The Monster And The Homosexual Analysis

As a society, we feed off of each other for what a proper response to something may be. As children, we first look to see our mother’s reaction after falling down; if she is calm, I should also be. We look to each other for what a definition of things should be, as well. In the 1950’s, it was generally obscene for a woman on television to show her belly button, whereas today we will show nude breasts on primetime programming. This follows the sociological theory of symbolic interactionism, where society and individual social interaction provides a subjective meaning to deviant behavior. Many social definitions change for the better, however some change for the worse. One such example was once viewed as normal, with no second thoughts given to it, but now is seen as an actual social problem affecting some groups aversely. This is the topic of homosexuality, a subject that has been on the receiving end of both accepting and discriminating cultures for thousands of years.

It was not until the twelfth century that homosexuality started to be condemned. This condemnation proved to live through then until now. Due to the fact that America incorporated these early views into its early laws, even the most bland of today's sex acts were seen as unlawful (“Homosexuality and Mental Health”). Since then, these laws have changed, however, there is still a primarily negative connotation on homosexuals when coming from a church or legal standpoint concerning the masses of America.

Laramie consisted of many other religions that presented the views of many of their citizens towards homosexuality. Reverend Fred Phelps, a minister from Kansas, negatively impacted the gay community as he protested against homosexuals. He believed gays were determined to go to hell because of God’s hatred for them. Reverend Phelps like McKinney was a homophobe, which upset many citizens when he ranted about gays going to hell right after the murder of Matthew Shepard. Many citizens including Romaine Patterson decided to take a stance against such hatred to “show the differences. And [to] think at times like this when we’re talking about hatred as much as the nation is right now, that someone needs to show . . . that there is a better way of

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.

The homosexual community is one of the most misunderstood and degraded cultures in today’s society. Homosexuals are usually the brunt of much of the misunderstanding and, as a result, have most of the unban legends and denigrating jokes that are found in modern tradition centered on themselves. Two legends stand out above many others; the myth of “Gerbiling”, which describe a supposed cruel and exotic practice of gay men, and “The Gay Roommate”, in which a gay man sexually assaults his heterosexual roommate in a college dorm. Both of these legends exemplify the fact that, through misunderstanding or fearing a culture, you can create horrible monsters out of average men.

In every society, people tend to segregate groups that break with what’s seen as socially right. In Anne Sexton’s poem “The Touch,” and in Samuel Delaney’s story “Aye and Gomorrah” perversions are represented with people’s abnormal sexual preferences, which often appear to be isolated by desiring homosexuality. Although the isolation occurs differently in both texts, the presence of homosexuality defines that objects labeled as perversions undergo emotional and physical separation in an attempt to adjust to the social stigma.

The topic of homosexuality elicits many reactions. It is forever played upon in pop culture for it's shock value if nothing else. Some demonize it, holding things like religion as proving, "alternative lifestyles," to be wrong. Some have erotisied homosexuality as in many of Anne Rice's vampire novels. Some laugh at homosexuality or people who are homosexual, calling it, "weird". Some react violently, as in the case of Matthew Shepard. And yet others have gradually turned towards acceptance shown (debatably) in such movies as, " To Wong-Fu Love Julie Newmar" and " In and Out".

Anything that is abnormal or non-traditional is considered a basis for discrimination and prejudice. Anything that threatens the social concept of “normal” is considered wrong or even sinful. That is why when we talk about religion, instead of acceptance we talk about “right from wrong” using the religion’s perspective of fact. To many people being homosexual is a sin; it is an act of the devil. Many more people believe that it is a choice and that people chose to live their lives as homosexuals. Furthermore, some people believe that homosexuals, to avoid homophobia should stick to the equation of Monsters = Homosexual. In Cooper’s analysis, he discusses how being homosexual can either be monstrous because it is

On View of Homosexuality Continuum, I probably be 4.5. For me 4.5 mean when you see some who is a homosexual, you say it’s their business, so I don’t care. Because I’m not the one who have to deal with God for loving someone who is the same sex as you

Queer theory questions creations of normal and divergent, insider, and outsider.2 Queer theorists analyse a situation or a text to determine the relationship between sexuality, power and gender. Queer theory challenges basic tropes used to organize our society and our language: even words are gendered, and through that gendering an elliptical view of the hierarchy of society, and presumption of what is male and what is female, shines through. Queer theory rejects such binary distinctions as arbitrarily determined and defined by those with social power. It works to deconstruct these binaries, particularly the homosexual/heterosexual binary.4

In both of the texts, they cover the topic of homosexuality, but in very different ways. In text A, the idea of lesbianism is described by Evelyn as an ‘abnormality’, suggesting that being a lesbian is frowned upon, and considered strange. Evelyn also uses a euphemism to describe lesbianism, showing that the topic of being gay is a very taboo subject that most people don’t want to hear about, suggesting again that lesbianism is considered bad in this time. Because homosexuality is described as a negative thing, we can understand that this text was most likely written a while ago, as societies attitudes towards homosexuality has changed in recent years, and is now viewed as a positive thing. However, in text B, there is also mentions of lesbianism, but in a more direct way, as a dysphemism. The questioner states in the question that she thought that she ‘was

“All men are created equal, No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words,” Harvey Milk. A homosexual, as defined by the dictionary, is someone of, relating to, or characterized by a tendency to direct sexual desire toward another of the same sex. Homosexuality is ethical, and I will provide rational arguments for, and irrational arguments against the topic. A few objections are as follows: It is forbidden in the Bible and frowned upon by God; It is unnatural; Men and women are needed to reproduce; There are no known examples in nature; and the most common argument that concerns homosexuality is whether it is a choice or human biology.

In the past decades, the word “queer” traversed many definitions, from a pejorative for gay to a self-affirming umbrella term. While the word “queer” is primarily associated with “non-normative” tendencies (Love 172), the word “uncanny…applies to everything that was intended to remain secret, hidden away, and has come into the open” (Freud 132). Upon closer inspection of the words, queer and uncanny, and Andrew Davenport’s popular children’s television show Teletubbies, we see that the Teletubbies are the exemplary, digital manifestations of “queer, uncanny doppelgängers” (Cole).

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).

Upon entering this course, my understanding of human sexuality was decent; I was aware of certain aspects of sexuality such as being straight, gay, lesbian, queer, transgender, etc. Nevertheless, I did not realize how expansive sexuality is; it never occurred to me that sexual health, prostitution, marriage, rape, sex trafficking, divorce, families, etc., all fell under the umbrella of human sexuality. Books and essays such as Renee Hill’s Walk Together and David Shneer’s “Out of School” showcased the multiple facets of human sexuality and how terms like queer are not directly related to homosexuality. While sexuality and homosexuality are linked, frequently, people mistake them as being synonymous; before entering this class, I was searching for a definition of sexuality, and often in the thesaurus section of dictionary websites homosexuality and or sexual orientation was considered a synonym of sexuality. Formerly, I too would have agreed they were the same, however, after taking this course, I concluded that homosexuality is just one topic in the broad discussion of sexuality. My understanding of sexuality now is that it