Homophobia

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The term "homophobia" is constructed from Greek όμοιος (homos), same and φόβος (fobos), fear. It has two meanings. The less common or literal meaning is "fear of the same". It is, however, almost exclusively used in the alternate sense of an intense aversion to, or disapproval of, homosexuals and/or homosexuality, bordering on the irrational.

In terms of public use, the terms homophobic and homophobia are mostly present in either criticism of certain aspects of society, either by offended homossexual individuals or supporters of their rights, or in discussion as to the general public perception of homosexuality. The terms have also come to be applied to Transgender issues and other occasions of gender-play.

As to the validity of the term, it is sometimes argued that the term suggests an irrational, instinctual fear, as other phobias would, which they feel mischaracterizes "homophobes"' opposition to homosexuality in that it is often based on religious beliefs and/or reasoning as to the nature of sexual relationships. Gay-rights supporters, on the other hand, argue that homophobia is in and of itself unfounded in intellectual terms and as such, the connotations of the term as that of sheer prejudice and unjustified aversion are valid.

Some argue that homophobia itself stems from a clinical condition, suggesting that the term should be taken literally as a medical definition of ill aversion to homosexuals, for the state of individuals and their associated interactions with society. The scientific community is unsupportive as to this notion, though some still speculate on evolutionary reasons for homophobia in today's society [1].

Etymology

The word homophobia is a neologism coined by clinical psychologist George Weinberg in his book Society and the Healthy Homosexual in 1971. It combines the Greek words phobos, meaning "panic fear", with the prefix homo-, which means "the same". The "homo" in homophobia comes from the word homosexual, not to be confused with the Latin homo, meaning man (as in homo sapiens).

A precursor was homoerotophobia, coined by Dr Wainwright Churchill in Homosexual Behavior Among Males in 1967.

Homophobic behavouir is exhibited mostly by hillbillies and closet cases. Macho boys who suck each other dicks between football games. WANNA suck my cock aaron? Oh yeah jack thats some nice dick cheese....you FAG

Internalised homophobia

Internalized homophobia (or ego-dystonic homophobia) usually refers to homophobia as a prejudice carried by LGBT people against themselves and others like them. It includes a discomfort with or disapproval of one's own LGBT status (e.g. sexual orientation).

Such a situation may cause extreme repression of homosexual desires. In other cases, a conscious internal struggle may occur for some time, often pitting deeply held religious or social beliefs against strong emotional desires and needs. This discordance often causes clinical depression, and the unusually high suicide rate among LGBT teenagers may be partly attributed to this phenomenon (the opinions and actions of others is obviously also a factor in both).

Many people in this situation attempt to resolve it, at least for a period of time, through chastity. This is an attractive option because many belief systems are neutral or only mildly disapprove of, for example, homosexual feelings, but strongly disapprove of acting on those feelings. Advocates of the ex-gay movement believe that in addition to behavior, sexual orientation is a malleable attribute, and advocate attempting to change it (this is highly controversial, and most mental health professionals warn that such therapies have not been proven to be effective, and that they may be psychologically harmful).

The label of internalized homophobia is sometimes applied to conscious or unconscious behaviors which an observer feels the need to promote or conform to the expectations of heteronormativity or heterosexism. This might include making assumptions about the gender of a person's romatic partner, or about gender roles. Some also apply this label to LGBT persons who support "compromise" policies, such as those that find civil unions an acceptable alternative to same-sex marriage. Whether this is a tactical judgement call or the result of some kind of internal prejudice (whether in a cause-and-effect fashion, or definitionally) is a matter of some debate.

Some claim (including Sigmund Freud in his psychoanalytic theory) that some or most homophobes are repressed homosexuals, but this claim is highly controversial. The notion, however, suffers from a serious logical fallacy known as post hoc ergo propter hoc. In 1996, a controlled study of 64 heterosexual (by experience and self-reported orientation) men at the University of GeorgiaTemplate:Fn found the allegedly homophobic men (as measured by the Index of HomophobiaTemplate:Fn) considerably more likely to experience more erectile response when exposed to homoerotic images than non-homophobic men. However, the homophobic men also tended to report more negative emotions in response to those particular images (not sexual arousal), and the researchers noted that general anxiety has been shown to enhance erectile response. There was no significant difference in results on the Aggression Questionnaire. The group recommended further research.

Fear of being identified as a homosexual

A component considered to play into homophobia, as considered by some theorists, such as Calvin Thomas and Judith Butler, is an individual's fear of being identified as homosexual him or herself.

This notion suggests that when expressing homophobic viewpoints and emotions, the individual who does so is not only expressing his thoughts as to homosexuals, but also actively attempting to distance himself from this category and attributed social status. Therefore, by distancing him or herself from the people in question, he/she is reaffirming his/her role as a heterosexual, within heteronormativity, and contributing to the avoidance of his/her potential labelling and consequent treatment as a homosexual.

This interpretation plays into notions of violent opposition to "the Other" as a means of establishing one's identity as part of the majority and therefore, validated by society. This concept is also recurrent in interpretations of racism and xenophobia

Homophobia as prejudice

Whether viewed as unfounded prejudices or legitimate moral opinions, anti-LGBT attitudes have been reflected in legislation and have had a profound impact on political debates over LGBT civil rights in general. They have also result in violence against LGBT people, sometimes by individuals, sometimes state-sanctioned or organized.

Many social and religious attitudes toward homosexuality are negative, which some might describe as homophobic. See Societal attitudes towards homosexuality and Religion and homosexuality.

Psychology researchers have used the SDO and RWA measures to predict homophobic attitudes.

Sexist beliefs

Some gender theorists interpret the fact that male-to-male relationships often incite a stronger reaction in a homophobic person than female-to-female (lesbian) as meaning that the homophobic person feels threatened by the perceived subversion of the gender paradigm in male-to-male sexual activity. According to such theorists as D.A. Miller, male heterosexuality is defined not only by the desire for women but also, and more importantly, by the denial of desire for men. Therefore, expressions of homophobia serve as a means of limiting those who they view as displaced in heteronormativity, and also of accenting their male nature, by isolating the threatening concept of their own potential feminity in gay men, and consequently belittling them, as not real males. They regard the reason male homosexuality is treated worse compared to female homosexuality as sexist in its underlying belief that men are superior to women and therefore for a man to "replace" a woman during intercourse with another man is his own subjection to (non-male) inferiority.

However, this view would imply that only the passive male partner in homosexual acts would be thought of as "offensive". Miller's specific claim that male heterosexuality does not require "desire for women" would seem to preclude the possibility of asexuality or bisexuality. Nor is it clear why male heterosexuals would "need" or even fear homosexuals in order to affirm maleness – unless their sexuality was already experienced as threatened by some other cause.

Opposition to homophobia

To combat homophobia, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community uses events such as pride parades and political activism (See gay pride). Some parts of the festivities are criticized for reinforcing stereotypes about LGBT people (e.g. Dykes on Bikes, the prominence of cross-dressing, a gay male fascination with musicals, the colour pink, a sex-positive atmosphere that may seem to give endorsement to a promiscuous lifestyle which in turn relates to the problem of AIDS, etc). Other portions tend to challenge stereotypes, including the presence of religious organizations who support gay rights and oppose homophobia (See Religion and homosexuality), the families of LGBT people, and LGBT people with children. Much of the colour, glamour, and noise of pride parades can also be seen as a simple celebration of LGBT culture, or of life in general.

One form of organized resistance to homophobia is the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), first celebrated May 17, 2005 in related activities in more than 40 countries [2].

Some activists also call homophobia straight supremacism equating it to white supremacism. Anti-gay groups see this as an attempt to marginalize those who disapprove of homosexuality.

Besides public expression, specific laws have been made to oppose homophobia, as in hate speech, hate crime, and laws against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Some argue that anti-LGBT prejudice is immoral or unwise above and beyond the effects on that class of people. Warren J. Blumenfeld argues that this emotion gains a dimension beyond itself, as a tool for extreme far-right conservative and religious groups and as a restricting factor on gender-relations as to the weight associated with performing each role accordingly. Furthermore, Blumenfeld in particular claimed:

Anti-gay bias causes young people to engage in sexual behaviour earlier in order to prove that they are straight. Anti-gay bias contributed significantly to the spread of the AIDS epidemic. Anti-gay bias inhibits the ability of schools to create effective honest sexual education programs that would save children's lives and prevent STDsTemplate:Fn.

Excerpts from discussions of the term

Gay rights supporter Scott Bidstrup, in a personal essay titled Homophobia: The Fear Behind The Hatred, emphasizes the association between prejudice and fear:

If you look up homophobia in the dictionary, it will probably tell you that it is the fear of homosexuals. While many would take issue with that definition, it is nevertheless true that in many ways, it really is a fear of homosexuality or at least homosexualsTemplate:Fn.

Niclas Berggren, writing in the Independent Gay Forum, argues that "homophobic" opinions are irrational:

It is usually not the case, for homophobic persons, that the basis of their attitudes towards homosexuality is rational reasoning, or intellectual argumentation. Such endeavors have, as a rule, been added afterwards, to try to give the homophobia a nicer and more respectable framing. However, these attempts to argue intellectually against homosexuality are utter failuresTemplate:Fn.

Christian commentator Gregory Koukl, in a personal essay titled Heterosexism, objects to the medicalization of a moral position:

The word homophobia has come to describe any kind of opposition to homosexuality of any sort, but its interesting that part of their (homosexuals') goal was to shift the emphasis from what many perceived to be a homosexual problem, away from the homosexual activity itself, and towards the attitude people have about homosexuality... They purposely did this to change the focus of the discussion from the morality of their activity and the social appropriateness of their lifestyle to the attitudinal bias of those who would judge themTemplate:Fn.
  • Eminem garnered a lot of controversy as he rose to success, because of what were seen as highly homophobic lyrics, which ultimately led to GLAAD actively receiving hate-mail from fans of his. This led to a number of reactions against him, in the forms of public manifestations and even a commercial specifically filmed for the night he played at the 2001 Grammys, with the mother of a homosexual teenager, Matthew Shepard, who was beaten to death, speaking out to the general public as to the use of homophobic terms. Ironically, Eminem performed with openly gay artist Elton John that very night.
  • In 2001 the Russian pop-band Chugunnyi Skorokhod (Russian "Чугунный Скороход") (literally, "The fast-walker of pig-iron") released a song Pidory idut! (Russian "Пидоры идут"!) ("Fags are marching!"). The song is about how it is hard for a straight man to live in a world where gays rule (particularly, in fields of TV, show business, etc.). It contains lines like "You were born a man - you're trapped! There's no way if you are straight!" "Any hairdresser or stylist must be a homosexual! How can a straight man work, if gays want him immediately?" The reaction in the Russian society was mixed: while some gay magazines and web sites accused the authors of fascism, many people accepted it quite warmly.

See Also

References

  1. Carter, Jarrod, "What do you mean you're not homophobic?". Letter to the Editor.
  2. Bulter, Judith (). Interview by Peter Osborne and Lynne Segal, London, 1993. © Radical Philosophy Ltd, 1994.
  3. Herek, Gregory M., Ph.D., "Beyond 'Homophobia': Thinking About Sexual Prejudice and Stigma in the Twenty-First Century". Sexuality Research & Social Policy (April, 2004) summary.
  4. Thomas, Calvin, ed. (2000). "Straight with a Twist", Straight with a Twist: Queer Theory and the Subject of Heterosexuality, p.27-8. University of Illinois Press.
  5. Aggression Questionnaire: A. H. Buss and M. Perry, 1992.

Notes

Template:Fnb Bidstrup, Scott, "Homophobia: The Fear Behind The Hatred". An essay on the origin and nature of homophobia.

Template:Fnb Berggren, Niclas, "Independent Gay Forum".

Template:Fnb Blumenfield, Warren J., "Homophobia: How we all pay the price" (1992).

Template:Fnb Koukl, Gregory,"Stand to Reason" (radio program); "Heterosexism" [4].

Template:Fnb "Is Homophobia Associated With Homosexual Arousal?" by Henry E. Adams, Ph.D., Lester W. Wright, Jr., Ph.D. and Bethany A. Lohr, University of Georgia (Athens), Department of Psychology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 105, No. 3, pp 440-445. Abstract at PubMed. Summarized in an American Psychological Association press release, August 1996: "New Study Links Homophobia with Homosexual Arousal".

Template:Fnb Index of Homophobia: W. W. Hudson and W. A. Ricketts, 1980.

See also

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