The Challenges of Lesbian and Gay Youth Essay

It is generally accepted that when children reach adolescent, they become sometimes aggressive. This aggression can cause arguments at home with parents or bullying at school. The formation of aggressive behaviors is probably due to the fighting for more independence as the person transitions from being a child to an adult. In the article, “Dude You’re a Fag: Adolescent Discourse Masculinity and Fag Discourse” by CJ Pascoe, Pascoe explains that adolescent boys police their masculinity by increasing homophobia among themselves. Pascoe argues that development of adolescent masculinity and sexuality are directly connected and intertwined with homophobia. To prove his point Pascoe conducted a study in a high school, where he interviewed 49 (36

In this essay, Erikson Identity Crisis theory and Marcia’s four stages of Identity Statuses demonstrates how adolescences analyze and make decisions about one’s identity. Many adolescences struggle with decisions about where they fit in. Also, in this essay I will explain how you know you are LGBTQIA and I will discuss why so many adolescence of LGBTQIA have a hard time fitting in with society. The intent of this essay is to discuss the problems of LGBTQIA adolescences and why the impact of LGBTQIA is mainly in adolescent ages and the discrimination based on sexual orientation & gender identity.

The gay personality may be determined during a child’s early years of development or throughout the individual’s life. A lesbian or gay individual like heterosexual individuals are influenced by family, peers, and society. Family structure, social factors, and cognition and conditioning help the development of sexual identity (Kwiatkowski, 2010). The child while living with the parents, adopt many of the customs and values the parents emphasize. The parents may stress the importance of gender roles in the household which the child may learn to

For many members of the LGBT community, especially homosexuals, they usually discover their sexuality at a very young age, just like one of the characters in “Survivors”. While many of them chose to hide it from family members and friends for various reasons, others unknowingly display stereotypical characteristics of a gay person. These characteristics could be anything from a young boy

This paper will continue on, researching the societal change/acceptance in the gay and lesbian community as no longer being unorthodox and with the stigma coming from the gay community itself.

Living in a world full of social perceptions, expectations and limitations make it difficult to survive when everything about a person contradicts those social ideals. Humans are composed and influenced by multiple constituents: they are more than just “gay,” “fat,” or “white.” But because of a society filled with magazines, super models and stereotypes, it’s easy to lose sight of that. Secluded, pushed away and punished, Joe Schwartz lived most of his adolescent life alone, like many others, due to his sexual orientation. From reading his life story, a new perspective can be seen.

In the current society that we live in, there are many things that help shape our perception of sexual identity. In the discussion with the class, there was a consensus that family, media, religion were the major influencers on how we develop our sexual identities and how we view other’s sexual identity. From childhood, most of us are shaped by the view of our parents and often follow the same principles and views at them. Though many people usually divert from this thought process, it still serves as a foundation for our future views and principles, whether we agree with our parents or not. Going through our individual groups discussions, many people in my group felt that a large part of their perception about the LGBT community came from the media and how the community was portrayed in the media. We discussed that in our childhoods we were often presented with gay characters that were often very flamboyant, feminine

We must begin with a tragic fact; the majority of gay men is imprisoned by shame and self-hatred that is robbing them of a fulfilling life of authenticity. Some people say this is an internal flaw or that the guilt they carry is a response to their knowing they are morally corrupt and know their choices are wrong. I believe these repressed emotions are deeply rooted in a response to socialization, heterosexual norms, hiding who they are, lack of role models and not being accepted during childhood by friends and family. The video Break Free has both the title and visuals that illustrate the dramatic transformation gay men can experience by going from overcompensating for validation and all-consuming guilt to living a joyful, authentic life as described in The Velvet Rage.

“Look at the faggot! Watch out! He’ll get you!” (Pascoe, 53) this is the common response other heterosexual males have to their homosexual or suspected homosexual peers. C.J. Pascoe’s book (Dude You’re a Fag: Masculinity and sexuality in high school) goes into an average high school called River High and does a year and a half field study on homosexuality (specifically male homosexuality), masculinity and adolescence’s overall sexuality. Also, its relationship/impact on the struggles that the teenagers go through. In the academic article also written by him years later after seeing the public’s response back up how difficult it is to be an adolescence in today’s society. “The relationship between adolescent masculinity and sexuality is embedded

Background Info: Sexual minority youths may identify by their own sexual identification or possible by the sexual identity of his/her sexual partner(s). This may consist of gay, lesbian, or bisexual or youth whom are not set to a “label”. Sexual minority youths who define by the sex identification of their sexual contacts includes those who have only had sexual contact with persons of the same sex or with both sexes. This dissonance between sexual identity and sex of sexual contacts is well documented, particularly among youths. ( CDC, 2011). In addition, SMY may change their label due to development, which can be ongoing in a short,longer span. Many SMY continue to withhold information from family and friends due to fear of rejection them due to their discloser. Many SMY have been kicked out their homes (become homeless) and have witnessed peers fall

The purpose of this essay is to give a clear understanding of gay and lesbian families. This essay will discuss relative information and problems of this client group focusing on the demographic, history, polices, issues faced by the group as well as relevant support groups and programs available. This essay will discuss these topics by drawing on existing published scholarly literature and relevant, credible published sources. The second part of this essay will be a reflection of an event that relates to the LGBTIQA Community. This reflection will discuss the event as well as thoughts and feeling of a participant in the event. For the purpose of this essay Gay and lesbian will be defined as “A person who is attracted primarily to members of the same sex. Although it can be used for any sex e.g. gay man, gay woman, gay person, “lesbian” is sometimes the preferred term for women who are attracted to women.” ("LGBT Terms and Definitions | International Spectrum", 2016).

Greenan & Tunnel (2003) posit that the societal marginalization exerted on same-sex couples, translates into internalization of an inferior status (as cited in Wetcher & Bigner, 2012). Herdt (1989) describes the process of coming out as the process of introducing an individual’s sexual orientation to broader circles of people, commencing with the self. The fear of coming out is often associated with fears of emotional rejection by family members, or internal belief of disappointing one’s parents. To cope with this fear, often gay men resort to concealment of their identity (Herdt, 1989; Ramirez & Brown, 2010). The social construct of belonging to a minority community, the avoidant attachment style and the threat of conflict within the family of origin system acts as the reagent that evokes Steve’s emotional distress which he regulates by withholding disclosure. Brain’s feeling of insecurity and wanting reassurance could be attributed to the vast discrepancy between the interactions he has experienced with his family of origin and current family system he shares with Steve.

Fassinger’s Model is influenced by racial and ethnic identity development models as well as gender identity development models. The theory offers a more inclusive perspective of various individuals in their sexual orientation identity formation (McCarn & Fassinger, 1996). Fassinger’s Model was developed in an attempt to address the critiques of previously existing models. Fassinger’s model differs from other preexisting models in that the authors clearly distinguish between the two processes of personal development and group membership of same-sex sexual orientation (Evans et. al, 2010). In contrast to other models, this model uses phases versus stages, in order to provide flexibility and to demonstrate that

There is much debate that homosexuality is a developmental problem caused by a weak bond between a father and son during one’s childhood. A failed relationship with one’s father can lead the boy to not fully internalize male gender identity and develop homosexually (Baird & Baird, 1995). Consider the gender development of identity. Infants indentify with their mother who is the first and primary source of nurturance and care. As girls age, they continue to identify mostly with their mother and boys shift towards their father. Through a father-son relationship, masculine identification is attained which is necessary if the boy is to develop a normally masculine personality (i.e. heterosexuality). This development task helps explain why boys have more difficulty than girls in developing gender identity and may also explain the higher ratio of male to female homosexuality (Baird & Baird, 1995). It is important that

(2009)” Studies showed that these children and young adults are as popular as children reared by heterosexual parents; at school they have grades within average, the same level of stress as other kids. In general, they have normal relationships with peers and adults. Most of them accept their parent’s sexual orientation; some even get inspired by their parent’s courage to be different.