: > Outside looks don't change the inside person. Someone of the same sex
: > liking you/lusting after you won't make you change, either, however
: > nice they are towards you ... It's just not something that happens,
: > in anything that I've encountered or heard of.
:
: Well, how many people do you know have gone through an involuntary sex
: reassignment? :) This is all hypothetical, of course, since this just
: won't ever happen in the real world. Ranma's change just isn't
: physical, it's biochemical, right down to the ability to give birth.
: It's something we can't even begin to imagine.
Ah, but the sexual preference is not biochemically generated. The
hormones do not hold a picture of *what* is desirable, they just
signal arousal *itself*.
Hai, who you get aroused by is a function of the brain, BUT it can still be
changed by the curse. For those of you who can stomach it...
<begin dissertation>
Sexual arousal is caused by the interaction between the cerebrum (the grey
matter or "think"), the limbic system (the core of the brain, the "animal
brain" or "feel"), and the endocrine system, including hypothalimus,
pituitary, and gonads.
It starts when the object person (who happens to be a prime example of the
target sex) interacts with subject. The cerebrum recognizes that he or she
is attractive, whatever the target sex is. But the cerebrum is "think" and
not "feel", so this is not an emotional response. However, the cerebrum can
check any reaction to an emotional response.
The limbic system, on the other hand, is geared to recognize the target
sex. Standards of beauty and handsomeness are fairly constant across
cultures, which strongly suggests that it's instinctual. So when the animal
brain percieves someone who, by its book, is attractive, it shouts
"WOOO-MAN!" or "What a HUNK!" (depending on the situation) and engages the
hypothalimus.
The hypothalimus then stimulates the pituitary, which releases hormones
that cause the gonads to pump out their own hormones. This stimulates the
limbic system, which ect, ect, ect.
<End dissertation>
So, the sixty-four million dollar question is what exactly is changed in
the limbic system, or animal brain. We know that Ranma's curse doesn't
touch the grey matter. It probably equips Ranma with a factory-issue female
body, equipped with an appropriately configured endocrine system to take
care of basic chores.
Ranma's emotional conditioning (ie, his likes, dislikes, pet peeves,
sorrows, ect.) are probably untouched, which leaves "her" attracted to
females, because as a male, he has always been attracted to females because
of his male labido.
I would think that onna-Ranma would also have the female labido also, as
that is instinctive as well. It's hard-wired into the brain, and he also
has the appropriate genes to do that (he always did, even before he was
cursed. The difference between a male and female is only one gene).
However, you don't see it early on, since this new labido has to compete
with four years of being attracted to women, which is still being
reinforced when he turns male again.
However, now that he's stuck as a woman, Ranma's conditioning would begin
to wear down because of an instictive female sex-drive, and the sex-drive
is a powerful force. Eventually, it will be just as strong as, and
eventually stronger than, the male response.
Ranma's in a losing battle, and since it is instinctive, there's not much
she can do about it. I can't help being straight because it is my nature,
any more than a homosexual can help being homosexual.
Of course, this depends on whether the female labido is present.
You can give a man a female hormone balance and a woman a male one
- the result is that he grows breasts and she a beard. But neither
of them changes sexual preference, since that is a thing of
imprinting and conditioning. It's not something subject to
decision either (unless one goes both ways and just decides to play
only one side at the time).
Hormones do play a part in determining ultimately which sex you're
attracted to, but that occurs before birth. Estrogen and testosterone,
delivered at the right time, programs the brain to be attracted to males or
females respectively. Post-nataly, hormones don't affect sexual
orientation.
<snip>
The term "*choosing* a homosexual lifestyle" always angered me. Do
you really think that somebody sits down and says "Oh, from now on
I'll belong to one of the most discriminated minorities there is,
risking bodily harm and prosecution in large parts of the so-called
free world" ? This kind of statement plays *directly* into the
hands of the people who blame homosexuals for their orientation, as
if they were "that way" with evil intention.
I agree there. What causes homosexuality is unknown, whether congenital or
genetic, but it does appear to be inborn.
Sebastian (Oh, Richard? - E), too. *BAP*!!)
Heh! Now my turn. (I thank Kun-chan for the use of her @bap stick)
*whapwhapwhapwhapwhapwhapwhapwhapwhap--
Oops! Wrong setting. (*click*) Ah, here we go.
*bapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbap
bapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbap
bapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbap
bapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbap
bapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbapbap!*
(Returns @bap stick to Kun-chan. There, I remembered this time! ^_^)
---------------------
-wyrm/dm(AKA Tom Jefferys; Time Lord for Hire, "Have TARDIS; Will Travel.")
<wyrm@mail.utexas.edu> <JEFFERYSTR@rascal.guilford.edu>
Member of the AFSS Depraived Kawaii Thing of the First Order, Martin
=<SIG>= Wyrm-chan @_@ H-Wyrm @_@ Ten @_@ Chibi-Usa @_@ Azusa =</SIG>=
=<^_^>= R1/2#_#BGC#_#Sailor Moon#_#Dr Who#_#Star Trek#_#Monty Python =</^_^>=
Currently operating at <wyrm@middle.of.nowhere.void> for the time being
"Brag all you want, but don't get between me and the blood wine!"
-Benjamin Sisko as a Klingon
Childras, the <wyrm@mail.utexas.edu> Mailbox Deamon
Still trapped in Eternal Crystal and loving it!