I recently saw a debate on TV about homosexuality where there was a psychologist and a gay man. It has been stated that a gay person over time can be straight and then gay again, that is, sexuality can change. I was quite confused, I'm 40 years old and I've never been attracted to women. Could this happen to me? Gustavo (Vitória – ES)
Gustavo, this information is incorrect. We have to be very careful with the information linked in the media, because many unqualified opinions are expressed. When it comes to sex and sexuality, in particular homosexuality, there is a lot of confusion in what is conveyed.
It is a topic that is in vogue and it was only recently, precisely after the 1970s, that people began to talk more about the subject. It is very common for laypeople to confuse Sexual Orientation with Sexual Behavior. And that's probably what happened in this television debate. Sexual Orientation is how a person's sexual desire is oriented. It is fixed and unchanging throughout life. There are two basic orientations: heterosexuality (majority) and homosexuality (minority), which is a variant of the majority. The combination of genetic and environmental factors will determine a person's sexual orientation. It seems that the gene has a relevant importance in this determination. So, a man is born with a susceptibility to orient himself sexually to the primary and secondary sexual characteristics of another man (he is homosexual) or to the characters of a woman (he is heterosexual).
Sexual Behavior is another category. It is linked to the history of reinforcement that the person has been subjected to during their life, mainly in the period of childhood and adolescence, where the foundations for the formation of our Sexual Behavioral Repertoire are created. He is malleable and changeable. Sexual Behavior encompasses a huge range of behaviors that were contingent on each person's life history.
For a better understanding, let's look at an example of bisexual Sexual Behavior: a gay man, at some point in his life, may have a sexual relationship with a woman, this does not mean that he is now straight, or that his sexual orientation has changed. He remains sexually oriented toward homosexuality, but something made him behave that way. And this thing(s) (variables) determined this behavior in him.
These variables are countless and particular to each person and they are linked to a functionality and consequence in the occurrence of the behavior. Each case is different. In this example above, it could be that the gay man is avoiding his homosexuality, which is very common, after all, how many gay men married to women do we know? Many. It may also happen that he wants to "try" straight sex, or that the girl has something that positively reinforces him in her behavior or in her body, among others. We cannot generalize, each case must be analyzed in a particular way and each behavior is a function of something. I tried to be as less technical as possible in my explanation. Hugs.
* João Batista Pedrosa is a psychologist (CRP 06/31768-3) and author of the book Segundo Desire (Iglu). Send your queries and questions to pedrosa@syntony.com.br. Also access your website.
