HOMOSEXUALITY: A MENTAL DISORDER?
A Term Paper
Presented to
Trexie O. Alawi
College of Arts and Sciences
SURIGAO DEL SUR STATE UNIVERSITY
Tandag City, Surigao del Sur
In Partial Fulfilment
Of the Requirements of the Course
English 102 (Writing in the Discipline): TTH 7:30 – 9:00 a.m.
2nd Semester, AY 2013-2014
By
Bruce Franklyn G. Aliguay
February 2014
Homosexuality: a mental disorder?
Thesis Statement: People should know that, homosexuality is a normal aspect of human sexuality and should not be considered a mental disorder.
OUTLINE
I. What is homosexuality?
II. Origin and nature of homosexuality
A. Glandular disturbance
B. Genetic causes
C.
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The term gay is used predominantly to refer to self-identified homosexuals of either sex. Lesbian is a gender-specific term that is only used for self-identified homosexual females.
Dr. Vincent Berger added that, "Gay" in modern usage usually refers to homosexual men or women. Gay sometimes also refers to the culture of homosexual men and women (as in "gay history"), to things perceived by others to be typical of gay people (as in "gay music"), or to same-sex more generally (as in "gay marriage"). Most people consider gay and homosexual to be synonyms. Note that while Gay applies to men and women equally, the term lesbian is gender-specific and is used exclusively to describe homosexual women. There is no corresponding word for gay men.
According to Sanchez and Agpaoa, (2009) homosexuality on the other hand is the generic term used to denote sexual responsiveness to members of the same sex. Although more often used to describe erotic attachment among men, it is also technically encompasses female-female or lesbian relationships. While homosexuality is practiced in a variety of ways, it is not the activity itself that earns the label of deviance but the choice of sexual objects.
Based on Salcedo, et al., (1999) Many common terms are used to designate the homosexuals like gays, queer, queenie, becky, bakla, bayot for males and for women, tomboy, binalalaki, T-boom, Tumbalats, and lesbian, etc.
Origin and Nature of
The words heterosexual and homosexual derive from the Greek prefixes hetero and homo, with homo meaning different and hetero meaning the same. So a homosexual prefers a partner of the same gender and a heteroesxual prefers a partner of the opposite gender (Haugen.com). Homophobia is dislike, prejudice, or irrational fear of homosexuals. (Huegel). Homosexuality is a big and growing part of today's society it has a very big impact on people. Today I am going to inform you about the history, meaning, and maybe surprising facts about homosexualiy.
Homosexuality: Homosexuality is sexual exchanges between members of the same sex which maybe voluntary or involuntary. Many men and women are lured into traps that are set by more experienced inmates.
On the other hand, the term “homosexual” can be defined as individuals attracted to other individuals of the same sex (“homosexual”). Eric Marcus states,
The first word that comes to my mind that is used differently with my friends than it was used by my parents is the word gay. In this day and time, the word gay is used to describe a person who is interested in the same gender. When my parents were growing up, being gay meant that someone was happy. The second word that comes to my mind that is used differently with my friends than it was used by my parents
Gays/lesbians are people who prefer same sex relationships. During the time period or even before then, gays weren’t widely accepted. A lot of people didn’t accept gays therefore men had to hide their insecurities every time in fear that they’d be ostracized. Because of the baby boomers, support of gays right increased throughout the years as their biggest reason was because they now know someone who is gay or lesbian, closely followed by a belief that they have become more open to the idea or because they have gotten older.
If someone is not interested in the opposite sex at all and they like the same sex, they are considered homosexual (gay or lesbian). If someone is interested in the same and opposite sex, they are bisexual. Many people are judged about their sexuality because it makes other people uncomfortable.
The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community is among the subculture groups that are stigmatized by the U.S. society. They are deviant of the heterosexual norm. Society labels sexualities, which expressions of sexuality it values or stigmatizes. The meanings of sexuality change over time in different contexts, which reveals the sexuality as defined by the society. Sexuality is defined as “the ways we experience and express ourselves as sexual beings”. Sexuality is more than sexual behaviors, it encompasses socially constructed meanings of sex and gender, which includes the culturally specific norms, beliefs, traditions and taboos that are related to sex. For an instance sex between an adult and a child is considered a taboo in the U.S. If sexuality is socially constructed, so are sexual identities. What makes a man “gay” or “straight”? Is a straight guy who slept
Homosexuality has been one of the most controversial subjects around the world for thousands of years. Being a homosexual has been seen as taboo, morally wrong, and just abnormal. Scientists have questioned the mental health status of those who proclaim themselves as being homosexual, and have even gone as far to say that homosexuality is a mental disorder. Until 1974, being homosexual was deemed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as a mental illness, and classified as a “sexual deviation.” It wasn’t until a certain doctor named Evelyn Hooker came along and challenged these notions with revolutionary experimentation and research that homosexuality began to be seen as a normal way of life instead of a disorder.
Homosexuality is a word that immediately invokes ideas of sexual attraction for me, and not just because it has the word ‘sex’ written inside of it. It has been defined to me countless times, from queer studies to the field of psychology, as being the desire for sexual interests or relations with someone of the same sex. All immediate branching identities of homosexuality, such as gay and lesbian, almost automatically receive this same sexual definition. The history of the word pressures the sexualized connotation, having originally been used to identify a mental disorder based solely in the
Homosexuality is most commonly described as being physically, or sexually attracted to the same sex. Varying from person to person, some people believe homosexuality is natural and others say it is a choice to be made. Homosexuality is not a choice, it is natural and it is caused by hormonal changes, DNA epi-mark alterations, and brain physicality. Studies completed in universities around the world like Mercer, and Cambridge have helped strengthen the case of homosexuality being natural.
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
Homosexuals are men and women who are attracted to the same sex. Homosexual men are called gay and homosexual women are called lesbians. In America, according to Statista.com, 1.5% of women and 1.8% of men consider themselves lesbian or gay. Knowing this it proves also that there were more homosexual men than women in 2013. Many of these men and women were oppressed or treated unfairly because of their sexuality. According to Case Western Reserve University, they state, “more than one-third of
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
Gay (adj.) merry: happy and carefree; brightly ornamental or colorful; homosexual. (n.) A homosexual. (“gay”)
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