I'm a lesbian, but I wasn't born this way - Julie Bindel | Comment is Free

None of the science dedicated to finding a gay gene holds water, so why not make a positive choice to reject heterosexuality and decide to switch sides?
Julie Bindel explains why she believes she chose her sexuality, rather than it having chosen her. But, she asks, have we returned to the essentialist notion that we are either 'born that way' or that we are unthinkingly heterosexual?

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[radpaytaxes]

As a lesbian who has been beaten and shunned by my own family members and friends, I think this video is actually quite insulting and degrading to the struggle that some gays and lesbians have faced and is all coming from the mouth of a bisexual woman who doesn't know she is. It dismisses the struggle I faced because she claims that I could have gone straight at any time and that's quite upsetting.

[ashbash]

this standard of dumb propaganda gives the guardian a bad name.

[Edbrad]

So 20 seconds in and we can already see Julie Bindel doesn't understand what bi-sexual means. For people who are heterosexual they have no or little interest in their own sex, how is it possible for them to switch sides? If you removed all women from my life I wouldn't turn gay just because only men are around to have sex with. What really happened to Julie is she was bi-sexual and chose to not have sex with men for political reasons (Ie. She hates men, like literally, I'm not exaggerating she wrote an article on it). But like so many like her they believe everyone else thinks like they do and their feelings are facts. Since she is attracted to men and women, everyone else must also be attracted to men and women and therefore it's a choice to "be gay". Ironically it's the same ridiculous mindset that bi-sexual religious have that insist it's a choice.

[connord]

Have you considered the fact that you might be bisexual?

[isabellenedakh]

My grandmother is now bringing up this argument. They choose to be gay, then you can choose to be straight. Even tho i tried dating men for 6 years and wanted to jump off of a bulding because death seemd better then bieng sexual with a man. These women are Literelly making my life wors and providing An argument to the anti lgbtq.

[sonaverage]

so she’s bi with preference towards women or lesbian who struggled with comphet. not a straight woman who ‘chose’ her sexuality

[andrewchickenhands]

I'm angry, I'm bi. All the work lgbtq put into saying it's not a choice, all the oppression. And now people people believe you can choose your sexuality? What have our world become?

[TindallAndrew]

This - saying you chose sexuality to make a point and kick stereotypes - is actually sickening. There is a much much higher chance for an identical twin, separated at birth from his/her other twin, to be gay if their twin is. It is science and the idea of deciding to like the same sex to prove a point doesn't stand up. Being able to chose to love woman, although you are still attracted to men, isn't you choosing to be gay. IT'S SCIENCE MAKING YOU BISEXUAL. 

Probably annoy a lot of people with this remark but, this stuff is exactly what gives 'lesbian feminists' a bad reputation in society. Saying you chose to be lesbian to prove a point to men and society. What a joke

[huhulala]

Okay, I can't belive I have to spell this out but . . .
sexuality isn't a political statement.

[papayasaf]

Yeah but... You already had a crush on a girl. So you already had that attraction. Not everyone does mate

[KennyBye]

Already twenty seconds in and i'm thinking,
has this chick ever heard of bisexuality?

[skeletonhands]

It may well be a choice for Julie but for me and many other gay people it is not. I don't say this as a defence against homophobia just that I know it to be true for myself. I find Julie's assertions that this is the reason gay people claim it is not a choice to be incredibly patronising and arrogant. I'm incredibly proud to say that it is not a choice that I have made.

[Archivian]

The Guardian 
 From what was described in this video (which is all the context I have), it really just sounds like she had attraction to more than one sex, but she has chosen a preference and identity to go along with the lifestyle she prefers.
Nothing wrong with that. Maybe she ended up just being more attracted to one sex later on or even at the time?
But it doesn't sound like she chose who to be attracted to, rather she had attractions and she made choices that supports her preferences. 

It also seems like she's arguing being gay is caused by the environment, throughout the video, it certainly seems suggested. If that is what she was going for, then some reasons or just her opinion for how would  have been nice. (I am not dismissing it, just would have been nice is all)

3:30 - 3:38
So she say's it isn't a choice, its down to chance (but wasn't she saying that it was a choice throughout the video? That she chose it?), but some how bravery is included.  She isn't brave for being attracted to a person, she is just attracted to that person, she possibly is brave for identifying publicly with X group depending on her situation for announcing it.

It really seems like she is essentially doing the same thing as bible-bashers using their ideology against homosexuality. She is just on the other side of the coin.
OR
She is saying being gay/hetro is ultimately an ideological choice. (which she more said than demonstrated)

If I'm totally reading that wrong, I would like someone to correct me, with a logical explanation, if they feel that is the case.

[AdamCHowell]

It is as arrogant for you to say we all have a choice as it is for people to say you don't have a choice. Most clear minded people will know if it's something they can choose or not. They don't need other people telling them they can or can't choose. People aren't all the same.

[NickMcDude]

Don't say being gay is positive...

Thats how you split groups up, by claiming one is better than the other, that you automatically become strong and righteous if you were to make that choice. If you truly want to end attacks on gays (or whatever group youre trying to defend), then try and make the group seem as neutral as possible. Make it so that people wont think about (be it positively or negatively), that way, it will just become a choice of life. It wont be endorsed, and it wont be frowned upon.

[FreekinEkin]

If you're bisexual, then it's possible to make this choice, perhaps. And of course, bisexuality is always non-existent in these conversations. It just apparently falls of the face of the planet. 

She says the reason we say we were born this way is to stop homophobes. False. We say we were born gay because many of us desperately wanted to be straight, but couldn't be. We say we were born gay because pretending we chose it would completely undercut the oppression and difficulty we went through before coming out. It would make out that since we grew up single, we didn't face any oppression until we made that choice. This is wrong. I attempted suicide several times before I came out or had any sexual interaction, because I knew I was gay when I was 5-6. 

If you want to claim you chose to be gay, this is fine. But please - please - please don't make this "choice" for the rest of us, because it's a harmful lie.

[nowekonto]

Julie Bindel in an interview with RadFem Collective, July 2015:
"I mean, I would actually put men in some kind of camp where they can all drive around in quad bikes, or bicycles, or white vans. I would give them a choice of vehicles to drive around with, give them no porn, they wouldn’t be able to fight – we would have wardens, of course! Women who want to see their sons or male loved ones would be able to go and visit, or take them out like a library book, and then bring them back".

[benlowe]

So a translation would be: The journalist feels that in reality, most of the population is Bisexual, and can - if unpressurised by societies expectations - learn to love anyone?

That's maybe a bit more positive, but there is a danger here, since it neglects that for Homosexuals (which I differentiate from Bisexuals) and Heterosexuals, there is no choice.

[charleeclaire]

You didn't chose your sexuality you simply chose to embrace it.

[kebedezewdie]

If being straight is a choice, then so is being gay.