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→Religious Upbringing and Culture Can Strongly Affect Rates of Homosexuality
This evidence comes from missionaries who commonly spend 25 years of their lives living in one culture, far more than almost any anthropologist....Overall they can be considered as reliable witnesses. For example, in contrast to groups like the Sambia in the [[New Guinea]] highlands, where homosexuality was compulsory, only about 2-3 percent of Western Dani (also in the New Guinea highlands) practiced it. However, in another group of Dani who were genetically related, homosexuality was totally unknown. Missionaries report that when they were translating the [[Bible]] into Dani for this group, their tribal assistants, who knew their own culture intimately, were nonplused by references to homosexuality in [[Romans]] 1; they did not understand the concept. Another missionary, with the same group for 25 years, overheard many jests and sexually ribald exchanges among the men, but never a single mention of homosexuality in all that time. When Dani went to help with missionary work among the Sambia, they were astounded at some of the homosexual practices they saw for the first time. Although it is always difficult for a foreigner to be completely sure whether a rare and stigmatized behavior exists, it is certainly true that if three such different experiences of homosexuality can occur in groups of people so closely related genetically, genetically enforced homosexuality is an impossibility.<ref>[http://www.mygenes.co.nz/download.htm My Genes Made Me Do it - a scientific look at sexual orientation by Dr Neil Whitehead and Briar Whitehead - Chapter 6]</ref>}}
This evidence comes from missionaries who commonly spend 25 years of their lives living in one culture, far more than almost any anthropologist....Overall they can be considered as reliable witnesses. For example, in contrast to groups like the Sambia in the [[New Guinea]] highlands, where homosexuality was compulsory, only about 2-3 percent of Western Dani (also in the New Guinea highlands) practiced it. However, in another group of Dani who were genetically related, homosexuality was totally unknown. Missionaries report that when they were translating the [[Bible]] into Dani for this group, their tribal assistants, who knew their own culture intimately, were nonplused by references to homosexuality in [[Romans]] 1; they did not understand the concept. Another missionary, with the same group for 25 years, overheard many jests and sexually ribald exchanges among the men, but never a single mention of homosexuality in all that time. When Dani went to help with missionary work among the Sambia, they were astounded at some of the homosexual practices they saw for the first time. Although it is always difficult for a foreigner to be completely sure whether a rare and stigmatized behavior exists, it is certainly true that if three such different experiences of homosexuality can occur in groups of people so closely related genetically, genetically enforced homosexuality is an impossibility.<ref>[http://www.mygenes.co.nz/download.htm My Genes Made Me Do it - a scientific look at sexual orientation by Dr Neil Whitehead and Briar Whitehead - Chapter 6]</ref>}}
Dr. Alice Dreger is a professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at [[Northwestern University]]'s Feinberg School of Medicine. She has written for The ''[[New York Times]]'', ''The [[Wall Street Journal]]'', and ''The [[Washington Post]]''.
On December 4, 2012 Dr. Degrer wrote in the ''The Atlantic'':
{{Cquote|Barry and Bonnie Hewlett had been studying the Aka and Ngandu people of central Africa for many years before they began to specifically study the groups' sexuality...
Is the strong cultural focus on sex as a reproductive tool the reason ...homosexual practices seem to be virtually unknown among the Aka and Ngandu? That isn't clear. But the Hewletts did find that their informants -- whom they knew well from years of field work -- "were not aware of these practices, did not have terms for them," and, in the case of the Aka, had a hard time even understanding about what the researchers were asking when they asked about homosexual behaviors.
The Ngandu "were familiar with the concept" of homosexual behavior, "but no word existed for it and they said they did not know of any such relationships in or around the village. Men who had traveled to the capital, Bangui, said it existed in the city...
Given all this, the Hewletts conclude, "Homosexuality and masturbation are rare or nonexistent [in these two cultures], not because they are frowned upon or punished, but because they are not part of the cultural models of sexuality in either ethnic group."
The finding with regard to homosexuality is perhaps not that surprising. As the Hewletts note, other researchers have documented cultures where homosexuality appears not to exist.<ref>[http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/12/where-masturbation-and-homosexuality-do-not-exist/265849/ Where Masturbation and Homosexuality Do Not Exist] by Dr. Alice Dreger, The Atlantic, December 4, 2012</ref>}}
In 1976, Gwen J. Proude and Sarah J. Green published a study in the journal ''Ethnology'' which showed a positive correlation between cultures which accepted or ignored homosexuality in their cultures and cultures which were more likely to have homosexuality be more common.<ref>Gwen J. Broude and Sarah J. Greene Cross cultural codes on twenty sexual attitudes and practices. Ethnology 1976;15;409-430</ref>
In 1976, Gwen J. Proude and Sarah J. Green published a study in the journal ''Ethnology'' which showed a positive correlation between cultures which accepted or ignored homosexuality in their cultures and cultures which were more likely to have homosexuality be more common.<ref>Gwen J. Broude and Sarah J. Greene Cross cultural codes on twenty sexual attitudes and practices. Ethnology 1976;15;409-430</ref>