Introduction to Latin America

‘Coming out’ is a term that has been associated with keeping your sexuality a secret until you are ready to let the world know. Being born gay is a decision in which some are oppressed mentally to believe they were poison from birth. Camille Paglia, a University Professor of Humanities & Media Studies at the University of the Arts thinks “the science behind the theory is not accurate to some degree and should not be taken seriously” (139).  

        In John Locke’s book, "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding," first published in 1670. He calls the mind a "tabula rasa,” something like a blank sheet or writing tablet” (176). The book states that though humans are born without content, they have the basic faculties to absorb and process content once they acquire it. Locke produces “The Blank Slate Theory, which is a theory that says all human minds start off empty, as blank slates, and are filled in with personal experiences” (203). Furthermore Locke, examines, the three types of actions performed on the mind that consist of, combining simple ideas into complex ideas, comparing simple ideas without uniting them and forming abstractions of everyday things. (205). Dr. Alan Sanders, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Northwestern University explains The Blank Slate Theory.

Every idea is an object of some action of perception and thinking. An idea is an immediate object of our thoughts, something we perceive and to which we are actively paying attention. We also perceive some things without ever thinking about them, and these things do not continue to exist in our minds because we have no reason to think about them or remember them. Let us suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters (170).

Locke is calling the mind a blank sheet of paper, which means the mind at birth contains no ideas. Our experiences must then write on the mind by furnishing it with ideas.

        LeVay explains, "It's important to stress what I didn't find. I did not prove that homosexuality is genetic, or find a genetic cause for being gay. I didn't show that gay men are born that way, the most common mistake people make in interpreting my work. Nor did I locate a gay center in the brain (8).

        Anne Fuasto Sterling "Of Genes and Gender," similarly critiques theories that suggest humans are totally controlled by genetic information. Particularly, she argues that the binary genetic sex model under which biology works is not nearly as obvious or secure as it seems. The author also points out those studies of "sexual development" are almost always about men.