A puzzling thought about LGBT

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An idea has been percolating inside my slightly warped brain. Well, maybe I'm a quite a bit warped. You decide.

When I was a kid sixty years ago there was little evidence of LGBT. I only knew of Christine Jorgenson and in the sisties a movie 'I want what I want'.

Anyway, here is my weird hypothesis:

With the rapidly burgeoning world population and the seeming lack of will to control it, perhaps the swelling LGBT ranks is simply a bit of natural selection to curb population growth. LGBT couples could adopt the unwanted/excess births to fulfill family desires.

Comments?

Comments

It is not exactly surprising.

Nature tends to control populations...
And there are quite a few species around us that change their sexual preference or even sex depending on the population density.

Hmmmm

Frank's picture

I think it is more environmental factors with chemicals and pollution. Also with society becoming more open and accepting of things LGBTQ there is new freedom for people to express themselves.

{{Hugs}}

Hugs

Frank

Or, it could be...

that there were always LGB people around, but society wasn't ready for them to become "public". The social atmosphere has changed, so they are becoming more visible to a larger portion of the population.

This makes far more sense,

thliwent's picture

This makes far more sense, especially given the ancient cultures adaptations of 'third gender' or non gender, or other various ideals of that line.

There have always been those who have been LGBT, but now we're in a place where social acceptance, and in the cases of the T, *some* form of technology to adapt the body, are prevalent enough to allow people to say "This is who I am."

The standard response in the 60's was

Don't worry, it is a phase. He'll grow out of it.

I didn't and like others of my age, it wasn't a phase.
The same response was probably given to the parents of Gay and Lesbia as well as 'T' children,

Samantha

not the standard thought in west texas

when i explained my girl self to my parents . They cut my hair , they disallowed dolls including gi joes and stretch armstrong , I was forced into all the sports that came along including boxing and karate taught at the local youth center , football , baseball , swimming , biking and all I wanted to do was read wear dresses and play house . Beatings ensued and today I am a mans man who wants to wear dresses , play house , and any and all feminine things... but built like a gorilla , hairy with long powerful arms and a barrel chest so watcha gonna do
ed


ed

Sounds familiar to me

I dress at home almost every day. I even decide what I'm going to wear the night before.
Going out? You gotta be kidding. At 6ft 2in, a former Rugby no8 there is no way that I can pass so I accepted that a long time ago and make do with being myself while at home.
Ok, this is not possible for everyone but we make our own lives to a large extent so I just get on with it.

I even take a skirt with me when I go away. It is just so much more comfortable to be in my hotel room wearing that over trousers.
Samantha

My pet fear on the subject…

is that our environment is being polluted by hormone precursors that throw embryonic development off-kilter, and also reduce fertility in adults. If there is any substance to my pet fear, one should expect to find corroboration in abnormal sexual development in animals and particularly in fish near sources of chemical pollution.
Any ideas or relevant scientific articles out there?I don't read nearly as much science, particularly molecular bio, as I used to. Does anyone have an idea or a germane article that would shed some light on the idea, one way or the other?
Pleasant dreams,
rg

Don't believe nature is intelligent

I've never been keen on the idea that nature is intelligent. Stuff happens that produces a greater chance of survival, so the race flourishes. Explaining LGBT can be a challenge.

I believe that part of LGBT, the crossdressing male is a way of cheating the harem culture of many primate and older human societies. When an alpha male guards his harem against other alpha males, the male who looks sufficiently like a female gains access to the harem. The crossdressed male doesn't have to be stronger than the alpha male, simply more feminine looking.

This idea is reflected in several of my stories.

LGBT also allows stable relationships to bond in spite of imbalances in the male/female ratio, so both issues may give the human race a better ability to survive.

It's a very complex phenomenon

Angharad's picture

with probably many causes, some of which are the rise of science, progress in medical techniques (and the tendency to medicalise everything humans do), psychology, relative prosperity, mass media and the internet, social progress and gender role change/evolution (and in some places decline of religion), literature and film, population increase and urbanisation, pollution/environmental/cultural effects, and little green men from Mars.

Apart from all these it's fairly straightforward.

Angharad

Bio-chemistry

Monique S's picture

There probably are a lot of factors contributing.
Due to my profession I'd say that the much more efficient population control of Nature in the long run is climat change and as astrologeress I will add, that the coming economic breakdown will do a lot to add to that.

As to the 'pet-fears', there is enough evidence out there as to the side effects of hormones, chemicals and plastic pollution out there, just search the appropropriate sites of environmental organisations like Green Peace, Friends of the Earth and others.
When I asked a leading laboratory about the effects of 'wild rubbish dumps' on the environment, the head of the lab assured me, that they find new unknown substances almost every day, bred by conditions created through combining compostable material (that result in heat beaking down) with anorganic substances. Nobody has any clue what these are going to do in the long run, I am afraid.

But all said and done there are some of the human race that are a very resilient and biologically inventive specimens (their bodies) so we might have ourselves surprised some day (if we live long enough) at the outcome. Just think of combinations like XXXY chromosomes and even more "exotic" combinations(Yes, they have been and are consistently found).

There is only one thing we all can do to help the situation, become not only conscious of the situation, but AWARE of how we contribute and start to change ourselves. That is the only possibility to be sure of the outcome. And if we give an example to others who try to do the same, all the better.

Monique S