When it comes to the question of "degeneracy" I completely diverge from the usual narrative espoused by most traditionalist political and religious sects. Degeneracy is usually categorized by those who oppose it as hyper-sexuality and sensuality coupled with a lack of inhibition. People give examples such as drug use and the rise in expressive homosexuality. These people usually view these events as a moral failing of the society, something rotten inside the soul, I however have come to believe it is simply something in our genes.
Traditionalists have a tendency to view world time in terms of cycles rather than progression, that is why I am surprised the theory of Biohistory has not yet caught on with the more right leaning masses. If you want to learn about Biohistory in detail go to www.biohistory.org. The scientists who have developed this theory lay out a biological cycle which accompanies the rise and fall of civilization. Most people don't know what epigenetics are, but they are kind of like switches that turn certain genes on and off, and they are effected by the environment.
We know from studies that epigenetic switches are effected by experiences in our lifetime, and are passed on to our children. Thus offspring inherit acquired traits from their parents. So how does this fit in with "degeneracy". The theory goes like this. Civilizations start out in hard times, there is little technology and food is usually hard to come by. Due to experiences like hunger, the epigenetics of the population prepare the body for starvation mode, which makes the people very morally rigid in terms of consumption, preferring to abstain and save. It is also believed this abstinence is also automatically applied to sexual behavior or more likely strict control over who has sex with who, likely to prevent unwanted pregnancy and more mouths to feed.
As civilization progresses and food and luxury become more abundant, the population's epigenetics begin to forget the old starving times and begin to open up, changing the population's relationship with food, sex, consumption and likewise, making it more and more common for the people to indulge in their senses. By the end of civilization the people are addicted to consumerism and comfort, genetically, so much so that is becomes nearly impossible for them to cope when harder time arrive.
The theorists at Biohistory claim that it is very possible to skip the decline of civilization by using pharmaceuticals to correct the epigenetics of the population, returning them to an earlier state of "morality". This is an interesting approach as it takes the question of character and ethics out of the equation and turns this into an issue of dispassionate research and logic, an approach I think most people would fine more palatable than being made to feel spiritually inferior. So what does this have to do with homosexuality.
My theory is this, just as tendency for food consumption rises as civilization progresses, I believe sexual dimorphism decreases, meaning that the differences between the sexes decreases. When times are rough and hard, the sexes epigenetically diverge to become more female and more male because gender roles need to be more specialized with men hunting and women caring for the home. As civilization progresses, there is less of a need for men to be as masculine and women to be as feminine as society makes life easier and less rugged.
obviously, I am saying that this decrease in sexual dimorphism leads to increased homosexuality. But I am not saying homosexuality is degenerate. I would argue that homosexuality is necessary during the rise of urban civilization as new intermediate biological castes are needed to operate more intersexed occupations like bureaucracies and detailed technical applications. As civilization becomes more complex, we need ever more life units who are made to sit and think on a more complex and creative new level rather than take on stereotypical masculine or feminine gender roles.
Just as epigenetics are linked to our environment as it pertain to food and luxury, perhaps they also apply to sexual dimophim and homosexuality. Our epigenetics adapt us to the needs of the time depending upon the experiences of the ancestors. One theory is that as populations become more dense, more homosexuals and intersexed persons are born in order to bring down the overcrowded population, a form of birth control if you will. This not to mention the theory that intersexed sterile persons are able to dedicate their time to the larger community rather than just the family unit, something that becomes more necessary as society becomes more complex.
Some would think that this means we might be able to medicate away homosexuality, and maybe we can, but would this be a good idea? The end of civilization is marked by the collapse of urban civilization just as its rise is marked by it. Would it not be best to have both urban and more nomadic populations at the same time? In my opinion, homosexuals and more androgynous phenotypes are a biological caste, a division of labor which makes the rise of more complex civilization possible.
