BALTIMORE, Md. — Two psychiatrists from Johns Hopkins University assert in a new report that there is no scientific evidence to support that people are born homosexual or innately oriented to have sexual relations with the same gender.
The report, Sexuality and Gender: Findings from the Biological, Psychological, and Social Sciences, was written by Dr. Lawrence Mayer and Dr. Paul McHugh and published in The New Atlantis.
“Some of the most widely held views about sexual orientation, such as the ‘born that way’ hypothesis, simply are not supported by science,” the men write. “The literature in this area does describe a small ensemble of biological differences between non-heterosexuals and heterosexuals, but those biological differences are not sufficient to predict sexual orientation, the ultimate test of any scientific finding.”
Mayer and McHugh state that their conclusion is based on 200 peer-reviewed studies in matters such as epidemiology, genetics, psychiatry and neuroscience, as well as embryology.
In their report, they criticize what they call the “common assumption that sexual desires, attractions, or longings reveal some innate and fixed feature of our biological or psychological constitution, a fixed sexual identity or orientation,” finding even the phrase “sexual orientation” to be ambiguous and without “widely accepted scientific definitions.”
“Furthermore, we may have some reasons to doubt the common assumption that in order to live happy and flourishing lives, we must somehow discover this innate fact about ourselves that we call sexuality or sexual orientation, and invariably express it through particular patterns of sexual behavior or a particular life trajectory,” Mayer and McHugh write.
They also express doubt that one is born in the wrong body, that “there is no evidence that all children who express gender-atypical thoughts or behavior should be encouraged to become transgender.” Rather, the psychologists note that the philosophy that gender is a “social construct” grew out of the feminist movement.
“This idea has been an important part of a feminist movement to reform or eliminate traditional gender roles,” Mayer and McHugh write, pointing to several feminist literary works.
But they note that atypical behavior, such as when girls tend to be tomboys or boys play with effeminate toys, does not change the person’s real sex.
“The underlying basis of maleness and femaleness is the distinction between the reproductive roles of the sexes; in mammals such as humans, the female gestates offspring and the male impregnates the female,” Mayer and McHugh outline. “More universally, the male of the species fertilizes the egg cells provided by the female of the species.”
“This conceptual basis for sex roles is binary and stable, and allows us to distinguish males from females on the grounds of their reproductive systems, even when these individuals exhibit behaviors that are not typical of males or females,” they explain.
In an introductory video to the study, the men note that further studies are needed on these matters as societal declarations that one’s particular proclivities in regard to sexuality and gender are innate may not be accurate.
“I think that in the transgender world and in the world of both heterosexual and homosexual life, the assumption that science has given us full answers and it is complete, is closing off debate about what further science is needed, [and] what the nature of the contemporary science really is,” McHugh states.
“The claim that it is settled now, that the issue such as born that way, or you’re fixed, or it’s immutable—there is no evidence from that science that those things are correct,” he says.
Psalms 51:5 teaches mankind, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Jesus also outlined in John 3 that since all men are born in sin being descendants of Adam, and by their very nature have tendencies to distort God’s perfect design, they must be born again and receive a new nature.
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,” Jesus said. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9RE_VD1nf8]
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