What are we to make of ‘sexual orientation’?
If many adolescents experience bisexual attraction, if some people change their orientation, if most homosexuals are actually bisexual, and if diverse sexual practices can become strongly addictive, is a fixed orientation actually a myth?
Studies of twins
Studies of identical twins have repeatedly shown that sexual orientation is not determined genetically. Identical twins with identical genes do not always have the same orientation. If one is homosexual, the other is far more likely to be heterosexual. Even though statistically, compared with the general population, there is an increased chance that the twin will be homosexual, this is far from guaranteed. So though there may be a genetic ‘tendency’ toward homosexuality, sexual orientation is not genetically ‘determined’.
To say it is not caused by our genes does not reduce same-sex attraction to mere ‘choice’. We do not understand the causes of it. Certainly, our sexual formation is complex. The American Psychiatric Association stated in 2000: ‘No one knows what causes heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality’.1
