nature vs. nurture

the past couple of weeks i've randomly found myself smack dab in the middle of debates regarding nature vs. nurture...biology vs. society. i think it's a fascinating topic and one i have some strong views about. one debate in particular which i might blog about later but which i'm too exhausted to right now. rather, i'll share with you some info about a certain 9 year-old i know.

this 9 year-old boy may or may not be my boss' son. one day this boy came in, we'll call him josh, and i was really shocked by his somewhat stereotypical gay mannerisms. he has quite a gay lisp and all of his hand movements were, shall we say, a bit limp? now i know those are all stereotypes but, nonetheless, they are usually pretty good indicators. he was hugely polite and shook everyone's hand. he then told a story about how he got the black eye he was sporting. apparently his female friend (all of his friends are girls), grabbed something from him and socked him in the eye.

but if you want REAL proof of his sexual preference, you need look no farther. my 2nd assistant here was walking josh to the elevator when he said, 'oh my god! i just love your jeans! they're Paper denim, right?' she was totally shocked out of her mind because why would this kid know about a fancy brand of jeans? and how could he tell what kind of jeans she was wearing without any visible label? she asked him and his response was, 'oh, i love Paper denim. i could tell you were wearing them by the stitching on the back pocket.' umm, yeah. a 9 year-old boy.

so the issue is this - this is a 9 year-old who is gay. he must have been born gay if he's already gay at nine, right? i mean, how can it have been his environment if he's never been anywhere and never experienced anything? his parents, while divorced, are both straight. i don't know. i guess this really isn't that interesting but i was just amazed to see this tiny little boy who was gay. it was fabulous.