sexual orientation in blind people?

[rmorti]

I find the idea of this interesting and hope you can understand where I am coming from. Obviously it depends on your belief on sexual orientation and where it comes from/starts/changes etc.
Do you think it could easier for a blind person to be bisexual? I mean this in the way that, I feel sexual orientation is through society and the upbringing, also through vision you define your preference to which sex whether its one/both or neither (asexual). Of course I also believe orientation is fluid/everchanging due to my own personal experience of being straight until around 20 years old and now seeing myself as Bi/Bicurious.
Its hard to explain but obviously a blind person goes through hearing and touch, do you think they would find it more difficult to understand there orientation as they cant really see the sex?
sorry if that sounds weird but I hope you understand where I am coming from.
Furthermore what about if they were blind & deaf? I know this all sounds odd but hopefuly you can appreciate what I mean.

[naive]

interesting question. i'm pretty sure my interest has been pretty much entirely visually motivated but i'm sure people can fall in love with either sex once they get to know each other through conversation alone.

once they get past that aspect, it's just a matter of what physical thing they prefer to do in the bedroom. even though there are some activities that both men and women can do, there are obviously differences in how they go about it :bigrin:

[MarieDelta]

Why would you think that it would be anydifferent for them than it is/was you.

We are attracted to who we are attracted to, I don't think being blind (or deaf or..) changes that.

Think about all the things about your lover that turn you on, it's not just the visual aspects but the way they feel , taste and smell as well.

[Skater Boy]

Why would you think that it would be anydifferent for them than it is/was you.

We are attracted to who we are attracted to, I don't think being blind (or deaf or..) changes that.

Not necessarily. Some people are just naturally sexually drawn to certain aesthetics and visual characteristics. Not saying that non-physical things DON'T matter AT ALL to those people, but everyone's different.

If you were born with perfect vision, and became habitually stimulated by certain visual stimuli, then suddenly became blind, it would probably have at least some impact on your sexuality, IMO.

But even more so if you were blind all along- because that way you wouldn't BE ABLE to be aroused by visual stimuli, and it would all be kinetic, aromatic and psychological.

Never-the-less, it probably wouldn't dictate your orientation (in regards to Hetero/Homo/Bi) if that pattern of behaviour had alread been established.

And I guess it depends just how much importance the visual stimulation has to the individual.

[MarieDelta]

Not necessarily. Some people are just naturally sexually drawn to certain aesthetics and visual characteristics. Not saying that non-physical things DON'T matter AT ALL to those people, but everyone's different.

If you were born with perfect vision, and became habitually stimulated by certain visual stimuli, then suddenly became blind, it would probably have at least some impact on your sexuality, IMO.

have you ever heard of the experiment that NASA did where they had subjects wear mirror galsses? (every thing appeared upside down in the glasses)

Initially the subjects were pretty helpless, but after a few days they adjusted to the new situation and performed tasks with no difficulty.

Maybe the same is true here- Initially yes it would have an impact because it's impossible not to have an impact of some sort. But then after a bit your mind reroutes that because , well we're human and we adapt to changing circumstaces pretty well IMO.

I dunno a bit like needing glasses to see isn't it?

Heck when i was younger I didn't need them, but I can perform fine in the bedroom without them too.

anyway that's my stroy and I'm sticking to it.

Marie

[Skater Boy]

Good theory, Marie. But let me post an example: what about our very own member TaylorMade. By her own admission, she STRONGLY prefers men of a certain ethnicity (liking cream in her coffee, she calls it).

Now, if she had been blind from birth, would she STILL have these very same preferences? I don't see how it is possible that she could.

If she suddenly became blind tomorrow, would she still have the same preferences? I'm not sure... to me, the appearance (in this case ethnically) of her sexual object/s seems very important to her. If she was denied her pleasure in her prefered format, its possible that her sexuality would change. Actually, perhaps its NOT her "sexuality" as such that would change, but the way that she PERCEIVES sex... it would no longer be possible to distinguish between men of various ethnicities visually, so other than a few subtle non-visual ethnic traits (eg.voice and the feel of the hair, etc although these are not always accurate) she would not be able to get her kicks from ethnicity any more, and would be more focused on other aspects of the sexual experience.

But to me, the fact that if she were blind to begin with, she wouldn't be able to lust after certain visual traits (because she'd never have even seen them) is enough to say that one's capacity to see probably can/does affect one's sexuality.

[MarieDelta]

Ok, lets say she is blind (sorry Taylor)

She might prefer other traits rather thatn skin color. these traits might be based upon culture , language, smell, taste or something else, yes. But she would find something that she would prefer, I think that is just human nature.

I agree that she would no longer base her preference upon ehtnicity, but then again who knows?

She might prefer say an english accent over a deep south accent. The texture of fine hair over coarse. Or vice versa.

see what i'm saying , I'm not saying you are wrong btw, but I am saying that people prefer what they prefer, its as simple as that. No logic is associated with it, it just *is*.

Same reason you might prefer blondes say, over brunettes. How would you translate that preference into one not based on visual clues, It might tend toward a preference for women with smooth straight hair vs curly.

I am also minded of Tom Sulivan in "If You Could See What I Hear (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084117/)". he falls in love with a black gal in that movie , assuming at first that she is irish, finding out later that she is black.

good movie , check it out.