Sex & God: How Religion Distorts Sexuality by Darrel Ray
Authors: Darrel Ray
Tags: Religión, General, Psychology, Christianity, Atheism, Sexuality & Gender Studies, Human Sexuality
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fetus with a fullXY complement is somehow deprived of testosterone, he will develop into a female. Similarly, if a female with XX chromosome is exposed to high levels of testosterone in utero, she will develop a penis and testes.
Your Inner Female
All human embryos start as female. A male is the product of thousands of chemical sequences beginning at conception that slowly masculinize the body. A disruption in any number of these sequences can make a man more macsuline or less masculine.
During the intrauterine period of development, the male brain is programmed by a surge of testosterone acting on the nervous system. If something interferes with or reduces this surge, the male brain will program differently. This is one reason for the variety of sexual orientations – homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual or transsexual. The genes, hormones and environment create a unique human being. In some cases that human being’s body and mind do not conform to religious notions of male or female.
One example of how hormones and genetics work to create a sexual person is seen in Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS). AIS is a rare condition that creates sexual characteristics that are somewhere in between male and female or a complete reversal of sexual characteristics. There are two types of AIS: Complete AIS and Incomplete AIS. In Complete AIS a male fetus becomes a girl because he inherits a lack of sensitivity to androgens – insensitivity to the hormones that tell his body to become a man. As a result, development follows the natural route to a female body even though he has the male Y chromosome. 88
Incomplete AIS comes from partial insensitivity to androgen hormones. When this happens, the baby may develop gender ambiguity such as growing breasts, testes not descending or the urethra developing below the penis rather from the tip. The partial insensitivity gives the developing fetus mixed signals. As a result, male and female characteristics develop in a male fetus.
AIS demonstrates that gender is not as simple as religionists might claim. There are at least 7,000 people in the United States with Complete AIS – they look and act like women but their genes are male.
Genetics and epigenetics are far more important in sexuality than any idea of choice. No evidence has been found that anyone chooses their sexuality. Choice is a theological concept, not a biological one.
Tier Three – Sex in Your Jeans
The third tier of programming happens from birth through early adulthood. Our genes don’t tell us how to get a date or what sexual position we most enjoy. We develop our sexuality through a multilayered process.
The child and adolescent move through developmental stages that are genetically programmed but are also susceptible to epigenetic impact and cultural influence. For example, children absorb any language in their environment until about age 12, at which time the brain seems to slow down or switch off language acquisition.
In addition, children learn only the language or languages in their immediate environment. They easily learn the grammar and syntax, vocabulary and many subtle inflections and accents, effortlessly absorbing a critical aspect of human culture. Two children raised in the same house may even learn very different versions of the same language. For example, in pre-Civil War United States, slave children were raised right next to the plantation owner’s children, yet they spoke very different versions of the same language. In England, servants and aristocrats spoke different dialects. Cultural pressures can have strong influences on language acquisition.
The same is true of sex. While some aspects of sex are determined at tier one and two, others are susceptible to tier three – cultural learning. At the onset of puberty, with hormones rushing, adolescents are primed to absorb everything they can about sex. During this time, humans develop a good deal of their likes and dislikes, including primary and
Your Inner Female
All human embryos start as female. A male is the product of thousands of chemical sequences beginning at conception that slowly masculinize the body. A disruption in any number of these sequences can make a man more macsuline or less masculine.
During the intrauterine period of development, the male brain is programmed by a surge of testosterone acting on the nervous system. If something interferes with or reduces this surge, the male brain will program differently. This is one reason for the variety of sexual orientations – homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual or transsexual. The genes, hormones and environment create a unique human being. In some cases that human being’s body and mind do not conform to religious notions of male or female.
One example of how hormones and genetics work to create a sexual person is seen in Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS). AIS is a rare condition that creates sexual characteristics that are somewhere in between male and female or a complete reversal of sexual characteristics. There are two types of AIS: Complete AIS and Incomplete AIS. In Complete AIS a male fetus becomes a girl because he inherits a lack of sensitivity to androgens – insensitivity to the hormones that tell his body to become a man. As a result, development follows the natural route to a female body even though he has the male Y chromosome. 88
Incomplete AIS comes from partial insensitivity to androgen hormones. When this happens, the baby may develop gender ambiguity such as growing breasts, testes not descending or the urethra developing below the penis rather from the tip. The partial insensitivity gives the developing fetus mixed signals. As a result, male and female characteristics develop in a male fetus.
AIS demonstrates that gender is not as simple as religionists might claim. There are at least 7,000 people in the United States with Complete AIS – they look and act like women but their genes are male.
Genetics and epigenetics are far more important in sexuality than any idea of choice. No evidence has been found that anyone chooses their sexuality. Choice is a theological concept, not a biological one.
Tier Three – Sex in Your Jeans
The third tier of programming happens from birth through early adulthood. Our genes don’t tell us how to get a date or what sexual position we most enjoy. We develop our sexuality through a multilayered process.
The child and adolescent move through developmental stages that are genetically programmed but are also susceptible to epigenetic impact and cultural influence. For example, children absorb any language in their environment until about age 12, at which time the brain seems to slow down or switch off language acquisition.
In addition, children learn only the language or languages in their immediate environment. They easily learn the grammar and syntax, vocabulary and many subtle inflections and accents, effortlessly absorbing a critical aspect of human culture. Two children raised in the same house may even learn very different versions of the same language. For example, in pre-Civil War United States, slave children were raised right next to the plantation owner’s children, yet they spoke very different versions of the same language. In England, servants and aristocrats spoke different dialects. Cultural pressures can have strong influences on language acquisition.
The same is true of sex. While some aspects of sex are determined at tier one and two, others are susceptible to tier three – cultural learning. At the onset of puberty, with hormones rushing, adolescents are primed to absorb everything they can about sex. During this time, humans develop a good deal of their likes and dislikes, including primary and
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