I have read a lot of ranma fanfictions and theirs one thing that really bugs me, people can't decide on ranma's sexual preference.

I mean could the curse really change ones sexual preference. I have read many things that say that ones sexual preference is decided genetically. If the curse completely changes ranma into a female could it also make it so ranma was attracted to males? It is my belief that sexual preference is a choice. One is either attracted to males or females by choice and society. Depending on the place homosexuality can be accepted or rejected. Many people pick their sexual preference to fit into the social norm.

Sexual preference is not something one actively decides. There are dozens of subtle things that affect sexuality. First, would be hormones. Hormones, pheremones and all that work to draw you towards potential mates. There isn't anything yet scientifically proven but the way our bodies recieve pheremones and how our hormones react determine our basic sexual attraction. Everyone's body differs chemically so there is no certainty on whether or not these pheremones and hormones will be a big issue.

Another major factor is culture or society. I'm not necessarily saying if the culture is ok with it then you might be homosexual. However, most people inherently attempt to fit into the pre-established rules of society. Then there is the factor that society can be very cruel to those whom are different from the norm. Ranma is different from the norm and some might even see her/him as a freak. Varying from person to person, social outcasting, teasing or ridicule of such types can push them to be more inclined one way or another.

Then there is being open minded. I am very open minded myself, and with no established sexuality, I could easily go either way at this point in my life... or both :). But after I make a "Choice" as to my sexuality, the multitude of other factors come into play. Some more powerful than others, which way will I ultimately end up going. I personally don't think I could be a lesbian and even being bi is hard to see. It's not so much what society thinks to me at all but more of what my instincts tell me. My instincts and hormones tell me that men are the way to go :p.

So, as for Ranma's sexuality... If you have a good backstory that supports it, go whichever way you think works!

- Sarah

The genetic thing is mostly unfounded, its largly speculated to be hormonaly controlled,

Personaly I think its a variable thing. it can change over time and for innumerable reasons

Like you said it's all speculation. No one really knows what aspects affect one's sexual preference. There are many theories revolving around sexual preference, but few certain facts. It's my belief that it's defined by many things. It's part hormonal, partly affected by society, and many other properties.

It's NOT genetic, but it IS hormonally/phermonally controlled? How can that be? Hormones are chemicals produced by our body, which is developed in response to genetics and environment, so... the hormones that you produce ARE genetically predetermined. (And I'm having such deja vous (sp?) that I'm pretty sure I've made this comment to THIS poster in the past.)

Our conversation here is also perhaps too dichotomous to begin with. There are very few people who are 100% straight or 100% homosexual (though I suspect Ranma's character would vehemently disagree with this statement.) Though the Kinsey report is still considered very controversial, if he proved anything I think it was that sexual preference runs along a continuum and is not an either-or proposition. In other words, someone can be mostly attracted to men, but occasionally attracted to women, or vice-versa. I think in today's society, most such people would suppress their occasional 'unacceptable' attractions. I believe that's where the influence of society comes into play: in whether individuals admit all of their sexual feelings or accept in themselves only what is acceptable to others. In other words, being homosexual is not a choice; but acting on sexual desire for a person of the same sex, is. And given the choice - if there is one - most people would choose to see themselves as 'normal'. Of course, there are people who are really (almost) always attracted to the opposite gender, or the same gender. They don't have the luxury of choosing to suppress; the 'wrong' gender is always wrong for them.

As far as Ranma/Ranko's sexual preference, it gets hairy. Since Ranma was (presumably) a straight guy, he might be a straight girl, genetically, which would mean he'd be attracted to men whether he thought that was 'acceptable' and decided to repress, or not. That's the nature argument. The nurture argument would say that due to Ranma's environment, he would continue to be attracted to girls (again, presuming he was straight in the first place.)

My opinion? Ranma would end up being uncomfortable with a male or female partner - or throw his hands up in the air and decide to be comfortable with either/or. I consider the former to be far more consistent with his personality than the latter, but hope springs eternal.

-K

its a good point, but i think genetic would more be in reference to a genome that determained sexuality, hormones are definatly still on the nature side of the bit. at least, it seems like there would be a distinction to me.

I don't know, personally I don't believe that sexuality is genetic, but I don't believe it's a choice either. I believe it deals with multiple different factors.

-How one was raised

-Certain people you were close to that may have impacted your life

-Different experiences you may have had with members of the opposite or same sex

-(And yes, society has a large part to do with it, but just because there is an expected standard does that really make it opressive?)

The list goes on and in my opinion can never really be completed. Even though Hormones and Pheramones play a role and they are a natural part of your body, that does not make it genetic. Hormones control how you react to certain stimulates while Pheramones are secreted to affect the behavior and trigger a response to another of same species. The different combinations of how strong your hormones are vs. how strong the pheramones are of others you may encounter throughout your life creates a dangerously and impossibly large different combinations on how one will be affected. A person growing up one place may be homosexual while if they had grown up in another place being the exact same person may be heterosexual. This is not because the enviroment is oppressive or that one is too liberal, but simply because the enviroment, people, and experiences over the lifetime will be different creating a far different, or perhaps similar outcome. Saying that because Hormones control reactions is 100% genetic and set in stone is an invalid argument. It's like saying height is predetermined. Every person has a set code that determines when and how long they grow, however different outside things can affect that such as sleep patterns, nutrient intake, or lack thereof.

The same is true with anything having to do with the human body, nothing is predetermined, however, that does not necessarily make it controllable. Your body is inadvertantly trained throughout the course of your childhood and adolescent life so when your body is mature enough to become sexually attracted to another human, it knows how to react to the different stimulates it senses. For example, a heterosexual male body will be attracted to the estrogen put off by a female, regardless of her sexuality while a homosexual male will react to the testosterone of a male. A bisexual (fe)male will react to either. The exceptions mentioned above saying that no one is 100% either are completely correct. One of my (male) relatives had to undergo a surgery in which excess mass was removed from his chest because he had higher levels of estrogen than most guys should have. This would in turn affect his reaction to stimuli and other peoples reactions to his. So saying that sexuality is one way or another is entirely too cut and dry to even begin to explain how complicated it really is. Thus saying, while it may not be controllable by any conventional means, it is entirely mental. Anything you experience in your body is reacting purely by what your brain tells it to work from.

This being said, because Ranma's mind was molded in a male body and his sexual identity was molded when he was male. Whether he was a straight male or not is purely up to your speculation and I don't see why it can't be molded to your desires if given proper explanation or backstory. This being said, his sexuality could be up in question, however when it comes to his sexuality changing with his body this is pure speculation with no factual evidence supporting it. If estrogen being pumped through him in place of his natural testosterone automatically made him attracted to males then you are essentially saying that lesbians and bisexuals are fictional because the same estrogen courses through them and they prefer women. (Much like I believe he would, however it's not really my place to decide the sexuality based on my opinions)

just what do you think tells the body to make which hormones and how much of them?

I'll give you a hint, theyre made of nuclaic acids.

Hormones, unlike an explicit gene that says i dunno, something like, 'build an arm' although the arm can be removed physicaly later in life, are easily and often affected by diet, behavior, and societal pressures,

the key thing here is hormones and feelings provoked by them are not set in stone and can be easily manipulated AND permanently i should add.

if a transexual takes antiandrogens for suppressing male hormones, often the body will just stop producing them. the key thing here is that hormones are definately something originaly determained by nature, but can be affected by nurturing,

the main problem with the lack of research is that getting real high numbers of test subjects is very difficult as well as isolating what various hormones do, this is unfortunately unethican and can be dangerous to the subject so untill ways of reaserching exactly how certain hormones affect the brain for complexe things like physical attraction, it will probably remain unknown just how it comes about and how maluable is, all we have to go by are a few general affects of chemicals and the general behavior of groups of people.

and as a side note to you last paragraph, you need to understand that there are alot of different hormones and stereroids that controll the body, hypotheticaly, it's very possible that a particular level of various hormones could have unexpected effects on a person alltogether, not just in their sexuality, in transgender patients they have to always get blood drawn and checked for these things because their hormone levels could be very different from someone elses so they need to know how much is perscribed.

I'd like to say first off that I know that my exlanation was very very basic, however the principles still stand. And I'm not sure if you're disputing what I said or not, because I tried to say that it WAS completely undeterminable and that it WAS permanent. I DID say that the hormone production was genetic and predetermined but I also tried to explain that no matter what your body says it still takes two halves to make a whole and that's where the nurturing comes in. I'm not trying to start an argument here, I'm just not sure what to put here because I don't know if you're helping to add detail and support to my statement, or if you're disputing it. If you ARE disputing it then I apologize for not being more clear because I meant pretty much what you said, that you are not completely in control but you can affect it and once it's set it's set. However if you're not disputing then don't take me to be a smartass, I'm just trying to cover my ** from both sides here since I don't understand If I'm being argued with or not.

Once again, not a smartass, just a confused **. _

This is one of those questions that is really only good for philosophizing. As of yet, no one knows exactly why we're attracted to certain things. There's theories, speculation, and some inconclusive preliminary research, but that's all.

In Ranma's case, there's really only one answer: whatever the fic's author wants it to be. Some people will rant and rave that Ranma is a straight guy, but there's actually not much to define it either way. Liking Akane and insisting to everyone that he's a guy really doesn't tell us what traits Ranma is really attracted to. It's quite possible that Ranma doesn't even know for sure yet (would be unsurprising with the upbringing he's had, combined with the curse). Assuming he's your typical straight guy is an easy way out, but how can we really guess how a fictional, magical curse would really affect someone?

Also, if you really break it down, attraction itself can be a complex thing. There's physical aspects, emotional aspects, intellectual aspects, and so on. I'm probably one of the more quirky cases... I have a fairly weak sense of physical attraction, but when I do notice it, it's almost always being attracted to women. Okay, so am I "gay"? Hold your horses. The thing is emotionally I feel more satisfied with/attracted to men. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a social influence there, but it is what it is. Yeah, it can get complicated.

Agreed on all counts. Ranma shows no signs he's straight OR gay in canon, to my mind. I think it's quite clear that he likes Akane, but it's not 100% clear that his interest is romantic: mostly, Akane seems to make him nervous. Ranma's constant protestations about being a real man could be taken for 'protesting too much', but of course he could be protesting too much because his curse makes him nervous, not because he's secretly batting for the other team. It's all in the author's interpretation.

Sexuality IS complex, much as we might like it to be simpler. In most people, it defies cut-and-dried labels such as 'gay' or 'straight'.

The issue with Ranma, to my mind, isn't so much his sexuality as his attitude to gender. What a poisonous point of view for someone like him to hold: girls are "weak, stupid, and a distraction from the art", indeed. Even though I play with the idea in some of my fic, I really think someone like him would have to get extensive therapy if he got a girl-curse, in order to keep his personality truly believable and consistent.

(Of course, now the following plot bunny is leaping about in my brain: Ranma goes off, ostensibly to 'train', but really goes to a mountain retreat where he learns more about himself and his curse, returning a very different man...) lol!

-K

I've been reading some fiction where Ranma's sexual preference is towards girls no matter which form is is in (locked or otherwise).

Then again, I remember an anime episode where a Jusenkyo-cursed swordsman attacked the Nerima Jusenkyo victims for not appreciating their curses. The swordsman fell into the "Spring of Drowned Virtuous Man" and his entire personality changes, not just his physical form.

I wonder then if Ranma's issue is where his curse form might influence his sexuality and behavior. For someone who hates his curse form, he uses it to his advantage, and I don't mean in battle.

I have the entire seriew on DVD including the oav series. Ranma is deeply bothered by the attention his girl side gets from guys. I believe he questions his own sexuality at those times. He was bothere by Tatewaki Kuno's pronouncement of love. He was bothered when Makito kissed him(figure skating duo guy). He really dont show much attraction to the women around him. I know he thinks he is a casonove but that is really to boost his man amoungst men ego thing his father tought him.

He is close to Akane I do admit but look at it at another perspective. Brothers and sisters fight much the same way.

I think he protest to much. But who knows how Ranma really think but Ranma himself.

As far as the perspectives in the fanfiction, you have to remember the key word - "fiction". Meaning its not real and anything and I do mean anything can happen especially with the concept of multiple universes is applied. Who knows - maybe in another universe Ranma really do exist and we are all fiction.

Best Regards,

John

I am what is known as a pre-op male to female transsexual I have been on hormones for four and a half years and while the hormones change you to an extent, but sexual preference takes time to build for instance I am both attracted to men and woman woman more so then men.

Hope this helps.

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