Character analysis of Territory by David Leavitt

Throughout the 1950’s, the United States belonged to the Leave It To Beaver era. Families were structured around a strong, hard working father and a wonderful homemaker mother. Children were brought up with solid ideologies on what society expects from them and were warned about living a different and dangerous life. Only one-year separates Tennessee William’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room from there publishing dates during this decade of unwavering beliefs. These texts were seen as extremely controversial during their time due to their themes of homosexuality. Sexual orientation was an awkward topic during such a “to the book” time period and these texts pushed the limits, making them remarkable and memorable works. Both Tennessee Williams and James Baldwin explore the panic men experience while trying to comprehend what sexual orientation they belong to and highlight the masculine gay man. These texts also examine the woman’s role in the mist of it all.

Roy Cohn and Joe Pitt represent the stereotypical gay man who refuses to publicly acknowledge his sexuality. They portray how gay men sometimes go to extreme lengths to deny their homosexuality. Both not only lie to others, but they lie to themselves. There is a certain sadness in the fact that some gay men desire the respect of strangers over being honest with themselves. Why do such a large number of gay men live lives in denial? The answer is simple. The answer is fear. Fear is the driving force behind many gay men's secrecy. The fear of how others may view them and the fear of how they will be received is overpowering.

According to Dentano et al. (2016), social work programs deliver LGBTQ content in their classrooms, but there are still homophobia and heterosexism within social work education in

The narrator’s internal fight manifests to a physical worry after having his sexual encounter with the fighter. “Feeling stronger, I stepped into the shower and searched for my body for changes. A middle aged man needs to look for tumors” (Alexie 33). He still does not believe that, throughout his suppressed desires and destined sexual act, he is a homosexual. By making sure, he searches his body for marks, a physical stigma that would identify him with the homosexual group he fears to be

Neil is a twenty- three-year-old gay man who appears to have an inner conflict with his mother’s ready acceptance of his homosexuality. She seems to have accepted his homosexuality on an intellectual level, however not on an emotional level. The mother and son relationship appears to have issues that involve sexuality, boundaries/territories, tolerance, embarrassment, expectation, and shame. Neil’s story exemplifies the life course perspective in that it emphasizes diversity in his life journey, linking his early life experiences with later experiences in adulthood.

“The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pains of Growing up Gay in a Straight Man’s World”

Starting in the mid 1900s, many homosexuals were forced to go into jail or lose their jobs or even custody over their own children simply for being a homosexuals since gays were considered being sick, or a criminal (“Gay”). A few people considered homosexuality to be a sickness that could be treated with a special type of therapy. This therapy was called reparative therapy, a therapy designed to alter homosexual individuals to become heterosexuals. The therapy was based off the concept that homosexuality is a behavioral issue or illness that needs to be cured (Morris). In the 1960s, many gays faced the possibility of psychiatric lockup where they would be put through horrible circumstances to cure the “illness” that they were facing (“Gay”). Although for a majority of the 1900s homosexuality was seen as an illness that needed to be cured, it was also seen as a mental issue that caused those diagnosed to perform preposterous activities. For example, not only was the idea that homosexuals were prostitutes and child molesters introduced, but also even the idea that homosexuals were murdered because of their mental illness (Newman). Also, in the earlier 1900s, some Americans began to see that those who participated in homosexual behavior as illegal drug users (Newman). Since homosexuality was seen as a illness and mental problem, the early LGBT rights movement had difficulty

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, several authors have written about the struggles and hardships of those who make up the homosexual or LGTB communities in their daily lives and pursuits, some of these struggles are presented in the book, Gender and Sexuality: Perspectives on LGBT History and Current Issues in a Changing World. All of these authors presented in this book seemed to have a talent for writing and putting their frustrations about their society, but also their take on the world around them. They present their writings in formats which sometimes a majority of society accepted and may not have even realized that the material presented possessed an underlying message of sexuality which deemed it acceptable for the majority audiences to read. These writers did not only focus on gender topics but focused on other issues that surrounded their daily lives, bringing to the attention of their audiences. LGTB authors, such as Tennessee Williams, Patricia Highsmith, and Langston Hughes, write on the same types of topics, but have different ideas and representations on their specific communities in their literary writings as well as shaped American Literature with their plays, novels and poetry.

The word “homosexual” did not come around until 1869 when a “German pamphlet advocating the repeal of an anti-sodomy law” was circulated in Prussia. Those who fell under that category did their best to appear as masculine or feminine as possible as to avoid suspicion and rejection of

Throughout life, each individual is shaped by meaningful interactions and events that he or she encounters. On the other hand, viewing their life from the life course perspective, which entails biological, psychological, and social factors that act independently, cumulatively, and interactively to mold one’s life from conception to death, allows one to understand the individual from a clearer perspective (Hutchinson, 2015). As social workers, we are obligated to enhance the client’s well-being by attending to his or needs while taking into consideration the various factors, such as person-in-environment, biopsychosocial factors, sociocultural factors, or life stages, that influence the client (National Association of Social Workers, 1999). We must be able to use the life course perspective to understand our clients and provide him or her with the essential social services.

Summary: The article “Child’s Best Friend: Kids Prefer Their Pets Over Sibling” by Kacey Deamer, talks about the strong bond between people and pets. Researchers stated that in western households, pets become part of the family. The bond can be so strong that children are more likely to prefer their pet than their siblings. A pet has the ability to become a child best friend to talk and share secrets with. For many people, pet can be very important. They become a special kind of companionship that can benefit you on long-term. They don't talk and don’t understand your secrets but they are loyal and non-judgmental. It provides company and has the ability to stimulate child’s developmental skills. Dogs are the top favorite pet’s for children.

B-Thesis Statement: Inequalities continue to abound in LGBT-inclusive education because of the prevalence of the heteronormative framework and the false solidarity of oppressors towards equality and diversity. Social work education should deconstruct heteronormative discourse and dismantle the false oppressor´s goodwill by the use of the anti-oppressive approach and queer theory as pedagogical methods.

In the interwar period, concepts of sexuality and gender were being beginning to shift as women began entering the workforce and taking on more ‘masculine’ traits. While men were coming back from the war and seen as “weakened” men. The need to define the essential difference between gender also worked to define and confine homosexual practices into identities and into the category of ‘abnormal.’ First, I will discuss post-war anxieties and male emasculation and how it defined the essential difference between heterosexuality and homosexuality on the basis of gender and class. Next I will discuss how these male-anxieties constrained heterosexual women and lesbianism in the working and middle-class, while defining heterosexual practices as biologically

The purpose of the study was to understand how everyday people feel and what they observe in their routine in relation of how a child develops when a pet is close. The quantitative method was utilized by the creation of a questionnaire which was distributed to ten people. The participants of the survey were three men; one single without a pet or child, one single with a pet without a child and the third with children and pet, and seven women; one single without a pet or child, one with children and not a pet, and five with children and pets. The reason for the choice of surveying a few singles without children or pets was to observe the point of view of the potential

The LGBT culture has been in existence in the United States for centuries. It has been influenced in many ways by many cultures. The influence has cause the LGBT culture to go through a great amount of obstacles throughout time. Consequently, it has created the LGBT culture that exists today. In this portion of the paper one will go back in history and see what social and political issues affected this culture.