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Is there any truth linking sexuality to personality?

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  • 18-05-2020 6:07pm
    #1
    mr_fegelien
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,483 ✭✭✭


    I know some LGBT people find this offensive and some say it isn't even true but there's always a stereotype of a gay men being "flamboyant", dressing feminine, etc..as well as lesbian women acting more masculine. Or perhaps the opposite, gay men being hypermasculine and lesbian women, hyperfeminine.

    I've heard that there's no scientific basis that LGBT people are more likely to have the personality of the opposite sex but rather that's a myth that straight people have established in their minds. Of course, it is confirmation bias seeing as people would only notice flamboyant gay men and forget the majority who act as average, masculine men.

    I myself have though have had girls say I'm gay purely because of the way I speak.


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    #2
    Ten of Swords
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 22,163 CMod ✭✭✭✭Ten of Swords


    mr_fegelien wrote: »
    there's no scientific basis that LGBT people are more likely to have the personality of the opposite sex but rather that's a myth

    Glad we got that sorted, thanks op :)

    Moderator: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender, Vegan & Vegetarian

    Category Moderator: Social & Fun



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    #3
    Annasopra
    Registered Users Posts: 40,795 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    Personalities like sexual orientations are diverse

    Its perfectly possible to get camp straight men and feminine lesbians. Probably some LGB people do tend to fit neatly into boxes but honestly most people dont always fit neatly into boxes.

    I think its kind of silly to say "you speak like X therefore your sexuality is Y"

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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    #4
    wakka12
    Registered Users Posts: 9,786 ✭✭✭wakka12


    It would be difficult not to admit that there aren't certain personality traits more prevalent among the gay community than they straight counterparts. But I think this may be learned behaviour because of who gay people hang out with(obviously a lot of gay people tend to gravitate to other gay people, at least many do), and so some of these traits may be picked up from another and become more common among gay men and lesbians.

    But any gay people I know from rough areas, or places where homosexuality is not accepted, their personalities are largely indistinguishable from their straight peers, so it makes me certainly believe there is no intrisinc link between personality and sexual orientation, but perhaps a correlation due to learned behaviours and environmental factors. Or perhaps elements of their personality are simply suppressed due to fear of persecution in such places,who knows. Nobody knows!


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    #5
    Yellow_Fern
    Registered Users Posts: 2,570 ✭✭✭Yellow_Fern


    Plenty of gay people cultivate personalities, peculiar cliche ones, I presume to fit in. We all do it to some extent in our own respective interests.


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    #6
    Annasopra
    Registered Users Posts: 40,795 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    wakka12 wrote: »
    It would be difficult not to admit that there aren't certain personality traits more prevalent among the gay community than they straight counterparts. But I think this may be learned behaviour because of who gay people hang out with(obviously a lot of gay people tend to gravitate to other gay people, at least many do), and so some of these traits may be picked up from another and become more common among gay men and lesbians.

    But any gay people I know from rough areas, or places where homosexuality is not accepted, their personalities are largely indistinguishable from their straight peers, so it makes me certainly believe there is no intrisinc link between personality and sexual orientation, but perhaps a correlation due to learned behaviours and environmental factors. Or perhaps elements of their personality are simply suppressed due to fear of persecution in such places,who knows. Nobody knows!

    There is also an element that some people feel they can express themselves much more naturally when they come out so maybe they might have had an inner camp self that they hid but they once they are publicly out in terms of their sexuality they can sometimes feel they no longer have to hide parts of their personality too

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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    #7
    J_E
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,734 ✭✭✭J_E


    It's complicated. Some personality traits have been assigned as masculine or feminine due to people's perceptions of the differences in gender and partly based some deep rooted sentiments against women, and I don't mean purely physicality. This leads to stereotypes as to what is a 'gay' personality or a 'butch/femme' type of person.

    On another level, some personality traits are socially cultured and a way for people to fit in, much like people develop accents as a cue to indicate their sexuality. Do I Sound Gay? is an interesting film that explores that a bit.

    I would say everyone develops their own personality traits in all walks of life in response to the environment around them and their own self-identity; it's just that minority groups obviously stand out more among them.


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