Transplanted this from Ak's thread.

I only want to know you're opinion on the matter of what causes it, I don't want to hear anything about what's right and what's wrong. It exists, give your opinion.

Personally I'm undecided. I had pretty much the same upbringing as all of my friends, and out of them I'm almost positive I'm the only one that turned out... like I am. So that points me towards Nature. However, when I was really little, in the pre-pre-school days, back before I knew any of the peropl I know today the only kids I had to play with were the people living on my block, and they all happened to be girls, so I don't really know.

Now come, Reply, I command it.

There should be a "both" option because most things are.

That's falls under undecided? If you can't pick solely between the two you're undecided on the matter....

No. Undecided means that I'm not sure if it is one or the other. I clearly believe it is, however, both for most cases so I am there not "undecided" but rather decided that it is both.

There should really be a both option

... You can't pick either one, you're undecided on that matter. You won't be undecided if there was a both option, but there isn't.

FINE! If I had any idea how to add another one I would, bah.

It is extremely unlikely that sexual orientation could be traced back to something as clear cut as playing with girls when very young. The factors that would lead to an alternative orientation, assuming that a specific person became homosexual because of 'nuture,' would likely be extremely complex, and unidentifiable. They may also be seemingly trivial things, and the similiarity between the upbringings of yourself and your friends would not be strong enough to rule it out.

I personally 'believe,' though I don't feel like that's an appropriate term, is that it is a mix of both, and will be different for each person. There is not a gene we can point to and say "This makes people gay" and there is nothing that we can point to in someone's upbringing and say "that made him/her gay." The causes are certainly very complex and a mix of many factors.

I would say its 60% nurture 40% nature.

You pulled those numbers out of your ass

That's actually about where I stand too.

No I pulled it out of my Pysch 101 prof's ass

I know that one little thing dosen't effect things, I was just using it as an example of the plethora of factors that effect these kinds of things.

If it was Nurture then, say, would it be possible for someone to 'switch' over then? Has that happened? I'm asking too many questions... hmm, I think it is more to do with Nurture too, a mix of personal wants and desires that results in this type of preference... there's too many factors to think about, society has a large effect, but usually anything other than straight is viewed in a negative light, so that would leave many people being, or thinking, heterosexual... I definitely feel there's a lot to do with Nurture, but self-Nurture in that.
Umm, playing with girls at a young age, it can soften a guy up I guess and make them like different things, but they can either become very feminine, or this constant interaction with females can reinforce their desire and attraction to them. I think.

Falasin is sorry he ever posted that. Now Falasin is going to dwell on his days of youth... not that they're over.

I have a friend who was born left handed and now can not write with his left hand. Why? because his teacher would not let him, and trained him to use his right hand. He has very neat handwriting by the way.

People switch all the time. Well, I should say.. I have switched charachter traits atleast twice in my life. I'm actually currently having a problem because I am acting in a way I have not acted since I was 11, and its starting to get me worried.

I'm not sure I'd agree that everyone's sexuality is fluid, Daganev. Definitely some, but then I imagine there are hterosexual people who would never find someone of the same gender sexually stimulating, and some homosexual people who would never find a member of the opposite gender sexually stimulating. No matter how hard they 'trained' themselves to do so.

Addressing the question here... its tough. I believe that genetic (or evolutionary ) predisposition is a big factor for some people, while others are affected more by their environment and events. I don't think you can point to one or the other, or some definitive mixture and say that it holds for everyone.

I'm gonna go with Dag's numbers.
I was raised by women my entire life, never had a male figure around. I grew up with my little sister, raised by my mom grandmother and bigger sister. As I child I played dress up and barbie's with my little sister all the time.
Now, me and my younger sister are the closest of best friends. Am I gay? I do not think so. I AM how-ever an efeminent straight guy who can talk acuratly about the properties of makeup or hair products.
I blame my upbringing for being comfortable enough in my sexuality for my sister to say "wow he is cute" and I can honesly reply " Hmm..nice bum too, yea he is cute"
Wouldn't have it any other way.
Citan

I'm pretty certain it's both, because my own experiences reflect that. I've liked girls for as long as I can remember (And actually, I don't think that playing with girls makes you gay. I'd think that playing contact-heavy games with boys would be far more likely to do so ), as much as little girls and little boys like other little girls and little boys... But I know very well that it's my upbringing which has meant that I don't like guys as much as I might otherwise (It kinda fluctuates though ). My father died when I was relatively young and the only stable, heterosexual relationship I've grown up around has been my grandparents, who don't really count (Cause really, who wants to think about their grandparents like that? ). So I suppose you could say I've grown up with a skewed view of the ability of straight people to succeed at relationships (Although if you look at current divorce figures ). Hence, given the choice, I'd far rather have a relationship with a girl. So basically, nature makes me like girls and nurture makes me not really like guys very much. And there's the end of my life story .

One thing I really don't get is this thing about not having contact with guys making people gay, or the other way around. It makes far more sense to me that someone who had heaps of contact with guys and none with girls would be gay. Especially if they've been scolded for doing activities that would bring them into contact with girls and sent out to play football and get praised for wrestling other boys .

I think the idea is that you don't feel attracted to those you consider friends, generally.

Or something. I'm sure there's better reasoning for it than I can give, but mainly I just agree with it because it seems right.