[Cerek]

Originally Posted by Illumina Drathiran'ar The problem with calling homosexuality a learned behavior is this- where does it come from? TV? No. The media? No. Schools? Certainly not. Unless there's a gay uncle in the mix, I'm not sure we can say learned and not innate.

I tried to explain what I meant more clearly in my response to Dave. I was stating that our behavior is influenced/shaped/patterned by ALL of the things we encounter in our childhood. Scientists have even suggested we "learn" 90% of what we know by the age of 5. That doesn't mean the educational lessons learned in school, that means learning how to walk, talk, eat, and all other behaviour essential for survival and social adaptation. It sounded skewed to me at first as well, until I stopped to think just how much we have to "learn" from birth.

I went on to explain that "learned" probably isn't the most appropriate term to use, but I can't think of a better term. Nowhere did I suggest we learn our behavior from watching TV or being exposed to it in the media (although those also are factors in what we learn). The example of the gay uncle is closer to what I was describing, but it goes deeper than that. HOW your family members feel about an issue WILL influence how you feel about it as well. And this influence begins at the infant stage. That is as clearly as I can state my viewpoint. If you disagree, that is your choice.