Personal Narrative-Homosexuality

I remember on my first day of preschool, my mom told me, “Abby, don’t tell your teachers about your family.” Sitting in my car seat, at the age of 4, I was starting to become overwhelmed with confusion. This confusion bubbled up inside me for years. I had so many questions that I wanted to ask my moms, but I did not have the courage or the strength to ask. Then I grew up. My perspective on the world changed, and I realized that my parents were seen as a calamity to society. That was my perspective though. I wondered what my mom’s was. How did she grow up in a world that only saw her as a flaw in the system? So I asked. Beth Shaffer’s perspective on her past, the present, and the future is an astonishing story.

In 2013, an estimated 232,340 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed among US women, as well as an estimated 64,640 additional cases of in situ breast cancer.That year, approximately 39,620 US women were expected to die from breast cancer. During May of 2001, I’ll never forget visually experiencing what cancer does to people. I saw my grandmother grow extremely sick and then die due to breast cancer. In that moment I was thoroughly confused as to why doctors couldn’t prevent this from happening; what didn’t they know? What didn’t they do? I lost my best friend to this horrible disease, and as I grew older, I realized I didn’t want anyone to feel such pain.

The purpose of this lecture was to discuss the invention of homosexuality. Professor Chiang reiterated some of Foucault’s theories discussed in the last lecture, mentioning that sexuality must not be thought of as a kind of natural given which power tries to hold in check, or an obscure domain which is knowledge tries to gradually uncover. There have been many ways that scientist have tried to explain homosexuality through biology. One theory suggests, the number of older brother’s one has effects one’s sexual orientation. This is called “The Older Brother Effect”, and only accounts for a portion of homosexuals. When the idea of homosexuality shifted from sodomy to homosexuality, it changed from “What I did” to “Who I am”. Additionally, homosexuality

His stomach was rotten, his chest was tight, and his legs could no longer move. He had been shocked at what he had just seen. It must have been a metamorphic transformation. His body began to tremble as a very terrifying reality engulfed him. Frozen against the carved mahogany staircase his eyes strained excruciatingly wide, imprisoned by the vision before him. Floating in the air was a deeply victimised entity that anchored itself around him with the thirst of revenge. Its vengeance had been astray till

In “The Myth of Homosexuality” by Christine Downing, there is the discussion of homosexuality and its meaning over the years. Downing begins the article by stating how a myth has classified women-on-women and men-on-men relationships to fall under the same term of homosexuality, but there is much deeper understanding to it than that. The classification under one word has caused a lot of shaping concerning how they are viewed or how they view themselves. In order to look past the surface of what defines the myth, Downing states that we must start with the culture’s myth and it’s origin.

Alison Bechdel came out as a lesbian when she was 19 years old. Her being homosexual was a reaction off of her father. Bechdel and her father did not really talk, but she understood that her father were gay and she wanted him to notice her love for him being gay because she was the same as him. Bechdel father showed her hidden love. He loved her, but he did not really show it a lot because they never really talk. When Bechdel and her father did talk she was happy because it was unusual for her when he said something to her, or when he got close to her. Bechdel father also tried to take her to a gay bar after her and her father came from the movies, but she was not 21 years old. Bechdel father knew she was homosexual so that made her feel opened and more loved by her father because she felt that he is now understanding her more about her homosexual life.

Throughout high school, Gay Straight Alliance acted as a bedrock of support, and last year I eagerly began my journey as President. However, challenges arose at every opportunity. In early 2017, a homophobic student began obsessively tearing GSA flyers off of school walls. This, combined with his potent school shooting threat, caused his juvenile arrest, but for me, a dilemma remained: how could I handle vehement disagreement of my fundamental right to exist?

Imagine four teenagers: Craig, Lucy, David, and Gina. Really think about their appearances and personalities. I’m going to say that you imagined all of them as heterosexual, cisgender, white, average-sized boys and girls. If you did, it’s okay. It’s our brain's default. It’s what is “normal”. What if I said that Craig was gay? What if I said Gina was African-American? Or that David used to be Diana? And Lucy was Buddhist? Most minds of our generation wouldn’t care. It wouldn’t harbor negative feelings now that these people have “breached” if you will, the societies perception of normal. America’s gift to our generation is acceptance.

Pansexuality is an intelligent way of looking at our world. Although it was a crushing blow to my ego that I held stereotypes based on media perception for much of my adult life. I used the word “GAY” to describe people, objects that I knew little or nothing about. I also assumed that many of my “Gay”, or “Lesbian” friends were heterosexual because they didn’t display media driven perceptions of how homosexuals should act. I was so lost, and blind for so long. One day I used the word “Gay” as an adjective to describe something around some of my Gay Friends. They were very offended and asked me to change my vocabulary. I was embarrassed so I brushed it off, citing masculinity. Eventually I did change my vocabulary, and I noticed that my quality of life and my perception of others also

I quickly stick the key in the lock turning, my hands are shaking with adrenaline as I quickly yank out the glittering gold medallion. I set the key back on his chest and practically ran out my heart still racing.

There are many avocations that I would chose from. But, more specifically, I would aspire to be a unique, “at home style” photographer. Being able to capture simple moments in a strange place like Elsewhere seems so interesting to do. Each day I would grab my camera, go outside, stroll around and observe nature. I would be able to go outside and capture moments of people, the warm sky, or anything that I would want to. The thing is, there are no limits to photography

Not a lot happens to me where I feel the need to rethink my entire relationship with someone, however, the events that occurred yesterday are making me go nuts. I’ve reread all my text messages from everyone I know. I’ve relived every conversation with my friend that I can remember. I’ve called all my friends (except him) and asked if something important happened while I was drunk that I don’t remember.

The development of gay identity emerged from men and women not being comfortable with the lives they were living. Traditional heterosexual roles caused both men and women to become unsatisfied with the way they were supposed to act. In a sense, they expressed heterosexual roles so that they won’t receive any backlash from the community they were a part of. The sexuality of someone was socially constructed, and that caused many people to have a difficult time coming out about which sex they prefer over the other. In Jeffrey Week’s “Sexuality in History”, Week discussed how sexuality is socially constructed as it gives aid in the development of one’s identity. Sexuality is something that people are able to express by the people they have something in common with. However, it is socially constructed since people labeled everything. “Indeed, I would go so far to say that sexuality only exists through its social forms and social organization” (Weeks 6). Sexuality was not based on the person, but how people will view their nonconformity in society.

"Wlaz she's not coming, she got suspended for kicking Austin in his boy part, so stop looking for her, she's not here." My best friend Dinah told me for what feels like the millionth time. I had a doctors appointment yesterday so I missed the action that went down at lunch. People were always picking on her because she's smart and she's the only openly gay student in this eight hour prison that we call school, but come on people times are changing, it's ok to be gay, there's nothing wrong with loving someone. Especially someone as beautiful as Lauren.

I wasn't sure yet if this was something for which I should be ashamed. Such a momentous shift in mentality was frightening, and I couldn't handle more than a few uncomplicated tidbits at a time. The basics got across- gay people existed, and it was okay to be one of them.