RE: Do you think "necrophilia" can be considered a legit sexual orientation?
March 27, 2013 at 10:01 pm
(This post was last modified: March 27, 2013 at 10:08 pm by Creed of Heresy.)
Seriously, Catfish, what were you asking? Were you asking for information on what the APA tests for? Or were you asking for information on what tests the APA does to identify the disorders they list? Or were you asking for outside tests to confirm APA classifications of disorders?
http://www.apa.org/science/programs/test...tests.aspx
Basically they're the collators of the data. Whatever means are available, they use it, but they don't endorse any one test as being 100% failproof across the board, they use a lot of different ones depending on the circumstances, which fits given how wildly varied human psychologies are.
Unless you're asking for an outside source to confirm data the APA has...which doesn't make any sense since that's like asking an astrophysicist to confirm data brought forth by biologists in the field of biology. I think you're desperately seeking the same kind of bias in the medical and scientific fields as are so prevalent in the hundreds of religions in an attempt to dismiss these studies since they are not compatible with your worldview. Unfortunately, I have really bad news for you; your worldview is probably incompatible with 90% of everything going on in the world so you're going to always be trying to square the circle.
Now as for the topic of what causes homosexuality or bisexuality etc etc etc...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and...rientation
This is a VERY long article. For a quick cliffnote: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/art...479390051D
This is most telling:
So is there any one thing that makes someone gay? Nope. It's a myriad of things, to the extent that there would probably be no such thing as a "cure," short of extensively rewriting someone's genome, recalibrating every gland in their head, blanking their memories, and isolating someone from others who share their gender and even then that's not a guarantee it would do anything at all. You can no more "cure" homo sexuality than you can cure being homo sapiens. Your weird and ignorant hatred of gay individuals is unwarranted, baseless, bigoted, unfounded, and exists only because your stupid bronze-age book tells you so, so like the good little slave you are you just mindlessly slaver all over it. Seriously, the amount of hatred you display towards gays, from what I've gathered from other posts, makes me suspect something. Specifically it makes me think that that hatred might be directed from a source of self-loathing... DO you sometimes find yourself attracted to men? If so, you don't need to pretend for us. We're not gonna judge you for it. We'll all shrug and go "Ok." You'll probably find more acceptance from us atheists than you will from others who might share your more-unfounded beliefs in that area, not unlike many other gay or bisexual individuals.
Course, then you'll have to come to terms with the fact that somehow atheists are more open and accepting than those who follow sky-daddy's supposedly superior morals despite the fact we all seem rather grumbly and bitter...and, hoo-whee...that'll throw your dogmatic stance for a doozy, won't it? I guess I can see why you wouldn't come out of the closet...it risks shattering your fragile little delusions into fragments, and the thought of being without religion...the thought of staring into the howling chaotic void...the thought of having to admit that you matter to none of it, that you are not special, that you serve no macro-special importance, that you're stuck with the little you have...
Yeah. It's pretty scary when you think of it like that. Yet somehow we all do it. I think that's what draws you, like other theists, to this forum. Where religious forums rarely attract atheistic members, this forum has a steady influx of them, and many stick around for quite a while. It's not because you like the argument; you never get anywhere with the argument and you know it. No, it's because you're fascinated. We're doing what you would think to be absolutely impossible yet we're not the raging psychopaths that you think we would be void of god's "morals" and "guidance." You wanna know why. And truth be told, the reason's pretty simple; because we got over our fear. Like every other superstitious group in history, eventually people started climbing out of the caves to wonder at the thunderstorm, while the more fearful hissed and whispered that they were about to die or invoke the gods' wraths upon them for their boldness. And when the inquisitive come back to the caves, very drenched but also very excited about what they just saw, the superstitious pomp themselves up and declare that it was their piety that saved the curious, that the gods spared them. Except a few more see through this ridiculous display, and next time there's a thunderstorm, a few more venture out to stare in awe at the power of the universe made miniature in the comparatively simple displays of nature in the lightning and rain.
You might as well just join us in staring at the lightning. It's pretty impressive stuff, and the feeble bleatings of the morons in the caves are drowned out easily by the roar of the thunder...a sound we still find humbling in its power and majesty, but not because we suspect it suddenly gaining an intellect and smiting us, but rather because it LACKS that intellect yet could so easily annihilate us.
It's pretty fun out here. A bit wet and the really bright flashes of light can dazzle you for a second but...yeah, it's pretty fun.
http://www.apa.org/science/programs/test...tests.aspx
Basically they're the collators of the data. Whatever means are available, they use it, but they don't endorse any one test as being 100% failproof across the board, they use a lot of different ones depending on the circumstances, which fits given how wildly varied human psychologies are.
Unless you're asking for an outside source to confirm data the APA has...which doesn't make any sense since that's like asking an astrophysicist to confirm data brought forth by biologists in the field of biology. I think you're desperately seeking the same kind of bias in the medical and scientific fields as are so prevalent in the hundreds of religions in an attempt to dismiss these studies since they are not compatible with your worldview. Unfortunately, I have really bad news for you; your worldview is probably incompatible with 90% of everything going on in the world so you're going to always be trying to square the circle.
Now as for the topic of what causes homosexuality or bisexuality etc etc etc...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and...rientation
This is a VERY long article. For a quick cliffnote: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/art...479390051D
This is most telling:
Quote:The so-called "gay uncle" hypothesis posits that people who themselves do not have children may nonetheless increase the prevalence of their family's genes in future generations by providing resources (food, supervision, defense, shelter, etc.) to the offspring of their closest relatives. This hypothesis is an extension of the theory of kin selection. Kin selection was originally developed to explain apparent altruistic acts which seemed to be maladaptive. The initial concept was suggested by J.B.S. Haldane in 1932 and later elaborated by many others including John Maynard Smith, W. D. Hamilton and Mary Jane West-Eberhard. This concept was also used to explain the patterns of certain social insects where most of the members are non-reproductive.
So is there any one thing that makes someone gay? Nope. It's a myriad of things, to the extent that there would probably be no such thing as a "cure," short of extensively rewriting someone's genome, recalibrating every gland in their head, blanking their memories, and isolating someone from others who share their gender and even then that's not a guarantee it would do anything at all. You can no more "cure" homo sexuality than you can cure being homo sapiens. Your weird and ignorant hatred of gay individuals is unwarranted, baseless, bigoted, unfounded, and exists only because your stupid bronze-age book tells you so, so like the good little slave you are you just mindlessly slaver all over it. Seriously, the amount of hatred you display towards gays, from what I've gathered from other posts, makes me suspect something. Specifically it makes me think that that hatred might be directed from a source of self-loathing... DO you sometimes find yourself attracted to men? If so, you don't need to pretend for us. We're not gonna judge you for it. We'll all shrug and go "Ok." You'll probably find more acceptance from us atheists than you will from others who might share your more-unfounded beliefs in that area, not unlike many other gay or bisexual individuals.
Course, then you'll have to come to terms with the fact that somehow atheists are more open and accepting than those who follow sky-daddy's supposedly superior morals despite the fact we all seem rather grumbly and bitter...and, hoo-whee...that'll throw your dogmatic stance for a doozy, won't it? I guess I can see why you wouldn't come out of the closet...it risks shattering your fragile little delusions into fragments, and the thought of being without religion...the thought of staring into the howling chaotic void...the thought of having to admit that you matter to none of it, that you are not special, that you serve no macro-special importance, that you're stuck with the little you have...
Yeah. It's pretty scary when you think of it like that. Yet somehow we all do it. I think that's what draws you, like other theists, to this forum. Where religious forums rarely attract atheistic members, this forum has a steady influx of them, and many stick around for quite a while. It's not because you like the argument; you never get anywhere with the argument and you know it. No, it's because you're fascinated. We're doing what you would think to be absolutely impossible yet we're not the raging psychopaths that you think we would be void of god's "morals" and "guidance." You wanna know why. And truth be told, the reason's pretty simple; because we got over our fear. Like every other superstitious group in history, eventually people started climbing out of the caves to wonder at the thunderstorm, while the more fearful hissed and whispered that they were about to die or invoke the gods' wraths upon them for their boldness. And when the inquisitive come back to the caves, very drenched but also very excited about what they just saw, the superstitious pomp themselves up and declare that it was their piety that saved the curious, that the gods spared them. Except a few more see through this ridiculous display, and next time there's a thunderstorm, a few more venture out to stare in awe at the power of the universe made miniature in the comparatively simple displays of nature in the lightning and rain.
You might as well just join us in staring at the lightning. It's pretty impressive stuff, and the feeble bleatings of the morons in the caves are drowned out easily by the roar of the thunder...a sound we still find humbling in its power and majesty, but not because we suspect it suddenly gaining an intellect and smiting us, but rather because it LACKS that intellect yet could so easily annihilate us.
It's pretty fun out here. A bit wet and the really bright flashes of light can dazzle you for a second but...yeah, it's pretty fun.