From: quilty@titan.ucc.umass.edu (Humberto Humbertoldi)
Subject: Re: Homosexuality is normal?
Keywords: homosexuality
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 19:24:23 GMT

In article <1992Nov17.192728.17711@sun0.urz.uni-heidelberg.de> gsmith@clio.iwr.uni-heidelberg.de (Gene W. Smith) writes:
>In article <BxsErx.239@cmptrc.lonestar.org>
>jspence@cmptrc.lonestar.org (John Spence) writes:
>
> Homosexuality has always struck me as a perfectly normal
>>capacity of the human animal, something anybody could no and many people
>>have done, as adolescents know. Because of the very real horrors of
>>homophobic persecution, there has been a frantic search for some
>>biological explanation fro this normal activity.
>
>Translation:  I am neither a Kinsey 0 or 6, and for ideological
>reasons I prefer to ignore the evidence that other people are.

Gee, this completely misunderstands Kinsey.  The whole point is that
it is a SCALE and not a set of discrete and essentializing categories.
Of course if you have a scale which goes from 0 to 6, some people will
be zeros, some sixes, and some the various numbers in between.  It's
just stupid to try to infer what the "Kinsey" rating of the writer of
the above is from what's written.
>
>>However flimsy the evidence, biological theories make heterosexual
>>males feel safely "normal" and certifiably different from homosexual
>>men, who can in turn feel safely "not at fault" for doing what feels
>>normal.
>
>Translation:  let's hope this ad hominem argument will keep me from
>having to argue using actual facts.  If I am really lucky, nobody
>will notice the huge proportion of homosexuals who hate the idea
>of biological determination.

Translation.  Let's hope that insulting the argument against
biological theories in an ad hominem way will draw attention away from
the huge proportion of "homosexuals" (sorry, I don't actually know
what such a thing is, being an anti-essentialist) who LIKE the idea of
biological determinism.  Of course, not all xxxx-sexuals believe
biological determinist arguments.  Those who don't believe them aren't
harmed by them.
>
>>    Theories of biological determinism may be P.C. and may relieve
>>adults who have already declared their sexual preference for life, but
>>these either/or theories create therapeutic problems for young people
>>who discover their normal and universal homosexual capacity before they
>>have gotten comfortable with their normal and universal heterosexual
>>capacity.
>
>Translation: maybe if I call it PC people will not notice that it
>*isn't* especially PC, and swallow all this ad hominem.

Translation:  maybe if I latch on to the very justifiable opposition
to the rightwing "anti-PC" hysteria I don't actually have to address
the arguments of the doctor, but can just attack him for the use of
the word "PC" (trying to cover up that that use is obviously very
toungue-in-cheek)

>I would have discussed his actual arguments, but he didn't give any.
Ditto


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Newsgroups: alt.politics.homosexuality