Hey ho,

Furthermore,
I believe that sexual orientation is a choice.

Um, actually, it's not.  Just as you are presumably attracted to the
opposite sex, homosexuals are attracted to the same sex, and bisexuals >to 
both sexes.  It's not a choice, anymore than it is for you.

Now that's quite the strong statement, with very little hard evidence (that 
I know of) to really back it up.  Certainly, aspects of sexual orientation 
are hardwired into the brain; but I haven't read any really, really 
conclusive evidence stating that that's _all_ there is.

Let's face it, sexuality is pretty messed up, for the simple reason that it 
involves people--they way they think, and all the messy stufff going on in 
their unconscious.  Some guys are attracted to other guys; some girls like 
girls; and a couple of oddballs like poochie.  Fair enough.  Some people are 
attracted to being tied up, or pooped on, or other variations on the whole 
reproduction thing.  I seriously doubt there's some kind of 
'tie-me-up-and-spank-me' gene; but something in that person's head requires 
that stimulus to get the mojo flowing.  There's a definite choice going on 
there--well, to the extent that these people choose to follow these mental 
impulses.

You're attracted to her, sure, but for various reasons,
like you don't bother going after her, you've already got a girlfriend,
she turns you down, etc, nothing happens with it.  It isn't JUST >physical, 
and people can have sex with the sex that they aren't >attracted to for the 

same reason; there's more to it than being a man >or a woman.

No argument there.  Actually, people have sex with people they're not 
attracted to all the time, whether it be homosexual or heterosexual.  I 
think western men are conditioned to try and have sex as often as possible, 
for some reason; it gets tied into our concept of 'masculinity'.  Alcohol, 
of course, does a whole lot towards blurring (in more ways than one) what 
people consider 'attractive'.

It's more likely that Ranma would, stuck as a girl, be attracted to men
than to women, although he'd probably keep noticing women for a while >out 
of habit.  It's a habit to check girls out.  After a while, he'd >find 
himself looking over at guys and noticing them, instead.  But >that doesn't 
mean he'd end up with a guy.  It's more likely that he'd >simply end up 
alone, or ignore his attraction to guys and hook up with >some girl 
instead, because he'd still think of himself as a guy.

<grin>  Probably a good idea to bring it back to something fanfic-related, 
to avoid the wrath of the mods.  I don't see why Ranma would necessarily be 
attracted to men, given being stuck in a female body.  It could go both 
ways, I guess; one author writes it where the body overcomes his own 
thinking processes, and he slowly orients towards a heterosexual female, er, 
orientation--another author writes it so his conditioning of the last 
sixteen-plus years endure and overcome.  I can accept both, I guess, though 
I lean towards the second.  What if Ranma's female body has been hardwired 
with a lesbian orientation, assuming you believe it's a biology thing?  That 
could be interesting.  Maybe he's so starved for genuine affection that the 
first person to treat him/her kindly will force an orientation swing... 
maybe, at the end of it all, he really just doesn't care, and he's happy 
with a lifestyle of martial arts and ass-kicking, regardless of gender.

One response suggested he might take the suicide route.  Personally, that 
strikes me as the most OOC option of the bunch.  I can see him toying with 
the affection of three guys at once while in university, before popping a 
knife in his belly.  Not only does suicide make for pretty poor storytelling 
(in my opinion), it just strikes me as dubious for a guy like him.  The 
dude's too much of a fighter to give in, especially for something so 
apparently unimportant to him... heck, to judge by the manga, I'm not sure 
the guy really _has_ a sex drive.

-Mike

Darn.  I've gone and been long-winded again.  Sorry.  It's a dull night.

http://www.geocities.com/noakes_m

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