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The History of Sexuality
History of homosexuality nature vs nurture
The concept of Gender identity
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Heterosexuality all starts from the 19th century. People started to recognize more and more things in the world. Heterosexual and Homosexual was not even a word at the beginning of the 1900s. Heterosexual was called, “abnormal or perverted” and Homosexual in medical term was called “morbid sexual passion for one of the same sex.” Katz states that heterosexuality has not always existed. I think the reason why he believes that is because he feels that “the Dorland’s Medical Dictionary kept finding the words to describe sexes.” In the past, people think that men and women should be together, they did not have any ideas of what heterosexual and homosexuals are. Most of the men were attracted to women, so people think a man and a woman together
are “normal.” Therefore, in the 1920s heterosexuality had become the dominant one in the relationship. In the past, people do not really know what homosexual is until doctors show it actually exist, people think homosexual is not normal, because they already got taught heterosexual is the “normal” one. The word “Heterosexual” doesn’t really exist until the 1930s; this word finally got used and finally appears in the public. That was the time when people starting to recognize more about the term of “heterosexual” and “homosexual.” Overall, I think ancient people tried to find words to describe things and try to find categorize for people to fit in. Therefore, it sometimes does cause some unnecessary conflicts in today’s society.
In the publication Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism, author Patricia Hill Collins, she discusses sexism, gender and the new racism. Collins discusses that heterosexuality operates as a hegemonic ideology that influences human sexuality, racism, and psychological processes (Collins 2004 p.37). This placement of heterosexuality at the top, positions it as the basis of understanding sexuality. For example Collins illustrates that the term sexuality itself is used so synonymously with heterosexuality that schools, churches, and other social institutions treat heterosexuality as natural, normal, and inevitable (Collins 2004 p.37). This in turn facilitates stigmatization of individuals who engage
In present society, any man who loves another man is labeled a homosexual. If a man is not a homosexual, then he is not allowed to display any form of affection for another male. If a man does go beyond the boundaries of showing affection for another man, that man runs the risk of being labeled a homosexual. However, there are those who see the error of this and want to change this societal viewpoint. Two examples of individuals who have strikingly similar views on this issue believe that there can be a balance between homosexuality and heterosexual male bonding. In relation to this balance, the term “homosocial” describes bonds between persons of the same sex. Even though these two individuals come from completely different ends of the spectrum, they both agree that “homosocial desire” allows desire between two men to exist in a form that incorporates love between men without sexual attraction. Writer Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and film director Kevin Smith both display through different types of media that homosocial activity can evolve from male bonding to exist in the same range as homosexuality.
Jonathan Katz talks about the initial creation of the term “heterosexuality” and how it was used to classify certain groups of people’s way of practicing sex. Along with the negative ideology the term reflected upon society. The author talks about the early definition of the term “heterosexuality”. Katz closely examines the different cultures and what sex meant to them prior to the term and over all labeling of “heterosexual” and what become of them after the fact. Katz illustrates the many faces of the term “heterosexual” starting with the early definition of the word, which was at the
heterosexual and homosexual Love were not at all at the same level. Arguing that physical
In Katz essay, he strongly believes that heterosexuality is an invention. Katz provides an immense amount of examples and interesting information to back up his claim. His thesis that heterosexuality has not always existed and is a modern and metaphysical claim. Katz insists that the heterosexuality concept of perceiving, categorizing, and imagining has only sated back to the nineteenth century (Katz, p. 47). He points out that before heterosexuality, Americans idealized True Womanhood, True Manhood, and True Love and categorized them as being pure (Katz, p. 48). With that information, it’s safe to say that in the 1820s and 1860s it was definitely not acceptable to take a liking of the same sex. At this time, True love was idolized only between a man and a woman in hopes of marriage
In most cultures, lesbianism occurs prior to heterosexual marriages. These facts were gathered by Faderman in 1981. Female-female romantic relationships were found in European communities since the 17th century through the early 20th century after studying the fiction and poetry written during this period (Burn, 2004). Today, many societies view bisexuality and homosexuality as a sickness. The societies deny their existence entirely. However, biologists and psychologists believe that both are mere instances of many human variations. After successful lobbying by gay and lesbian political organizations in 1974, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) eliminated homosexuality from its list of mental disorder. The APA now takes the position that homos...
Homosexuality is defined as, “sexually attracted to people of the same sex” (Merriam-Webster) which according to history is not a new or recent sexual orientation. Archaeologist Kamila Remisova Vesinova provided physical evidence to this point when she discovered the remains of the first known homosexual dating back over 5,000 years ago (Adams, 2011) . Vesinova’s discovery shows that homosexuality
Freud had alluded to homosexuality numerous times in his writings, and had concluded that paranoia and homosexuality were inseparable. Other psychiatrists wrote copiously on the subject, and homosexuality was “treated” on a wide basis. There was little or no suggestion within the psychiatric community that homosexuality might be conceptualized as anything other than a mental illness that needed to be treated. And, of course, homosexuality was listed as a mental illness in DSM-II. (The DSM – Diagnostic and Statistical Manual – is the APA’s standard classification of their so-called mental disorders, and is used by many mental health workers in the USA and other
One of the most enabling definitions of bisexuality comes from a bisexual activist named Robyn Ochs. According her her, “bisexuality is the potential to be attracted – romantically and/or sexually – to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree” (Ochs). However, bisexuality did not always refer to sexual orientation. One of the first uses of the word ‘bisexual’ can be found in Psychopathia Sexualis, a late nineteenth-century forensic study authored by psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing. The study was one among many which pathologized homosexuality. In this work, however, ‘bisexuality’ is used to describe what is now known as ‘intersexuality’ in which “a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male” (Eisner 14-15; What is Intersex?). Sigmund Freud’s idea of bisexuality more closely fits what we know as bisexuality today, however he regarded it as a primitive sexuality found in male children which would develop into heterosexuality or homosexuality later on (Eisner 15). Appropriately, one of the first people to refer to bisexuality as a normal, viable sexual orientation was Alfred Kinsey, himself a bisexual (Queen and Lawrence 1216). According to him, “the world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. Not all things are black nor all things white” (Kinsey 639). Though as many as 1.8% of Americans identify as bisexual, many people continue to discriminate against them or assert that they do not exist (Gates). This kind of marginalization is known as biphobia. On the whole, the Wikipedia article for biphobia covers a variety of topics and presents goo...
There are heterosexual relationships and homosexual relationships. Eric, one of the main characters, is “outed” by his sister's nemesis at the dinner table. This affects the relationship with his mother because she was unaware of her son's sexuality and did not know how to approach the subject. Sexuality, as shown in this episode, can play a large role in relationships and in the way in which others may see someone because they may not be as open-minded or as accepting as one would hope. One who has not been exposed to many homosexual people may have a hard time understanding that it is not a choice.
Homo is defined in the Webster’s dictionary as a combining one and the same, common, joint. Sexuality is defined as the quality or state of being distinguished by sex. These two terms combined (homo-sexuality) means of, relating to, or characterized by a tendency to direct sexual desire toward another of the same sex. “The Kinsey study of 1948, which homosexuals often cite to say that 10% of the population is homosexual, actually says that only 4% of the population is EXCLUSIVELY homosexual.” (2007). There are five commonly asked questions about homosexuality, they are:
The distinction between gay and straight is abolished when you think of it this way. He then begins to talk about how the thought of homosexuality was thought of as a way that men behaved badly or that they had an illness(Sullivan). It was thought that it was the men’s choice to be gay and “behave badly”, but once gay label is taken off the person and they’re thought of an individual he says the question become a matter of how we treat a minority with an involuntary, defining characteristic along the lines of gender or race(Sullivan). He says the understanding the gay community began to change organically, he says it started with the sexual revolution of the 70’s, then it came crashing down onto families with sons, uncles and fathers died in the 80’s and 90’s from AIDS(Sullivan). As younger generations of people came out earlier and earlier others began to see the gay community as fellows and siblings rather than people of some alien culture(Sullivan).
This has not always been the case, but society has attempted to find ways to justify this classification. Society’s attempt to cast homosexuality as deviant started with comparing homosexual bodies to heterosexual bodies, using heterosexuals as the standard for normal. Some scientists believed that homosexual people had an unhealthy “pathological condition” that caused “disorders of the brain”, which then leads to homosexuality (Terry 131). Scientists also believed that homosexuality was a condition where humans lose their “adaptive ability”, causing them to engage in homosexual behavior instead of pursuing a heterosexual relationship which will further the species ( Terry 132). By attributing more disabilities to the idea of the homosexual, society was socially constructing their deviance. Despite the fact that none of these theories could be proven, the mere idea that homosexual people were missing something pathological boxed their bodies into a deviant category. In addition, scientists also believed that genitalia could give some insight to why a person was homosexual. These scientists create diagrams and drawings of homosexual genitalia and tried to portray them as deviant and abnormal. For instance, Robert Dickinson, a scientist studying genitals and their relation to homosexuality, believed that larger genitalia suggested homosexual tendencies (Terry 141-143). Comparing his drawing of
“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 today’s day in age, different sexualities and gender identities are quickly becoming more accepted in mainstream society. Despite this change, there are many people who believe that having a different sexual orientation or gender identity is a choice that is frowned upon. In order to refute this belief, research and biology of the brain is necessary. Researching the brain on the basis of sexuality is a fairly new topic of discussion because it is somewhat difficult and confusing. This paper will explore the different identities of gender, sex and sexual orientation and the main biological reasons behind these. There is also some validity of different sexual orientations and identities through the evidence of sexual disorders like Klinefelter’s and Turner’s Syndrome and gender dysphoria.