Heterosexual Utopia

[rckplsky]

I have a story idea where in the future science discovers that homosexuality is a genetic mutation. The scientist who discovers it also learns his son is a homosexual and seeks out to find the cure. When he does find the cure his data is taken back in time and it creates an alternate timeline where homosexuality is a crime. As a result gay porn is very valuable and it would follow a female government agent as she tries to track down a gay porn star.

Let me know what you think....

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

... Let me know what you think....

I think you will get a lot of flak from the aggressive wing of the gay/lesbian community. That said it does sound a plausible plot.

 

[emap]

I have to disagree, if a 'cure' is found for homosexuals and sent back in time to be used, two things will happen, art will flounder simply because many of the best works were done by a man pining for another man or a woman pining for a woman. You have to remember go back a certain distance and it began to matter if you were straight or not.

The other thing, there would be no gay porn, there is only gay porn because people want to see it and pay for it. If there are no gay persons there will be no demand for it and no gay porn.

 

[darkbeast]

The storyline makes me a bit squeamish. I'd twist it slightly in that science found a way to 'mutate the gay' out of people and a conservative group sent the info back in time, create the alternate timeline where we now have a 1950s esque culture where gay is hidden deep deep in a closet but there is one gay activist who is treated like a terrorist who is hunted by a pair of FBI agents (one man, one woman - gotta work up the possible MMF threesome).

 

[rckplsky]

Well my idea is that the information is taken back to the early 80s when the AIDS epidemic has started. The people from the future believe that technology has advanced enough by that time that they could cure "homosexuality". Plus other parts of the world would not "cure" homosexuals but would let them live freely and that some people in the United States have avoided "the cure".

 

[Noira]

The other thing, there would be no gay porn, there is only gay porn because people want to see it and pay for it. If there are no gay persons there will be no demand for it and no gay porn.

One word: yaoi.

A certain breed of gay male porn with primarily straight female consumers...

As long as it avoids being preachy and really anti-homosexual it could make for a solid premise. The sort of thing I'd be interested in reading but could quickly put down if it deviated from being speculative fiction and just became porn.

But you see, if there's a cure, people will be forced to be cured by homophobic parents, etc... and you will get flak by people who don't believe homosexuality is genetic, since there's so many theories floating about... it WILL be a controversial story, and it will generate controvery.

Well written, I think it could be an awesome bit of political and dectective suspense/intrigue. I'm having trouble seeing this premise work as erotica, but I think it would work as a good novel. But either way, if you end it as "Straight paradise lives happily ever after" you'll get flak from the LGBTs and if you end it as "The scientists discover this was not a good idea because" the right wingers will get upset. But the best novels have a bit of controversy about them, so I wish you luck... it has a good bit of potential!

 

[DanielOrme]

it creates an alternate timeline where homosexuality is a crime.

Huh? How is this an alternate timeline? Until very recently, homosexuality was a crime in almost all cultures. So nothing would be changed.

 

[CWatson]

For that matter, since you're venturing into science-fiction territory anyway with this "genetic cure for homosexuality" stuff, why not just go full future and set it 50 years from now?

And Noira is right, there is are fans, slashers and fanficcers that believe Het Is Ew, and would create gay & lesbian fiction even if nobody was living it out. Only some of them are gay--yes, these are straight people who write nothing but gay fic. Why? Who knows. But obviously they've heard of the practice and have latched on to it for reasons of their own. That phoenomenon will continue to exist in your story's world. Of course, it'd be only fanfic; there'd be no gay-porn movies with real actors in them. But hey, at least it'd exist.

...That is, unless your time-traveling operative sends the cure way back into the I-don't-know-how-many-years-ago BC and prevent homosexuality from ever arising, thus erasing it from history entire. But, as emap and others correctly identified, in such an AU there would be no gay porn, and that would kill your plot.

Alternately, maybe the "gay" gene is coming back, and that's why your investigator is in such a tizzy. This would let you showcase a scientific truth, which is that homosexual behavior is perfectly natural--it predates humanity, being seen in the animal kingdom even today--and, if you wanted, say something interesting about mankind getting too big for its own britches.

Srsly, as someone who's done his time in the sci-fi ghetto, let me recommend that you just write a near-future story. Genetic engineering exists. But our current understanding of science is that time travel does not exist and never will. Stick to reality as much as possible. It makes your stories easier because there's less shit you have to whole-cloth invent.

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

For that matter, since you're venturing into science-fiction territory anyway with this "genetic cure for homosexuality" stuff ...

What's fiction about that? The G/L community keep on telling us that being G/L isn't a matter of education, or an illness which can be cured, but that they are born like that, so there must be a genetic origin for it. Genetic engineering is a fact (E.G. glowing mice) so all that is needed is enough money to find the gene and then it becomes an amendable condition, or at least selectable.

 

[banes27]

What's fiction about that? The G/L community keep on telling us that being G/L isn't a matter of education, or an illness which can be cured, but that they are born like that, so there must be a genetic origin for it. Genetic engineering is a fact (E.G. glowing mice) so all that is needed is enough money to find the gene and then it becomes an amendable condition, or at least selectable.

On top of that, a recent study has suggested the realisation of genetically inherited homosexuality may be inhibited by epigenetic processes. That is, whatever gene or combinations of genes contribute towards same-sex preference in an individual could be essentially "switched off" meaning the person might actually never grow up to have a sexual preference for members of their sex and would instead be outwardly heterosexual and would thus identify themselves as heterosexual.

Plus, I'm not sure we even know exactly which gene or sets of genes covers homosexuality. For example, human hair colour is controlled by at least two different genes with various alleles which interact in certain ways to produce different colours and shades of hair. Even here certain genes can be "switched off" meaning the realisation of the genetic incoding could be different from that expected from the DNA itself.

So, basically, there's also the problem of heterosexual individuals who carry unrealised homosexuality-encoding genetic material. The question, then, is how would the "cure" be applied? Would you only target outwardly homosexual people as they turn up, in which case you'd miss those who carry the necessary genes but either in combination with the wrong alleles for it to be realised or they've simply been switched off. Alternatively, would the "cure" be administered to all members of the population? In this case it'd likely cost more than society at the time in the past could actually afford making success unlikely.

Overall, then, you either have homosexuality surviving because of a very selective attempt to administer the "cure" or because the governments of the time couldn't actually give the "cure" to everyone.

IMO.

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

... I'm not sure we even know exactly which gene or sets of genes covers homosexuality. For example, human hair colour is controlled by at least two different genes with various alleles which interact in certain ways to produce different colours and shades of hair. Even here certain genes can be "switched off" meaning the realisation of the genetic incoding could be different from that expected from the DNA itself. ...

We do know that fur colour in cats is not solely determined by genetics. Two cloned kittens (with absolutely identical DNA) were born with different fur markings, so to some extent it is affected by the environment in the womb.

Identical (ie one egg) human twins have different fingerprints at birth, so that is not genetically determined. There's a lot we don't know about environmental influences in the womb.

 

[CWatson]

The last I heard was that conditions in the womb (testoterone levels, IIRC) might actually have something to do with "hardwired" sexual preference. But the last I heard was some years ago. So who knows.