are fetishes and sexual orientation choices or predetermined from birth?

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emeraldrafael

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Jul 17, 2010
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I dont jknow if anything can really be preodetermined from birth that isnt a bodily disability or gender.

So I would say its developed.
 

zehydra

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Oct 25, 2009
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Necromancer Jim said:
I'd like to think they're a part of you that exists from birth.

Doesn't explain some of mine, though.
Lol what kind of fetishes does a necromancer have???
 

The Apothecarry

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Mar 6, 2011
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I would describe a fetish as being a very strong conscious or unconscious desire of something, therefore it could come from either birth or as a result of the environment we were raised in.
 

kurupt87

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Mar 17, 2010
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Nature vs nurture eh? I'm of the opinion most is down to nurture.

We are what our parents, our peers, our teachers and society at large makes us to be. Almost none of it is done with a specific goal(/trait) in mind.

We are what our experiences make us.

We do personally have some control, but we have to realise something is happening in order to weild that control over it; and that is not an easy thing to recognise. Generally, by the time you're an adult it is too late to change your personality.

A huge event occuring could make you question everything and that would lead to a more personally decided self.
 

SturmDolch

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May 17, 2009
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I'm not sure. Science has said both.

But it definitely comes down to the individual. And unless evidence proves me wrong, I don't believe in "sexual orientation". Sure, there might be genes that make one preference more likely than the other. In the end, it's just preference that is created by your surroundings.
 

TheLaofKazi

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They are the result of a complicated relation between one's genetics, their upbringing and environment. They aren't necessarily choices, although one can "choose" to embrace, explore or experiment with sexuality that can help them find out more about themselves. So in a way, I "chose" to be bisexual.

Sexuality is just symbolism and associations anyway. That's pretty much how people's higher thinking works.
 

Irony's Acolyte

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Mar 9, 2010
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Instinct or choice?

Neither.

They're "learned" over your life time. Especially the odder ones. While wide hips and large breasts are practically ingrained in the human psyche as "attractive", other fetishes such as foot fetishes, S&M, loli, or pregnant come about due to "learned" arousal. What probably happened was the person was already aroused when viewing the object. Their mind connected arousal with the sight of that object and after enough reinforcement of this connection, their fetish was born. Hell, I'm pretty sure this is how nearly the entirety of a person's sexual preference comes about.
 

dfake

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Mar 20, 2011
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Fetishes can be developed imo, orientation is probably something you're born with, but if you have any sort of tendencies for hopping the fence, you're probably just like every other person in the world, just a bit more open.
 

Wayneguard

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Perhaps partially. I definitely think that they can be attributed to environmental factors and experience though, particularly in the case of fetishes. I had some supporting evidence lined up in my head as I was writing that first sentence but someone just interrupted my train of thought and it's gone >_>
 

Natasha_LB

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Until recently I would have argued against such things being per-determined at birth.. however I recently read an interesting article about sexual preference in mice that implies that it is simply chemical, and thus could well be determined at birth. The Article says that it's too soon to draw conclusions about humans, but it certainly seems possibly that it could work in a similar way.

Here's a link for anyone interested in the article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12825688
 

xdom125x

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I think which gender you are attracted to can be mostly based on genetics, but it can change(not by force. if it will happen it will change naturally). Fetishes are probably from childhood experiences or nurture over nature, in my opinion of course.
 

Laser Priest

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Mar 24, 2011
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zehydra said:
Necromancer Jim said:
I'd like to think they're a part of you that exists from birth.

Doesn't explain some of mine, though.
Lol what kind of fetishes does a necromancer have???
I may not speak for all Necromancers, but I have some sort of armor fetish that most people I know find creepy.

I also have no awareness of what not to make extremely clear to people.
 

Cain_Zeros

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Sexual orientation is definitely predetermined. I didn't choose to be straight, and yet I am. As for fetishes... Well, I can't think of anything in my childhood that would've resulted in my biting fetish...
 

Verlander

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No. They may be socially determined, but that's about it.

To prove this, try and guess a random persons fetish. If you get it right, ask why that is. Is it how they stand, act, dress etc? If so, that's a cultural or sociological condition.

I've spoken about my own far more than is necessary on a non fetish website, and so people that know me, know what I am. That has no relation to my parents (even as an opposite) nor does it have a relation to my young childhood. I would accept a comparison to my "growing up years" though.
 

Lord Beautiful

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Sexual orientation: most likely genetic.

Sexual fixations: most likely byproducts of the process of an individual's psychological development.
 

Andantil

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May 10, 2009
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Fetishes and orientation determined at birth? By genetics? No. Hell no.

I can personally attest, as a frequent lurker on /d/, that fetishes are not predetermined. Before I started visiting /d/ I liked all the normal things, big tits, round asses, etc. and I was straight. Now I'm bisexual and have more fetishes than I can name, most of which are probably better left unnamed on the escapist forums.
 

NeoGuardian86

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Mar 26, 2011
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I think fetishes are purely environmnetal.

sexual orientation i don't know. I go by the 'onion theory' by that i mean. i believe it is probably genetic at some point or totally for some people in determining their identity, but i no doubt believe social pressures, and each persons social-experiences can identify or confuse them.

What i mean by that is, people who feel they are 100% gay that it wasn't choice, could very well be it, but it may not simply rooted in genetics. However that lends to the idea that is 'reversible' (i know that is controversial for some just bear with me here).

Seeing that there is no hard evidence yet pointing one or the other, i tend to think it's probably mostly genetic. but from members in the LGBT community i meet, and i only have a few of them that i still chat with over facebook on a semi-normal basis. I tend to get the sense from a few of them that it's more environmental/nurture factors rather then genetic. and yes i could be totally wrong about that.
Still.


P.S.

I also count that towards those who are simply bi-curious and straight up straights who have the one exception of going to the other orientation. Seeing that as mostly if not all environmental effects.


Those are simply my thoughts, not hard facts - as there isn't a whole lot of it on the genetic side.
 

MissDK

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Jan 11, 2011
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darthotaku said:
I firmly believe they are ingrained in individuals from birth. As a kid, before I knew how to talk I was facinated by breasts. not for food, I was bottle fed, but my mom always tells stories of how when her friends picked me up my hands always went for her chest. luckily I was about 2 so everybody laughed it off.
after I started highschool my parents weren't surprised when every girl I brought home had huge boobs because of how I behaved as a child.

so escapists, what is your opinion?

Uhhmm... Well i have been a babysitter for a VERY long time... ALL boys, and i really mean ALL the boys i have babysat (age 1-5) have been obsessed with boobs... It's a genetic thing. It doesn't matter it your were breastfed or not...

(sorry about my bad english)
 

Zaik

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I know fetishes aren't, mine have changed a few times.

I'm fairly confident that if you *really* wanted to, you could push towards a change in anything of that nature like acquiring a taste, however it requires positive outside stimuli outside of your direct control to complete the process.

For example, a vast majority of my sexual encounters have played out more or less with a woman laying there and wailing like a severely wounded animal until it's over. I was kind of bored, but not really uninterested. Then I was with a woman who was actually able to be sexually aggressive and participate in bed, and I can't even keep it up for lazy women anymore, I just stop.

Previously I had a thing for women moaning, but it doesn't interest me at all anymore. It's what I wanted, but it was never actually set in stone until something out of my control happened that cemented it in place.
 

Tsunimo

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Nov 19, 2009
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It isn't a choice, but I don't think it is decided at birth either. I believe that fetishes, same thing with the human personality in general, is developed based on your upbringing like exposure to different things, level of schooling, etc.