The Discussion of Homosexuality in Comic Books

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Recommended: Age-appropriate sex education have on a society

The discussion of homosexuality in comic books has a long history, reaching back to 1954, when German-American psychiatrist Frederick Wertham published Seduction of the Innocent, a book that warned about the negative effect of popular literature. The book was a minor bestseller and was taken seriously at the time, creating alarm in parents with the claim that reading the crime-, superhero- and horror comics that contain descriptions of violence, sex, drug use and other adult themes, children will be encouraged to similar behavior (Wikipedia). More than five decades later the song remains the same; not much seems to have changed in society’s mentality. Parents fear that violent video games will make their children into raging psychopaths, and that a boy will turn out to be a homosexual if he plays with dolls and not toy cars or action figures. Even the books being read to children are censored and romanticized, not to mention all the Disney movies that have nothing to do with the original stories anymore, because parents wish to protect their children from everything, even though in this world of flowing information and the Internet this task is becoming more and more difficult if not impossible.
The reason I chose this subject is that the question of homosexual equality and especially marriage equality has become a highly discussed topic in the last few years, getting more and more publicity thanks to all kinds of different media trying to raise society’s awareness and making statements on the matter. There are posters on the streets and bus stops with the script: “Do you have to hide your sexuality at work? Discrimination is illegal. Fight it.” There are forums and social websites on the Internet supporting the LGBTQ community. ...

... middle of paper ...

...onely Gods. Available: http://www.lonelygods.com/h/80s.html Access: 16 December 2013.
Homosexuality in Japan. Wikipedia article. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_Japan Access: 27 December 2013.
LGBT themes in comics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_themes_in_comics [2013. December 11th]
LGBT http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LBTQ [2013. December 11th]
Comics Code Authority http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Code_Authority [2013. December 11th]
History of violence against LGBT people in the United States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_violence_against_LGBT_people_in_the_United_States#2000.E2.80.932009 [2013. December 11th]
Alpha Flight http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Flight [2013. December 11th]
Ultimate X-Men http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_X-Men [2013. December 11th]
Yaoi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoi [2013. December 11th]

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