The liberal view on sexual behavior comes closest to my own perspective. I consider myself a liberal, hence the belief that all people should be treated with respect, with equality being the guiding principle. Different arguments support my view of this issue. First, I opine that people have the freedom of choice to become what they want in life, and if a person decides to associate with a certain sexual orientation, they should not be judged based on their choices. In addition, looking at the bigger picture, we are all human beings, thus people should be treated as such, and their human rights upheld anywhere.
Therefore, with the issue of human rights coming into play, people should be allowed to make decisions concerning their sexuality without interference by external forces. This position does not need scientific validation, as it is based on the premise that all human beings are created equal, and thus everyone has the right to choose their sexual orientation.
Second, I believe that sexual behavior is not entirely a question of an individual’s choice. Gender is a complex issue and a factor of the composite interrelationship among the internal sense of female or male, biological sex, and the outward presentation of one’s perception concerning this behavior and presentation. Therefore, gender could be viewed as a biological and social construct. Using twin studies, Sanders et al. (2015) found that some genes influence the development of male sexual orientation. Therefore, based on these findings, I maintain that people should not be judged for becoming sexually oriented in a certain way, yet they have no control such behaviors.
In addition, I think that sexual behavior is a subject to social conditioning, whereby it is nurtured with time. The assumption that human beings choose their sexual behavior is hinged on the claim that the available research does not sufficiently support the biological argument that genes contribute to sexual orientation. However, the lack of sufficient scientific knowledge should not be used as a valid claim against the view that people have no control over their sexual behaviors.
A review of the available biological, psychological, and social sciences literature on the issue of sexual behavior found that the majority of non-heterosexuals (about two to three times) are likely to have been abused sexually as children (Mayer & McHugh, 2016). In the light of these findings and the view that enough scientific research has not been conducted on the issue of sexual behavior, I believe people should be allowed to sexually orient as they desire, hence the liberal view of sexual behavior.
References
Mayer, L. S., & McHugh, P. R. (2016). Sexuality and gender: Findings from the biological, psychological, and social sciences. The New Atlantis, 50, 1-143.
Sanders, A. R., Martin, E. R., Beecham, G. W., Guo, S., Dawood, K., Rieger, G.,… & Duan, J. (2015). Genome-wide scan demonstrates significant linkage for male sexual orientation. Psychological Medicine, 45(7), 1379-1388.