up to self-identify as gay later in life, but I don’t know that these children are typical gay children (and I suspect they aren’t). And certainly this case seems almost gratuitously extreme?
Let me be clear, I don’t have a problem with the child’s behavior. If Adam wants to wear pinkish-purple nail polish, more power to him. I think it’s fine; normal, probably not. But abnormal is not necessarily bad. What I have a problem with is this story’s insistence on using a case like this to speak to an audience that I think is probably not familiar with the subtle gradations of gender identity. I think the reaction to Adam is not going to be “a gay kid which the doctors on TV are saying has a biological basis for his behavior.” I think the reaction is going to be, “That kid wearing nail polish is a freak! No kid of mine is going to wear that stupid nail polish, or else!”
If this were the only instance, it might be OK; if it were balanced with another example more typical of most kids’ youths. Aside from the following:
“I was supposed to be a girl in my mom’s stomach. But my mom wished for all boys. So, I turned into a boy,” Adam explained.
Asked if he wished he was a girl, Adam nodded.
We have Stahl’s stunningly ignorant question later:
But Breedlove says he can change all that. He gave a female rat a single shot of the male sex hormone testosterone at birth. Now grown up, she will never perform lordosis [basically rat mating behavior].
But a male rat did. He was castrated at birth, depriving him of testosterone.
“So you created a gay rat?” Stahl asked.
“I wouldn’t say that these are gay rats. But I will say that these are genetic male rats who are showing much more feminine behavior,” he explained.
You’re damn right he didn’t create a gay rat by CASTRATING it!
Jesus.
Sorry. It just seems like one of the leading journalists in this country would understand the topic she was covering a bit better. That statement is practically offensive in its implications.
The story isn’t all bad though. This next bit is particularly good:
Ironically though, when it comes to their sex lives, he says gay and straight men actually have a lot in common.
“Straight men tend to be shallow in terms of focusing on looks. Gay men are shallow, too. Straight men are more interested than straight women in having casual, uncommitted sex. Gay men are like that, too,” says Bailey.
“One has the impression that gay men are much more inclined toward casual sex than straight men,” Stahl said.
“They’re just more successful at it, because the people they’re trying to have sex with are also interested in it,” Bailey explained.
“But don’t you find this interesting that the one big area where gay men are more like straight men is in sex? I mean, that is…both amusing and odd,” Stahl said.
“It suggests that whatever causes a man to be gay doesn’t make him feminine in every respect. There must be different parts of the brain that can be feminized independently from each other,” Bailey replied.
Shorter version: “Gay men are horny just like straight men, and the only reason they get to have more sex than straight men is that they’re horny with each other instead of with prudish women.” Ha! Although I guess if I were a woman, I would rightly be offended by that.
Finally, the story makes another good point: it’s nature vs. nurture. It’s biology vs. upbringing, and upbringing is losing:
“What it proves is it’s not completely genetic. They have the same genes,” says Bailey.
Asked if that brings us back to the mother and the father, Bailey says no.
“But that’s environment,” Stahl said.
“That’s environment. But that’s not the only environment. There’s also the environment that happens to us while we’re in the womb. And scientists are realizing that environment is much more important than we ever thought it was,” Bailey explained.
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science, politics, gay rights, society, children, parenting, homosexuality, 60 Minutes
