Week 4

This week we discussed same sex attraction. I would like to try to write about what we learned, but I know it's going to be difficult to put it into a one way written form, rather than discussion, but I'll do my best. I'll try not to be confusing. I'll start out by telling you the definitions for some terms that are often used when discussing this topic.
Same sex attraction= Non-erotic attraction, desire for intimacy with same gender.
Homosexual= attraction which is eroticized, but may not be acted upon.
Gay= acted upon and espoused as an identity or lifestyle.

Now that we've got the definition for those terms defined, I can move forward. The theory that my teacher taught us that he learned from training is basically that when a person has same sex attraction it turns into homosexuality which leads to being gay. When children are little they want to be accepted by kids their same gender, but if they're not, it can lead to being gay. For example, If a boy has more 'feminine' traits or likes more 'feminine' things he is sometimes made fun of and not accepted by his gender. So that boy begins to spend more time with girls or by himself. When he finally gets that time to be accepted or close to a boy he feels these excited feelings. He's excited because he's finally getting that connection to his gender that he's wanted. These feelings are then thought to become homosexual by society because society makes them believe that having those feelings can only mean they're homosexual. By them feeling that they're homosexual leads them to act upon it and 'become' gay. Is any of this making sense? So all of it isn't about sex, it's about being "intimate" and having a close relationship with same gender. There are a lot of influences and factors that can cause a person to think they're homosexual.

I thought this discussion was very interesting. It makes a lot of sense to me, and I hope that the way I explained it made sense to anyone who reads this. There's a lot more in depth discussion that can happen with this, but it's hard to explain it all on a blog.