homophobia

A protest by The Westboro Baptist Church, a group identified by the Anti-Defamation League as "virulently homophobic."^{[1] [2]}

Homophobia (from Greek ὁμο homo(sexual), "same, equal" + φοβία (phobia), "fear") is a non-scientific term^[3][4] used to describe the fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals.^[5][6] It can also mean hatred, hostility, disapproval of, or prejudice towards homosexuals, or homosexual behavior or cultures.^[7] Homophobic is the adjective form of this term used to describe the qualities of these characteristics while homophobe is the noun form given as a title to individuals with "homophobic" characteristics.

Some believe any usage of homophobia is controversial^[8] and several dictionaries characterize this type of fear as irrational.^[9][10][11] Homophobia in men is correlated with insecurity about masculinity.^[12]

Etymology and usage

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Coinage

Psychologist George Weinberg introduced the first scholarly use of the concept homophobia in his 1972 book Society and the Healthy Homosexual,^[13] published one year before the American Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.^[14] Weinberg's "term became an important tool for gay and lesbian activists, advocates, and their allies."^[15] He describes the concept as:

a phobia about homosexuals….It was a fear of homosexuals which seemed to be associated with a fear of contagion, a fear of reducing the things one fought for—home and family. It was a religious fear and it had led to great brutality as fear always does.^[15]

Conceptualizing prejudice against gay and lesbian people as a social problem worthy of scholarly attention was not a new concept, but Weinberg was the first to give the problem a name.^[15]

The construction of the word is comparable to xenophobia, a much older term referring to individual or cultural hostility to foreigners or outsiders.^[15]

The word homophobia was rarely used early in the twentieth century, and it meant "fear or hatred of the male sex or humankind." In this use, the word derived from the Latin root homo (Latin, "man" or "human") with the Greek ending -phobia ("fear").^[16]

The word first appeared in print in an article written for the American Screw tabloid, May 23, 1969 edition, using the word to refer to straight men's fear that others might think they are gay.^[15] A possible etymological precursor was homoerotophobia, coined by Wainwright Churchill in Homosexual Behavior Among Males in 1967.

Similar terms

Similar terms such as heterosexism have been proposed as alternatives that are more morphologically parallel, and which do not have the association with phobia. Heterosexism refers to the privileging of heterosexuality over homosexuality.

Some recent psychological literature suggested the term homonegativity, reflecting the perspective that behaviors and thoughts that are frequently considered homophobic are not fear-based but instead reflect a disapproval of homosexuality.^[17][18]

Seeking to avoid both the focus on individual psychology of "homophobia" and the focus on collective cultural factors of "heterosexism," psychologist Gregory Herek has proposed the term "sexual prejudice" as referring to "all negative attitudes based on sexual orientation, whether the target is homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual."^[19]

The term homophobia is often used collectively with other terms denoting bigotry and discrimination. In a 1998 address, Coretta Scott King asserted that, "Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood." Likewise, George Yancey, writing in Christian Ethics Today associates "sexism, racism, class distinctions, or homophobia" with one another and views them all as "varieties of discrimination," although he argues that they are not identical.^[20]

Defining Homophobia as 'Irrational'

Neither the American Heritage Dictionary [2] nor the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) include the term "irrational" in the definition as fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals. Footnote 4 of Merriam Webster dictionary's definition defines homophobia as "irrational fear".

Critics of the term

Some researchers within the field have preferred other terms to "homophobia." For example, Gregory M. Herek, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, compared several related terms: "homophobia," "heterosexism," and "sexual prejudice." In preferring the latter term, he noted that "homophobia" was "probably more widely used and more often criticized," and observed that. "Its critics note that homophobia implicitly suggests that antigay attitudes are best understood as an irrational fear and that they represent a form of individual psychopathology rather than a socially reinforced prejudice." He preferred "sexual prejudice" as being descriptive and free of presumptions about motivations, and lacking in value judgments as to the irrationality or immorality of those so labeled.^[21]

In 1980 Hudson and Ricketts proposed the term "homonegativity," arguing that "homophobia" was unscientific in its presumption of motivation.^[22]

In 1993, behavioral scientists William O'Donohue and Christine Caselles concluded that the usage of the term "as it is usually used, makes an illegitimately pejorative evaluation of certain open and debatable value positions, much like the former disease construct of homosexuality" itself, arguing that both homophobia and homosexuality are social constructions.^[23]

The Concerned Women for America, a conservative lobby group, has called homophobia a "deceptive term" which is "used by pro-gay proponents to confuse the issue and control the debate" by defining all opposition to homosexuality as irrational. CWA asserts that pro-gay proponents would not be able to identify any examples of non-homophobic opposition to homosexuality because they define all opposition as "homophobic" and "irrational bigotry."^[24] CWA calls this "deceptive rhetoric." The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, an organization affiliated with the ex-gay movement, describes the term homophobia as being "often used inaccurately to describe any person who objects to homosexual behavior on either moral, psychological or medical grounds." They claim that, "Technically, however, the terms actually denotes a person who has a phobia—or irrational fear—of homosexuality. Principled disagreement, therefore, cannot be labeled 'homophobia.'"^[25]

Classification of homophobia

Homophobia manifests in different forms, and a number of different types have been postulated, among which are internalized homophobia, social homophobia, emotional homophobia, rationalized homophobia, and others.^[26] There were also ideas to classify homophobia, racism, and sexism as an intolerant personality disorder.^[27]

Internalized homophobia

Internalized homophobia (or ego-dystonic homophobia) refers to homophobia as a prejudice carried by individuals against homosexual manifestations in themselves and others. It causes severe discomfort with or disapproval of one's own sexual orientation.

Such a situation may cause extreme repression of homosexual desires.^[28] In other cases, a conscious internal struggle may occur for some time, often pitting deeply held religious or social beliefs against strong sexual and emotional desires. This discordance often causes clinical depression, and the unusually high suicide rate among gay teenagers (up to 30% of non-heterosexual youth attempt suicide) has been attributed to this phenomenon.^[29]

The theory attributing higher incidences of depression, alcoholism and other self-destructive tendencies among homosexually oriented individuals to internalized homophobia has been put into question by groups such as NARTH that oppose the American Psychiatric Association's 1973 decision to remove of homosexuality from the DSM. Studies of gay people in societies such as Sweden, New Zealand and the Netherlands found similar incidences of such behavior.^[30][31]

The label of internalized homophobia is sometimes applied to conscious or unconscious behaviors which an observer feels the need to promote or conform to the expectations of heteronormativity or heterosexism. This might include making assumptions about the gender of a person's romantic partner, or about gender roles. Some also apply this label to LGBT persons who support "compromise" policies, such as those that find civil unions an acceptable alternative to same-sex marriage. Whether this is a tactical judgment call or the result of some kind of internal prejudice (whether in a cause-and-effect fashion, or definitionally) is a matter of some debate.

Some claim that some or most homophobics are repressed homosexuals, but this claim is somewhat controversial. In 1996, a controlled study of 64 heterosexual men (half claimed to be homophobic by experience and self-reported orientation) at the University of Georgia^[32] found that the allegedly homophobic men (as measured by the Index of Homophobia)^[33] were considerably more likely to experience more erectile responses when exposed to homoerotic images than non-homophobic men.

Fear of being identified as gay

A component considered to play into homophobia, as considered by some theorists, such as Calvin Thomas and Judith Butler, is an individual's fear of being identified as gay.

This notion suggests that when expressing homophobic viewpoints and emotions, the individual who does so is not only expressing his thoughts as to gay people, but also actively attempting to distance himself from this category and attributed social status. Therefore, by distancing him or herself from the people in question, he/she is reaffirming his/her role as a heterosexual, within heteronormativity, and contributing to the avoidance of his/her potential labeling and consequent treatment as a gay person.

This interpretation plays into notions of violent opposition to "the Other" as a means of establishing one's identity as part of the majority and therefore, validated by society. This concept is also recurrent in interpretations of racism and xenophobia.

Nancy J. Chodorow states that homophobia can be viewed as method of protection of male masculinity.^[34]

Various psychoanalytic theories explain homophobia as a threat to an individual's own same-sex impulses or to a possibility of arising such impulses. This threat causes repression, denial or reaction formation.^[35]

Homophobia as leading to a climate of prejudice

Sexist beliefs

Some gender theorists interpret the fact that male-to-male relationships often incite a stronger reaction in a homophobic person than female-to-female (lesbian) as meaning that the homophobic person feels threatened by the perceived subversion of the gender paradigm in male-to-male sexual activity. According to such theorists as D.A. Miller, male heterosexuality is defined not only by the desire for women but also, and more importantly, by the denial of desire for men. Therefore, expressions of homophobia serve as a means of limiting those who they view as displaced in heteronormativity, and also of accenting their male nature, by isolating the threatening concept of their own potential femininity in gay men, and consequently belittling them, as not real males. They regard the reason male homosexuality is treated worse compared to female homosexuality as sexist in its underlying belief that men are superior to women and therefore for a man to "replace" a woman during intercourse with another man is his own subjection to (non-male) inferiority.

However, this view would imply that only the receptive male partner in homosexual acts would be thought of as "offensive", which is the case in many cultures. Miller's specific claim that male heterosexuality does not require "desire for women" would seem to preclude the possibility of asexuality or bisexuality. Nor is it clear why male heterosexuals would "need" or even fear gay people in order to affirm maleness – unless their sexuality was already experienced as threatened by some other cause.

Distribution/frequency of attitudes in the US and UK

Disapproval of homosexuality and of gay people is not evenly distributed throughout society, but is more or less pronounced according to age, sex, social class, education and religious status. According to UK HIV/AIDS charity AVERT, low educational level and social status, lack of homosexual feelings or experiences, religious views, and lack of interaction with gay people are strongly associated with such views.^[36]

One study of white adolescent males conducted at the University of Cincinnati by Janet Baker has been used to argue that negative feelings towards gay people are also associated with other discriminatory behaviors. The study claims to have found that hatred of gay people, anti-semitism and racism are "likely companions,"^[37] suggesting it is an abuse of power. A study performed in 2007 in the UK for the charity Stonewall reports that 90% of the population support the ban on discrimination against gays and lesbians.^[38]

The anxiety of non-gay individuals that others may identify them as gay, particularly among adolescents whose construction of heterosexual masculinity is factored in part on not being seen as gay,^[39][40] has also been identified by Michael Kimmel as an example of homophobia.^[41] The taunting of boys seen as eccentric (and who are not usually gay) is claimed to be endemic in rural and suburban American schools, and has been associated with risk-taking behavior and outbursts of violence (such as a spate of fatal school shootings) by boys seeking revenge or trying to assert their masculinity.^[42]

Combating homophobia

To combat homophobia, the LGBT community uses events such as pride parades and political activism (See gay pride). Many of these displays are criticized for reinforcing negative stereotypes about LGBT people (e.g. "dykes on bikes," the prominence of cross-dressing, a gay male fascination with musicals, the color pink, antireligious sentiments).

One form of organized resistance to homophobia is the International Day Against Homophobia (or IDAHO),^[43] first celebrated May 17, 2005 in related activities in more than 40 countries.^[44]

Besides public expression, legislation has been designed, controversially, to oppose homophobia, as in hate speech, hate crime, and laws against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Some argue that anti-LGBT prejudice is immoral and goes above and beyond the effects on that class of people. Warren J. Blumenfeld argues that this emotion gains a dimension beyond itself, as a tool for extreme right-wing conservatives and fundamentalist religious groups and as a restricting factor on gender-relations as to the weight associated with performing each role accordingly.^[45] Furthermore, Blumenfeld in particular claimed:

Anti-gay bias causes young people to engage in sexual behavior earlier in order to prove that they are straight. Anti-gay bias contributed significantly to the spread of the AIDS epidemic. Anti-gay bias prevents the ability of schools to create effective honest sexual education programs that would save children's lives and prevent STDs.^[46]

References

See also

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Homophobia

• Allophilia
• Biphobia
• Gay panic defense
• Heterophobia
• Heterosexism
• Homonegativity
• Homosexual panic
• International Day Against Homophobia
• Latent homosexuality
• Slogans of anti-gay ideology
• Violence against LGBT people

External links

• Wikiquote - Quotes about Homophobia
• Meanings of the word Homophobia
• GLAAD site: Nationwide Responses to Senator Lott's Homophobic Remarks
• The Homophobic Imagination
• The Rockway Institute for LGBT research in the public interest at Alliant International University
• Homophobia in the media
• Interactive guide to UK employment law regarding sexuality and homophobia and what you can do
• PBS' "Frontline's" homophobia quiz
• European Parliament resolution on homophobia in Europe

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