On Mon, 6 Oct 2003, Luke Weiger wrote:
> I _do_ think that it
> would be pretty odd if, in a society where sexual relations were of great
> importance (that is, every society that has ever existed to this point),
> sexual preference wasn't considered to be an important characteristic.
> Sure, perhaps we might not say "That guy's a homosexual" (or some
> conceptually equivalent linguistic unit), but we'd probably still track his
> preference in some manner (for instance, though I'm not a "left-hand," I am
> left-handed).
>
> -- Luke
You're not getting my point. You assume stable, consistent sexual preferences because we live in a society that uses labels (straight, gay, lesbian) that implies stability and consistency. Why do you think people everywhere have consistent sexual preferences? --Moreover, why do you think people in our society do? (Joanna's recent posts come to mind.)
The terms "gay" and "straight" are not linguistic consequences of the sex acts people carry out. Rather, there are local social criteria for labelling a person "homosexual" or "heterosexual", and these criteria typically have little to do with sexual activity itself. (Test: do you need to see a gay man on a TV show have sex before you identify him as gay?)
Miles