• Question: why do people get attracted to the same sex

    Asked by chels to Christine, Edd, Jess, Nicolas, Zara on 17 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Edward Codling

      Edward Codling answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Hi chels – a great question!

      Remember that humans are basically clever animals and a lot of our behaviour can be traced back to our common ancestors thousands and thousands of years ago. I think the broader question would be ‘why do any animals get attracted to the opposite sex’ – from an evolutionary point of view this doesn’t make sense as we can only pass on our genes if we have children (meaning we need to mate with the opposite sex).

      However there are various theories why animals might be attracted to the same sex. One theory says it is because there may be an imbalance in the sexes (not enough males or not enough females) – the animals still have the mating urge but there aren’t enough opposite sex mates around so they make do with the same sex! Some animals even change their sex when there are not enough mates around – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Reed_Frog

      There are other theories as well and the behaviour has been observed in lots of animal species – http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0722_040722_gayanimal.html

      Some people claim that this behaviour is ‘unnatural’ – whatever your opinion about this, it is certainly the case that many animals are attracted to the same sex – but we don’t know why for certain!

    • Photo: Zara Gladman

      Zara Gladman answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      This is a really interesting question!

      I’m not sure anyone has come up with a definite answer yet but there are a few theories out there.

      One theory is that if there are gay people/animals around – who don’t reproduce and so don’t have babies of their own – then they can provide extra help with looking after other peoples’ babies, making the species a lot fitter as a whole.

      There is evidence that being gay has a strong genetic component. A combination of ‘gay genes’ may influence sexuality.

      There are many examples of homosexuality in the animal kingdom. I went to an exhibition a few years ago in Stockholm in Sweden that described the topic, it was fascinating. Homosexual behaviour has been found in chimpanzees, lions, dolphins, whales, penguins and hyenas among others.

    • Photo: Jessica Chu

      Jessica Chu answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Made me think a lot on this one!

      I had to look it up.. and here is a link to wiki that talks about homosexual behavouir in animals..
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_behavior_in_animals

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