Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or any kind of professional researcher. I am only making general observations about things of which I have observational knowledge and experience.
About 6 weeks ago my daughter and I bought a dog. I grew up with dogs so I was not resistant because I don’t love dogs, but I had resisted getting a dog for a long time. My reasoning is that I am rarely home because I teach more than an hour away. I am committed to the practice so I rarely leave school when the “school day” is over, and on even more seldom cases do I arrive less than an hour before I am required to be at school. As I explained to a friend why we got a dog, “my daughter said, ‘Okay dad, you say we can’t get a dog because you are always at work, but you haven’t been at work a lot for about a year, so let’s get on this.’” My friend’s response to my retelling was, “yeah, she definitely is your kids!” So we had bought a dog.
As I have been walking my dog around town I have made some observations, and performed several recollections of a childhood with dogs and my work on a farm as I grew up.
I have seen many male dogs who would refuse to lift their leg to urinate, and plenty of female dogs who did lift their leg to empty their bladder. I have observed female dogs who would continually “hump” their male counterparts when they were in heat, and male dogs who would mount ANYTHING when they were in the mood; parts didn’t line up in most cases, but they would mount nonetheless.
During the late winter on the farm we would breed the animals. We would pair up males with females and based on the size and apparent virility of the males we would offer them the most opportunities. Based on 60+ year of experience, the farm owner understood through definitive evidence and experience if a male was most likely to produce healthy amounts of fertile pregnancies to produce healthy offspring. He also had more than 20 years of records suggesting the strength of the males’ genealogy. Nature would suggest that, when a female is in “season” the male will be overly engrossed by the scents and pheromones produced by the female; added to this, the males family stud historical nature would suggest this match would be amazing. Of course there is no science behind this, that I know about it, but to my observation, a bit less than 10% of the supposed “studs” would refuse to mate with any female.
***Side note: once the males did not mate after about 3 times they were not paired up with any more females; no sense in wasting opportunities for offering the chance to mate another male who showed interest and motivation.***
I am to assure you that I do not understand there to be a “correct answer” or a full understanding of attraction, sexuality, or gender identity. I cannot conclude that my observations about animals on a farm or dogs can definitively translate to humans however allow these observations to create a healthy dialogue with respect.
Dogs are not required to follow a social standard construct nor do they need to assimilate as “modeled” for them in order to be accepted. Presumably, dogs who behave like the opposite gender are doing what they instinctively feel to be natural. Dogs who perform sex acts on the same gender or even in revers postion without reason to “normalize” indicates these behaviors are part of their natural make up. Animals on a farm who have no interest in breeding and ignore the nature of their hereditary lineage about 10% of the time indicate that these actions are natural.
In the event that you have not observed a theory: Nature has indicated gender identity, sexual identity, and even attraction is a part of a persons individual nature. I do not presume there is no ability to have choice in these matters, or the likelihood a person’s opinion and feeling cannot change as their experiences may affect said person’s view; I am unable to make a judgment in this matter as I have no personal experience.I am grateful that I “fit in” with what is normal and standard to social conventions. This being said, I cannot pretend to know how an individual feels about their sexuality, birth gender designation, or even to whom they feel emotionally attracted to; I only hope all people can feel comforted by another individual and be satisfied emotionally with their partner. I suggest that my limited observations of creatures in nature, conversations with others who are homosexual, questioning whether they are the gender they were assigned at birth, or at times a mixture of the two I observe that conditions of sexuality et al (including what society feels is normal) has an element of nature that affects the essence of these elements of the human psyche. Furthermore, even thought I celebrate the religion of atheism, I observe that if sexuality, et al, is natural, them sexuality, et al, is determined by the creator (i.e. god). Personally I have been fond of how Indigenous peoples have viewed gender and sexuality. The respect and honor that is placed upon all peoples within Indigenous culture is clearly more inclusive and not prescriptive to go against what is natural. The willingness to see beyond what is “normal” has allowed Indigenous cultures, in part, to live with and within the confines of nature and not attempt to overpower that nature. Discuss…
Changing the world, one person at a time 