Study: Homosexuality Linked with Childhood Trauma

LifeSiteNews.com ^ | July 27, 2010 | By James Tillman

[topher]

Tuesday July 27, 2010

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Study: Homosexuality Linked with Childhood Trauma

By James Tillman

DUNEDIN, New Zealand, July 26, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- A recent Otago University study has found that homosexual or bisexual individuals are more likely to have undergone a variety of of traumas in childhood, including sexual assault, rape, violence, and witnessing violence in the home.

"People who either identify themselves as homosexual or bisexual, or have had a same-sex encounter or relationship, tend to come from more disturbed backgrounds," said Research Associate Professor Elisabeth Wells.

The study analyzed results from a New Zealand Mental Health study that surveyed about 13,000 people between 2003 and 2004.  98% of the participants in the study identified themselves as heterosexual; 0.8% identified as homosexual; 0.6% identified as bisexual; and 0.3% identified as "something else."

Of people who reported certain traumatic childhood events, 15% were not heterosexual; of those without such experiences, only 5% were not heterosexual, suggesting that such experiences tripled the chance of later professing homosexual or bisexual inclinations.

Some homosexualist leaders took issue with the study's findings: Tony Simpson, chairman of the national homosexualist group Rainbow Wellington, said that the research should not be taken to mean that homosexuals are not born that way. "I have no doubt that the religious right will leap to the conclusion that this goes to show conclusively that homosexuals are made rather than born," he said.

Wells attempted to assuage fears over the study's conclusions.

"I suspect there might be some gay and lesbian people who will be indignant, but it is not my intention to anger them," she said.  "You could say that if someone was sexually abused as a child, chooses to live as a homosexual and lives life well, then that is not a bad thing.  But if they are living a homosexual life and regretting it, that is another matter."

Although sexual or physical abuse in childhood was associated with adult homosexuality, other traumatic experiences, such as the sudden death of a loved one or serious childhood illness or accident, were only slightly associated with non-heterosexual identity or behaviour.

Of females who self-identified as homosexual, more than 40% had been married and had children, whereas 13% of male homosexuals had done so.  Over 80% of those who identified as bisexual were women.

The association between child abuse and later homosexual identification is not young.  

One 1992 study found that 37% of homosexual and bisexual men attending sexually transmitted disease clinics had been encouraged or forced to have sexual contact before age 19 with an older or more powerful partner.  The median age of first contact was 10 years old.

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10072701.html

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[topher]

This may be the study that got a California Biology teacher fired -- but it is unclear.

The California teacher won a lawsuit last Thursday.

[IrishCatholic]

bookmark.

[ClearCase_guy]

Good to see this. I wouldn’t call it “news” for those of us who pay attention, but it’s great to make this information available to help show that homosexuality is really a mental illness.

[nmh]

Yes, the TRUTH slips out every now and then.

NO ONE and I repeat, NO ONE, is born a homosexual.

A homosexual is the result of emotional or physical ABUSE.

Is it any wonder that idiotic people DEFEND one’s right to be ABUSED and propagate the ABUSE on others? Liberals are miserable people. The more miserable people there are the BETTER THEY FEEL.

[Cacique]

Interesting, but I also think that it may also be genetic and inherited. Sim[ply based on the fact that some of these people appear to have some kind of hormonal imbalance that makes them act effeminate and therefore easy to spot.

[Snardius]

Eighty percent of gay men say they were born that way...the remaining twenty percent say they got sucked into it...

[nmh]

The median age of first contact was 10 years old.

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10072701.html

Age is NOT a barrier.

They’ll easily ABUSE an INFANT.

[topher]

Article about California Biology Teacher and her lawsuit:

Fired Calif. professor exonerated in settlement of lawsuit against San Jose college district

From that FreeRepublic.com discussion thread is this quote from the San Jose Mercury News:

The professor, whose cause was championed by an alliance of conservative Christian attorneys, acknowledged that she suggested a connection between an expectant mother's stress and male homosexuality. But an offended student accused the instructor of offering her own, more extreme views, not suitable for classroom discussion.

It must be all these people in New Zealand causing this trouble... [Just joking]

[Ben Mugged]

How does this explain homosexuals in ancient Rome or Egypt? How about explaining homosexuals in American Indian tribes when Europeans first arrived?

Homosexuals have existed since we first climbed down from trees or out of caves. Some folks would look on a hermaphrodite and say it is a mental disorder.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

I have also noticed, looking back at childhood acquaintances who turned out to be homosexual men, that there was often an overbearing, perhaps emasculating, mother figure involved.

[Regulator]

Interesting, but I also think that it may also be genetic and inherited

How would such a gene propagate?

For millions of years, you are saying that a gene that was not conducive to heterosexual propagation somehow managed to remain in the population?

It's not a survivable gene. Maybe if humans had hermaphroditic reproduction, but...we don't. And artificial insemination is an exceedingly recent invention.

It's not genetic. There may be a predisposition based on hormonal production, but it would eventuate only under the right conditions, and then die out....because there would be no offspring. Or very few, in some unusual cases.

[Regulator]

that there was often an overbearing, perhaps emasculating, mother figure involved

Yup. As in, "emotional abuse".

[topher]

Poster Massmike discussed the genetic connection on another thread. I will invite that poster to respond to your comments.

The remarks on the other thread (about the Fired California Biology Teacher) were above my knowledge.

So I will let that person respond if they desire too...

[stuartcr]

What about those that didn’t undergo any trauma?

[Dem Guard]

[Seeing More Clearly Now]

The predatory homosexual activists pressure even elementary schools to teach about homosexual “choice.”

“Hi, Johnny. You’re in first grade, right? Do you like to play with Gary more than you do Jane? Jason more than Sarah? Well, then, you are probably what’s clled “gay.” It’s a very good choice. The best. Tell your parents and teachers and classmates, so everyone will know who you are. Don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t a good choice.”

[hinckley buzzard]

If you want to make the case for genetics you need far more than subjective estimates of appearance, since most behavior is shaped and learned in social contexts.

On the other hand it is well to avoid the common trap of seeking one all-encompassing explanation or cause. Behavior follows general laws but may evolve in given individuals for any of diverse reasons.

There is no doubt that much homosexual behavior comes from straightforward traumatic and other conditioning experiences at vulnerable developmental stages. It is also likely that given the broad range of possible hormonal aberrations and developmental anomalies, some people find themselves predisposed to same sex attraction.

[Regulator]

How does this explain homosexuals in ancient Rome or Egypt? How about explaining homosexuals in American Indian tribes when Europeans first arrived?

The same way you explain boys being molested by Afghan chiefs in today's world: by force. Boys who are morphologically effeminate are physically assaulted and impressed into homosexuality by other men trying to show their physical dominance.

In Rome, there was no stigma attached to the aggressor in such a relationship. In fact, it was a sign of virility, and proof of superiority. Such symbology still exists within the Latin world today, and throughout the Muslim world.

In other words, it's a marker of a crude, backward and atavistic society.

[ClearCase_guy]

What about those that didn’t undergo any trauma?

Homosexuals make up about 1% of the population. Some people place the number as high as 2%, but current research indicates that this number is too high. I think it's clear that most (if not all) of the 1% of the population which is homosexual is that way because of some form of traumatic abuse.

If you want to argue that 0.15% of the population is "born gay" you could do so, of course. Personally I find it less than compelling. The bottom line, however, is that we have no need to reshape our society, our military recruitment practices, and our definition of marriage because some infinitesimal sliver of the population thinks we should.

Tyranny by the minority is not what this country is about.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

Yup. As in, "emotional abuse".

I have a old acquaintance from youth (not a homosexual that I know of but never got married or had any girlfriends) whose mother was consistently overbearing.

I don't think anyone would "call" it abuse, but in my mind a consistent long-time influence that creates in a child an usually strong fear of life or instills a negative view of life is abuse. I think the mother in this case was merely trying to protect the child. But the effect on the child was to instill fear.

Like most relationships in life, this one flew under the radar such that no clear abuse was visible, but the mother clearly damaged the child.

And oddly enough, I don't think such behavior is rare (particularly in families where that father is missing or weak).