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Homophobia is a term used to describe:
 The knight von Hohenberg and his beloved squire, being burned at the stake for the crime of sodomy; Zurich, 1482; (Zurich Central Library) Etymology
The word homophobia is a neologism coined by clinical psychologist George Weinberg in his book Society and the Healthy Homosexual in 1971. It combines the Greek words phobos, meaning "panic fear", with the prefix homo-, which means "the same". The "homo" in homophobia comes from the word homosexual.
A precursor was homoerotophobia, coined by Dr Wainwright Churchill in Homosexual Behavior Among Males in 1967.
Usage of the term
There is some controversy regarding the usage of the word and the legitimacy of such a word.
Some feel that the term should be restricted to persecution, prejudice, and violence towards gay individuals. They feel that the use of the term to describe a person's personal view of homosexuality as wrong and only heterosexuality as an acceptable form of sexuality creates a loaded term.
Others feel that the term is an accurate description of both situations above. They feel that in making the distinction between homosexuality and heterosexuality then treating them differently is discrimination. The belief that heterosexuality is supreme to all other sexual orientations has been described more specifically by some as heterosexist.
People who regard heterosexism as applicable to homophobia often use the word in such a manner. For example, gay rights supporter Scott Bidstrup states in a personal essay titled Homophobia: The Fear Behind The Hatred:
- If you look up homophobia in the dictionary, it will probably tell you that it is the fear of homosexuals. While many would take issue with that definition, it is nevertheless true that in many ways, it really is a fear of homosexuality or at least homosexuals. 1
Niclas Berggren, writing in the Independent Gay Forum, agrees:
- It is usually not the case, for homophobic persons, that the basis of their attitudes towards homosexuality is rational reasoning, or intellectual argumentation. Such endeavors have, as a rule, been added afterwards, to try to give the homophobia a nicer and more respectable framing. However, these attempts to argue intellectually against homosexuality are utter failures. 2
Many argue that there are no rational reasons to regard homosexuality wrong or less valid than heterosexuality , and that consequently, there is no argument against homosexuality that is not rooted in homophobia. Many claim that any opposition to political causes associated with gay rights, such as gay marriage, is rooted in homophobia because it is based in heterosexist thinking.
Those who have been labeled homophobes in this sense object to the description, claiming it is inaccurate. This is, they say, because they object to homosexuality on religious grounds it is not homophobia. See Heteronormativity.
Others counter such arguments ignore 2500 years of debate in which religious based arguments, especially when based on literal interpretations of scriptures, have been repeatedly shown to be irrational. See Galileo Galilei for a recent example.
Those deploring homosexuality additionally claim that it is not dysfunctional to oppose civil rights of gay men and women if one believes such positions to be detrimental to public policy.
Causes of homophobia
Family Procreation
Some argue that the roots of homophobia lie in the instinct of family procreation. The thought that one's child may be gay or lesbian and thus break the biological chain of generations makes the person consider gay children a threat to his family lineage. And disturbs the thought that we continue to live on in a way through our children's' achievements. However, this theory does not explain why heterosexuals who marry infertile partners are not likewise seen as a threat to a family's genetic survival. Nor does it take into account new medical advances allowing gay men and women to reproduce in a biological manner.
Religious dogma
The Abrahamic religions; (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) are interpreted by some sects as denouncing all forms of same-sex love and sexuality. Some interpret the Bible as saying that even coitus interruptus was severely punished by God, since the semen was dropped on the ground and did not reach its true destination. These conservative interpretations, in those countries where these sects dominate are presumed to create homophobia in much the same fashion that religious edicts against the eating of pork have influenced a distaste for the food.
Thus, some groups or individuals voice disapproval of homosexuality, and actively oppose it, claiming religious principles. However some condemn violence toward gay men and women but vary in their opinion about the legal status of such individuals. Some people believe that these conservative religious approaches foster homophobia. See Religion and homosexuality. Others argue that this is another attempt to justify injustices through religion such as past Bible-based support of slavery or opposition to universal suffrage. See Bible-based advocacy of slavery
Some cite evidence of religious dogma when comparing attitudes towards same-sex love in cultures not impacted by the effect of these conservative religious creeds. Whether we look back in history at cultures such as the ancient Greeks or the pre-modern Japanese, or we look at present-day Native cultures, such as many North-American tribes, we see societies which understand and integrate the human ability to love and desire someone of one’s own sex.
Sexist Beliefs
Some gender theorists interpret the fact that male - male relationships often incite a stronger reaction in a homophobic person than female - female (lesbian) as meaning that the homophobic person feels threatened by the perceived subversion of the gender paradigm in male - male sexual activity. To quote D.A. Miller, the "only necessary content of male heterosexuality is not a desire for women, but the negation of the desire for men." As Miller continues, this necessary negation is such that "straight men unabashedly need gay men, whom they forcibly recruit (as the object of their blows or, in better circles, their jokes) to enter into a polarization that exorcises the 'woman' in man, by assigning it to a class of man who may be considered to be no 'man' at all." (Thomas 2000) They regard the reason male homosexuality is treated worse compared to female homosexuality as sexist in it's underlying belief that men are superior to women and therefore for a man to "replace" a woman during intercourse with another man he is then subjecting himself to inferiority.
Repressed desires
Psychoanalytic theory has long held that homophobia was the result of repressed homosexual desires. In a recent experiment, a group of homophobic heterosexual men showed more signs of sexual arousal from being shown images of homosexual sex than a control group of non-homophobic heterosexual men; however, anxiety in the former group may explain part of the difference. Similarly, so-called ex-gays, who claim to have "walked away from homosexuality", have often used strong language to condemn the practice (and some have later returned to it). Presently in western countries the group most likely to manifest homophobia is pre-pubescent males and older men.
Repressive laws
Some laws have been seen to encourage or legitimize homophobia, as in sodomy laws, Section 28, and differing ages of consent for homosexuals and heterosexuals.
Effects on Non-gay individuals
Postulated complex
Some argue that homophobia harms non-gay people. Warren J. Blumenfeld has argued that homophobia harms heterosexuals in the following ways:
- Extremist far-right conservative and religious groups use anti-gay bias to further their political goals. Anti-gay bias leads everyone compromise their morals and treat others badly. Anti-gay bias causes everyone to avoid or have trouble forming close relationships with friends of the same sex. Everyone's behaviour is restricted to rigid gender-roles or punished for variance by anti-gay bias. Even if people are in actuality straight, they may be silenced or ridiculed into not fulfilling their potential by avoided the creative fulliling but stigmatized activity. Anti-gay bias causes young people to engage in sexual behaviour earlier in order to prove that they are straight. Anti-gay bias contributed significantly to the spread of the AIDS epidemic. Anti-gay bias inhibits the ability of schools to create effective honest sexual education programs that would save children's lives and prevent STDs. 4
Anxiety
According to theorists including Calvin Thomas (2000), quoted here, and Judith Butler, "The terror of being mistaken for a queer dominates the straight mind because this terror constitutes the straight mind. It is precisely that culturally produced and reinforced horror of/fascination with abjected homosexuality that produces and maintains 'the straight mind' as such, governing not so much specific sexual practices between men and women (after all, these things happen) as the institution (arguably antisexual) of heteronormativity itself." He continues, "Homophobia entails not only the fear of those who are abjectly identified (and depended on) but also the fear of being abjectly identifiable onself: the fear, as the word most literally means, of being 'the same as'. This latter fear is arguably a much stronger component of homophobia than of, say, sexism or racism (despite the mechanisms of projection and abjection doubtless at work in those forms of hatred), because the sexist male or the racist white is in much less 'danger' of being 'mistaken' for a woman or a nonwhite than the straight is of being 'mistaken' for a queer." Judith Butler recounts, "When they were debating gays in the military on television in the United States a senator got up and laughed, and he said, 'I must say, I know very little about homosexuality. I think I know less about homosexuality than about anything else in the world.' And it was a big announcement of his ignorance of homosexuality. Then he immediately launched into a homophobic diatribe which suggested that he thinks that homosexuals only have sex in public bathrooms, that they are all skinny, that they're all male, etc, etc. So what he actually has is a very aggressive and fairly obsessive relationship to the homosexuality that of course he knows nothing about. At that moment you realise that this person who claims to have nothing to do with homosexuality is in fact utterly preoccupied by it."
Effects on GLBT-identified individuals
Internalised Homophobia
Homophobia directed against oneself, called internalised homophobia or ego-dystonic homophobia, can result in lifelong suffering of depression, low self-esteem and a stunted love life and sexuality. Some psychologists and psychiatrists attribute the comparatively high incidence of suicide among gay teenagers to such strongly negative self-evaluations. Others primarily blame homophobic actions taken against them, as described below.
Homosexuals who suffer from internalised homophobia may discriminate or be violent towards other homosexuals in the same way and to the same extent as anyone else with homophobia. Some homosexuals with internalised homophobia may repress their homosexuality, so that they are not fully aware of it. Some people claim that some or most homophobes are repressed homosexuals. Senator Joseph McCarthy and minister Fred Phelps are sometimes presented as examples of this kind of motivation and behavior; although the primary targets of McCarthy's political crusades were communists, he frequently accused people of homosexuality in order to smear their characters.
Homosexuals who are opposed to homosexual behaviour (for religious reasons, for example) may suffer many of the same effects, to a lesser extent, as those with internalised homophobia. Some choose chastity in order to avoid conflict between their homosexuality and their beliefs. Others may try to become heterosexual through reparative therapy, though it is generally agreed among mental health professionals that it is impossible to change sexual orientation (See causes of sexual orientation).
Sometimes homosexuals who are opposed to homosexual behaviour or who choose to hide their orientations, particularly public or political figures, are forcibly outed by campaign groups or newspapers who claim that opposing homosexual behaviour while being homosexual is hypocritical and should be exposed. Even prominent closeted homosexuals who do not oppose homosexuality, but rather wish to remain silent, are often forcibly "outed," as has been the case with several film actors and professional athletes, such as Hayden Christensen and Mike Piazza. This is a controversial tactic.
Manifestations
Homophobia is understood to usually manifest as antagonistic behavior ranging from discrimination on a personal level, to institutionalized persecution. (see gay rights)
Some manifestations of homophobia are:
- Legal punishment of people for same-sex sexual relations
- Use of religion to rationalize anti-gay prejudice
- Self-hatred of ones own homosexuality
- Aggression against gay people or institutions
- Discrimination in employment, housing, etc.
Violence
Main article: Persecution of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgendered
State sponsored
Sexual relations between individuals of the same sex have frequently been repressed by the state under pain of mutilation and death. Such events (represented as sodomy) took place in Europe from the fifth to the twentieth centuries, and in Moslem countries from the beginning of the Moslem era up to and including the present day. Among the states that sponsored or continue to use the death penalty to enforce compulsory heterosexuality are:
Under Christian rule
Under Moslem rule
Extra-legal
Extreme cases of homophobia have resulted in cases in which a person was murdered because of their actual or perceived homosexuality. In some of these cases, the defendant argued that their action was due to a moment of panic caused by their belief that the victim was pursuing them sexually. This claim is referred to as the "gay panic defense". The gay panic defense is illegal in some jurisdictions.
Murder has been an all-too frequent manifestation of homophobia. Many serial murderers in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, most famously John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Herb Baumeister, and Dean Corll, to name but a few, were homosexuals who targeted other gays or young men out of rage. Much more common are cases of non-fatal beatings, shootings, stabbings, and other assaults, including verbal assaults and bullying. Fear of physical violence is widespread among homosexuals, and many of them migrate to urban areas for the tolerant attitude and cultural advantages large gay communities offer them (see gay ghetto). Even urban environments are not always safe, as it is not unknown for gangs of youths to travel into gay communities in search of targets. More commonly, homophobes will "pick up" gay men outside of gay clubs and bars with the intent of "gay bashing" them. A well-known recent case was the beating death of Matthew Shepard.
Gays were one of the groups persecuted under the Nazi regime. It is believed by some that as many as 600,000 gay men were murdered in the Holocaust. (This figure is contested, and an alternate figure of ca. 15,000 is postulated by some historians.) See History of Gays during the Holocaust. Of course, the legal persecution of gays goes back more than a thousand years. Among the known early victims are, Giovanni di Giovanni, 1365; Jacques Chausson, 1661;
Discrimination
Homophobia is also claimed to be a source of anti-gay discrimination. The passage of many notable non-discrimination laws and the voluntary changing of policy by many employers has, to a certain extent, improved the situation for homosexuals. However, some anti-gay rights groups contend that many of these laws and policies have, in fact, discriminated against people with religiously motivated opposition to homosexual activity. Gay rights activists do not accept these claims and further state that there is still a great deal of subtle anti-homosexual discrimination. Because of this, many homosexuals still fear being fired from their jobs, denied housing, or harassed in various ways. (See fruit machine.)
Denigration
Denigration of the act of loving someone of the same sex, and of the participants, is claimed to be a fundamental tactic of the repression directed at the people engaged in such actions.
Blame for Biblical plagues and natural disasters
Since the middle ages, sodomites were blamed for "bringing down the wrath of God" upon the land, and their pleasures blamed for the periodic epidemics of disease which decimated the population. This "pollution" was thought to be cleansed by fire, as a result of which countless individuals were burned at the stake or run through with white-hot iron rods.
Since the end of the 1980's similar accusations have been made, inspired by the AIDS epidemic. The epidemic, however, has touched primarily people enagaged in opposite-sex behaviors, and medical evidence indicates the disease is propagated not because the sex of the partner is the same as one's own, but as a factor of unhygienic sexual behaviors (such as relations with multiple partners concurrent with an absence of protective techniques).
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn; Rape of Ganymede
1635 Oil on canvas; Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
The painter has diverged from the convention of representing Ganymede as a shapely youth cooperating expectantly in his abduction by the god. Instead he uses the work as to denounce the same-sex love of his day. As he would have it, the men are rapacious animals, represented by the aggressive eagle, and the youths vulnerable children, here represented by the squalling toddler pissing in fright, his rear turned to the viewer to underline the heinousness of the act. Conflation with child abuse
This is an accusation which predates the current era, as it was leveled against pederasts even during Antiquity (See Lucian's Erotes). Among the counterarguments used to refute the charge are that it is based on the denial of the comparable abuse of young girls by men who prefer the opposite sex, and on the infantilization of adolescents who in a different context would be considered to have come of age.
Dissipation of vital force
This argument has been phrased since antiquity in agricultural terms, as "casting one's seed on sterile rocks." It has been countered by pointing out that there are multiple examples of non-procreative heterosexual sex, such as relations between people past the age of conception, commercial sex, and sex in which birth-control measures are used. It has also been suggested that the insemination inherent in same-sex relations, while not producing actual offspring, yields spiritual and intellectual fruit.
Association with effeminacy in the case of men, and masculinity in the case of women
This common slur (most recently trotted out by the governor of California, a bodybuilder by trade,
in the form of girlie-men) seems to be based on the generalization that all those who enage in same-sex relations are also gender variant, a contention which is not sustained by research in the field.
Examples of homophobic art
Opposition to homophobia
To combat homophobia, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community uses events such as pride parades and political activism. See gay pride.
Some religious organizations and denominations support gay rights and oppose homophobia. See Religion and homosexuality.
Some laws have been made to oppose homophobia, as in hate speech, hate crime, and laws against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Changes to the law are often made in response to pressure from the gay rights movement.
Some activists also call homophobia straight supremacism equating it to white supremacism. Anti-gay rights/Pro-family groups see this as an attempt to marginalize those who disapprove of homosexuality.
Medical Views of Homophobia
Although not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV of the American Psychiatric Association, homophobia is discussed in medical journals and continues to be researched by the American Psychiatric Association and American Psychological Association. Some of these studies have linked deep hatred towards homosexuality to repressed homosexual feelings. See internalised homophobia.
Legal Ramifications of Homophobia
The word homophobia has legal ramifications in some countries, for example in the gay panic defense, a form of insanity defense, or in hate crime legislation.
References
- Bidstrup, Scott, "Homophobia: The Fear Behind The Hatred (http://www.bidstrup.com/phobia.htm)". An essay on the origin and nature of homophobia.
- Berggren, Niclas, "Independent Gay Forum (http://www.indegayforum.org/articles/berggren41.html)"
- Carter, Jarrod, "What do you mean you're not homophobic (http://archives.thedaily.washington.edu/1995/102795/hp.html)?". Letter to the Editor.
- Blumenfield, Warren J., "Homophobia: How we all pay the price" (1992)
- Bulter, Judith (). Interview by Peter Osborne and Lynne Segal, London, 1993. © Radical Philosophy Ltd, 1994. (http://www.theory.org.uk/but-int1.htm)
- Herek, Gregory M., Ph.D., " Beyond 'Homophobia': Thinking About Sexual Prejudice and Stigma in the Twenty-First Century." Sexuality Research & Social Policy (April, 2004) summary (http://www.narth.com/docs/creates.html)
- Thomas, Calvin, ed. (2000). "Straight with a Twist", Straight with a Twist: Queer Theory and the Subject of Heterosexuality, p.27-8. University of Illinois Press.
See also
External links
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