“THE SOCIOLOGICAL CAUSES OF HOMOSEXUALITY"
Department of Social Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences
University of the Philippines, Los Baños
Los Baños, Laguna
October 2012
INTRODUCTION
The existence of gender classification determines our sexual segmentation. They are classified as either males or females. These gender classifications are also used as bases of physical work capacities, clothing preferences, decisions for priority and the like. More often than not, these segmentations represent the differences of their demographic and psychographic profiles. However, the existence of homosexuality has blurred these distinguishing features. Moreover, this phenomenon has never been inevitable particularly in every
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Factors included would be the existence of self-confessed homosexual characters or celebrities, fictional or non-fictional, in television shows, radio programs, or in pieces of literature that shed positive light on homosexuality. The influences by these people can be observed in the increasing number of gays who start coming out of the closets.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Homosexuality is commonly defined as the sexual interest and romantic attraction in members of the same sex. In contrast, heterosexuality is sexual attraction to the opposite sex, while bisexuality is attraction to both sexes. Like heterosexuality and bisexuality, homosexuality is evident in sexual dreams and fantasies, sexual acts, romantic attraction, and falling in love.
The terms “homosexual” and heterosexual were coined by the sexual law reformer K. M. Benkert, and used in an article he wrote for a German newspaper in 1869. They were then all forgotten until rediscovered by the Berlin sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld in 1905. “Homosexuality” is derived from the Greek homos, meaning same (heteros means other), and Latin sexus, meaning sex. “Homosexuality” then quickly became the accepted scientific and everyday term for referring to same-sex contacts, between either men or women.
The term “lesbian” gained popularity more than a century ago. Today, it is the accepted term for female homosexuality. It derives
Many scientists have a difficult time understanding homosexuality on the evolutionary aspect. They believe a human beings’ main purpose is reproduction, which makes the sexual relationship between two males a confusing concept for most evolutionary thinkers (McKnight 1). Evolutionary thinkers believe that the less desirable genes are removed from the system when they are not breed as often, but this cannot be said for homosexual males who have been a continuing presence in most societies over numerous generations (McKnight 1). These evolutionary thinkers, like most humans, have a need to place others into
We are comfortable breaking the law when we feel it does not apply to us, that laws such as the speed limit are not real laws because everyone breaks them. In 399 BC, Socrates would have disagreed with this assertion, and died in part to keep this idea from spreading. Socrates was sentenced to death by an Athenian court, though the punishment did not fit the crimes he was accused of. We assume that any knowingly innocent person would have escaped this sentence if given the opportunity and support to do so, yet Socrates refused to and died soon after. Over 2,000 years later, Martin Luther King, Jr. is also imprisoned for a petty crime and saw his actions in line with Socrates, as they were both unjustly jailed for questioning their
Chapter 11, of the textbook “Understanding Social Problems,” by Linda M. Mooney, David Knox, and Caroline Schacht jockeys issues related to sexual orientation. This chapter openly deliberates the struggle for equality for non-heterosexuals and their fight for equal rights and recognition. This paper will briefly summarize this chapter.
With significant events, a person's ideas and wishes in their lives become altered due to new evidence leading towards a different destiny. In the play “Macbeth,” Shakespeare steadily and effectively expands the perceptions on the theme of power corrupting one's ability to control their destiny. The central theme of Macbeth not being able to control his actions because his darkest ambitions are played with by the witches, thus causing Macbeth to become compelled by ambition and pursued the throne of Scotland creating drastic effects on his ability to determine for himself what he will become. Macbeth's ambition is guided by the significant event of meeting the three witches, who symbolize the themes of appearance and reality. Macbeth also experienced difficulties with the prophecies because they are based on greed, power and resentment of others in power. Guilt drove Macbeth mad and eventually led to his demise because his ability to determine his destiny was unstable. Due to the events taking such an effect
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
The research was conducted before the start of the Gay Rights movement which has contributed to changes in data. In 1983, after the start of the Gay Rights movement, a study of 147 homosexuals was taken where 35% of the tested said that their sexual orientation was hereditary (Cameron 2). The inconsistency of data is predictable due to the change in thinking because of the Gay Rights movement. The answers from volunteers became more about the political struggle than the need for accurate scientific data. Although the elementary research did not prove that environmental situations are an underlying factor in determining sexual orientation, it did open a path for future research.
Research on the female sexuality was performed, which addressed the construction of identities, sociability and conjugality, as well as topics on the vulnerability and invisibility of this population, but studies on the female homosexuality and the relationship to health remained at the margins of society.
The realization of the homosexuality in the modern western world as a cultural, sexual and a social category has been a result of complex power relations that surround sexuality and gender. The acceptance of homosexuality in the society has met its fair share of resistance and skepticism. The view that homosexuality can be in the same league as heterosexual has led it to be viewed as a normal behavioral and moral standard (Gallagher & Baker, 2006). Inasmuch as the skeptics may not want to accept the existence of homosexuality studies show that the habit is rampant today with many gay people coming out in the open. Of interest is the political acceptance of homosexuality with passing gay rights so that it can be recognized by law. This move has given homosexuals the ability to engage in legal entities like marriage (Gallagher & Baker, 2006).
Studies have revealed clear differences between bisexuals and homosexuals. A study on 104 bisexuals used photos of men and women to find out if those studied were actually mainly attracted to one sex. Consequently, the study found that bisexuals spent similar time looking at photos of both sexes, and had a similar amount of attraction to photos of each sex. In comparison, homosexuals spent significantly more time looking at the photos of their sex, and mostly identified attraction to those
Homosexuality is a behavioural trait that male or female attracts to same sex. Opposite of homosexuality called heterosexuality which is attraction to opposite sex. Homosexuality is common in humans between 3 to 10%. Before 20th century, there weren’t enough valuable studies about homosexuality due to social and religious reasons. In addition, most homosexual individuals were hiding themselves to express their feeling to avoid social exclusion and this was one of the reasons to see less incidence rate of homosexuality in population. Moreover, scientists were also reluctant to publish this kind of studies. Today, it is easy to find many researches about this topic and many others. With improvement
Homosexuality is sexual attraction to people of one’s own sex. The term was first used by Karl-Maria Kertbeny in a pamphlet arguing against Prussian anti-sodomy law in 1869 but it was in 1886 that Richard von Krafft-Ebing used the term homosexual and heterosexual in his book Psychopathia Sexualis that term became a widely accepted term for sexual orientation. The idea increasingly began to be understood as opposite to heterosexuality (sexual attraction exclusively to the other sex) and male homosexuality was associated to femininity and cultivated pederasty.
This research also referenced numerous past researches on the judgement accuracy of sexuality and sexual orientation of different groups of people. Since the introduction of homosexuality, researchers have found that gender typicality (masculinity in a female and femininity in male) has been a leading trait to identify those who are not heterosexual.
Heterosexual is colloquially known as “straight” and it’s a person who’s sexually charmed to persons of the opposite sex. Or a person who has sexual relations with the opposite sex. (WebMD, 2016). An Austro-Hungarian journalist named Károly Mária Kertbeny coined “heterosexual” in a letter at the same time as the word “homosexual,” [in the mid-19thcentury]. To try to equalize same-sex and different-sex, he coined the words “heterosexual” and “homosexual” in a really very clever bid. His intent was to suggest that there are these two categories that were not part of a hierarchy, that they were just two different flavors of the same thing. He created these words as part of his response to a piece of Prussian legislation that made same-sex erotic
Homosexuality is defined or characterized as attraction towards the same gender either male or female. It came from the Greek language, where “homo” means the same or similar, hence referring to the attraction between two beings of the same sex. Homosexuality is also referred as a clinical term. Most male homosexuals generally prefer to be called "gay men" and most homosexual women generally prefer to be called "lesbians." Homosexuality is one of the three main categories of sexual orientation, alongside bisexual and heterosexual. The longstanding consensus of the behavioral and social sciences and the health and mental health professions is that homosexuality is an example of normal and positive variation in human sexual
Homosexuality is defined as a predominant sexual attraction to persons of the same gender. For example, men being sexually attracted to other men and women being sexually attracted to other women (Exodus Global Alliance, 2017). Heterosexuality however, is the opposite of homosexuality. A heterosexual person has a sexual attraction to a person of the opposite sex, as opposed to an individual of the same sex. In Western society, heterosexuality has been constructed to be viewed as the norm, this however was not always the case. Sociologist Michel Foucault coined the term ‘homosexuality’ arguing that homosexuality was not discovered but produced. “Homosexuality appeared as one of the forms of sexuality when it was transposed from the practice of sodomy onto a kind of interior androgyny, a hermaphrodism of the soul.” Following on from the invention of the term known as homosexuality, medical doctors invented a counter-position, heterosexuality. Although same-sex relationships existed prior to the invention of this terminology, it encouraged people to identify themselves and others differently (Angel Daniel Matos, 2013). As a result, the judgment of gender and