Sexual Orientation

[Wes]

Back on track guys, BACK ON TRACK. This isn't about the bible or religion.

 

Also, thanks to RobGraves, I now added "Hobosexual" to the list of options.

[Hurricane]

^

 

LMAO!!! Who voted for Hobosexual!!!

[Robgraves]

sorry lou.. we posted at about the same time.

[Robgraves]

awesome.... you gotta recognize hobo-humpin

[Wes]

Disturbing trends in the world of Hobosexuality...

 

There's a famous children's song called "The Big Rock Candy Mountain," but it's not a children's song at all. It's an old hobo folk song describing the hobo Valhalla where cigarettes grew on trees and streams of alcohol trickled down the rocks, and there'd be a lake of gin and whiskey. Handouts grew on trees. Harry McClintock [who popularized it] said a lot of people think this song was written by the hobos as a type of pied-piper tune to sing as they went through towns, to try to bring children with them. He goes on to explain that the most valuable possession a hobo could have would be a child who would do his begging for him—then McClintock said mysteriously, "and other things." I'm like, "What the hell?" I had been really worried that people were going to find the hobo material [in Expertise] offensive, because on one hand, they might confuse the hobo material with making fun of contemporary homelessness, which is the last thing that I'm interested in doing.

 

I felt the obligation to do a certain amount of research in this area, and what I discovered—quite to my horror and surprise—was that the hobos had this "road kid" culture, that hobos would have homosexual relationships with young men that they would lure onto the hobo road. I'm talking early teens. The hobo slang is so colorful and evocative, but I discovered this culture infected a whole different realm of hobo slang that was just awful and dispiriting, so a hobo's road kid might be called his "possesh." A road kid's life was much like a punk in prison—about serving the hobo master until he could become strong enough to become a hobo in his own right. I did a fair amount of casual research on hobos, and it never came up until I heard this song. When I do readings, Jonathan Coulton will come with me, and we'll do some comedic banter. Then I'll read about the hobos, and he'll play "The Big Rock Candy Mountain," and we'll sing about how this is a much darker story than even I imagined. We have a whole bunch of lyrics that we've written that purport to be the originals, all about how the hobo's singing to the child, "You won't miss your mom and dad," and the rocks are nice and sweet, and the dirt all tastes like sugar—you can taste some as you work the mines to bring me precious gems. "There's a hobo's shed and some paint made of lead / You know you're done painting when you're good and dead / On The Big Rock Candy Mountain." That was our version.

 

http://www.avclub.com/content/node/47257

[shepp]

Everyone in this world has the choice to be gay or not.

 

OK, Wes, I promise not to respond to any of the unwarranted religious proselytization surrounding the above-quoted gem...but...since this thread IS about sexual orientation, and since that's such a lovely blanket statement, perhaps you (Crazy4Coasters) could, oh I don't know, present some reputable evidence (beyond wishful thinking) to back that up? I mean, do you think you could volitionally change YOUR orientation? Assuming you're straight (I don't have the patience to research that out) just when did you decide to be a het? Or is only homosexuality volitional and heterosexuality some mythic State of Nature? If so, perhaps you could explain just what it is about homosexuality that's so attractive that, in every age and every society (and, in the non-human world, a sizable number of animal species), a notable minority choose to go queer? Is it our fashion sense? Our talents in the musical theater? And just where do bisexuals fit in your worldview?

 

Come to think of it, just what are your bona fides in the study of human sexuality?

[Nrthwnd]

I did not "choose to be gay."

 

I chose whether to be sexual about it, or not. To 'act' on the orientation, is what I chose.

 

And that's my truth 'on the subject of...'

 

[GAcoaster]

awesome.... you gotta recognize hobo-humpin

 

Oh, so THAT's what the song "Hobo Humpin Slobo Babe" was all about!!!

 

I just remembered seeing the girl's panties when she'd jump on the trampoline in the video...it was really about Hobosexuality!

[shepp]

^ Our Brit friends should keep in mind that the common American synonym for "hobo" is "bum."

[Nrthwnd]

Bum bum da dum dum.......

 

[Robgraves]

So then in essence, I like to roger bums.

[shepp]

^ I suppose you do, you sodding bugger...but do you have a fag afterwards?

[Robgraves]

always... even have 2 or 3 during some times!!!!

 

(in reality.... no, i don't smoke)

[a7x4ever000]

im a dude who likes dudettes

[coastercub]

Raving Britsh fag here.. well ok i'm British and like err, well big masculine men !! but saying that i have a thing for large chested women, wouldn't know what to do with them though !!

[coastercub]

^ Our Brit friends should keep in mind that the common American synonym for "hobo" is "bum."

 

I like bum

[coastercub]

shepp wrote: "Gays are damnable sinners, but accepting Jesus will turn them straight." Phooey on that.

 

Well am christian but am not here to point fingers. Shepp was right on one thing "Gays are sinners" but they are not damnable. Everyone in this world has the choice to be gay or not.

 

Hmmm, I DIDN'T choose to be gay. I think it's a VERY ignorant thing to pressume about something you clearly know NOTHING about, ONLY what you've been taught. Being a gay man and having many gay friends I know that NONE of them choose t be gay. It's the way they are born, not a choice or how they've been brought up.

 

I'm proud of who I am, and I'm happy with my sexuality

[kumba70]

Aussie gay boy here.

 

And I agree, I don't think anyone "chooses" to be gay, straight or otherwise, it's just the way it is.

 

For me, it's the way I was born. Unlike most of my gay friends, I have never had sex with a woman ... and at the tender age of 36 years old I don't it's going to happen anytime soon

 

Don't get me wrong, (to use a phrase that is commonly used about us) some of my best friends are women

[BiCoastal Kid]

I'm this young and already tired of the "born that way" debate... my hell, it's so dead. How long does it go back and forth? Physically speaking, it has to die down eventually.

 

Hopefully sooner than later.

[coastercub]

Surely the only people qualified to answer the "born that way" debate are the ones "born that way" yet it's the str8 people who keep the arguement alive ! Whats that about ???

[kumba70]

I couldn't agree more coastercub. The debate will never cease though. There will still be people out there that, even given absolute scientific proof otherwise, who believe that it is nurture rather than nature.

 

The expression "you just haven't met the right women yet" is one that really grates on me. Pfft I say! I have met lots of right women and share a part of my life with them in some form ... just not the bed.

[MrRiverizon]

Hi there, Its been a long time since I have posted. But Back in the first few pages of this thread I posted That I'm gay. WELL, I have news ! I rededicated my life to Christ and beleive it or not I'm free from that old life style. Not saying that I'm out looking for a girlfriend right away, But I dont have any sexual feeling towards men any more. My main focus is Getting to know God and serving him. When he feels its time for me to meet a girl I will. I'll leave that up to him.

So I'm Free and now straight.

 

I know you posted this a few weeks ago, but a question just keeps bugging me in my head.

 

Did you feel that once you recommitted your life to Christ, you no longer had a sexual attraction towards men? Or did your attraction towards men slowly diminish then you rededicated your life?

[shepp]

^ More interesting still - since all sorts of things like chronic depression or certain medications can decrease sexual drive - is whether Jesus gave Spike an attraction to women that's equal to or greater than his previous attraction to men. One would assume that Someone who could revivify the dead could easily do that little thing. But - wherever he is - Spike hasn't seen fit to share.

 

And as far as the nature vs. nurture debate - I think it's complex, in many or most case a combination of genetics and environment in varying degrees. There may even be some people who can in some sense "choose" their balance (as they themselves perceive it), the same as we may, with experimentation and experience, find certain previously unappealing sexual paractices to be, well, hot. But though the answer is irrelevant to human rights - after all, such protected categories as religion and political beliefs are hardly genetic - I, for one, find research on the subject quite fascinating...

[BiCoastal Kid]

^Yeah, I've always thought it was a combination of the two, really. I think you're born with a majority atraction to one or the other, but your upbringing helps determine how you act on it. Really, I think the biology and psychology of it are too complex for it to be narrowed down to a yes or no answer.

 

Really, I mean, although it's debated, pheramonal reception is an area of this whole thing I've never seen explored. If you could find research on it, please shopw me because I'm highly intrigued. But really, if pheramones really do determine attraction, the genetic aspect of the discussion would basically be proven. It would also leave room for an "ambiguity clause" in sexual orientations, since it would be possible to people to be born with different ratios of male:female attraction.

[coastercub]

I think from my own personal experience i'd say that although I sort of agree with Shepp I think it comes down to the fact that we are born one way or another (and degree's of one way or another) and the society we're brought up tells us how socially acceptable it is within our own situation.

 

I myself prefer older men and it's obvious that most older men were born in a time when it was less acceptable to be gay and so most of them were married with kids etc so I think alot of it comes down to how honest you are with yourself !!

 

I do honestly believe that you can't change your sexuality. Your just denying a part of yourself and I don't feel that's healthy.

 

You have to question the society we live in today if people still have to deny a core part of their life to fit in or be socially acceptable.

 

Anyway, what do I know.. I'm just a poof !!