Homophobia
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Categories: Discrimination | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since November 2007 | Homophobia | Hate | Sexual orientation and society | Sexual and gender prejudices
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A protest by The Westboro Baptist Church, a group identified by the Anti-Defamation League as "virulently homophobic".[1][2]
Homophobia (from Greek homós: one and the same; phóbos: fear, phobia) is irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuals[3][4][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. The usage of the word homophobia in its modern form is controversial as it may be used pejoratively against those with differing debatable value positions.[8]
Etymology and usageCoinagePsychologist George Weinberg introduced the first scholarly use of the concept homophobia in his 1972 book Society and the Healthy Homosexual,[9] published one year before the American Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.[10] Weinberg's "term became an important tool for gay and lesbian activists, advocates, and their allies."[11] He describes the concept as:
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.[11] The construction of the word is comparable to xenophobia, a much older term referring to individual or cultural hostility to foreigners or outsiders. However it fails to make sense etymologically, as the Greek 'homo' means 'the same', so, literally, 'homophobia' means a fear of things that are the same[11] 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").[12] 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.[11] A possible etymological precursor was homoerotophobia, coined by Wainwright Churchill in Homosexual Behavior Among Males in 1967. Similar termsSimilar 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.[13][14] Seeking to avoid both the focus on individual psychology of "homophobia" and the focus on collective cultural factors of "heterosexism," psychologist Gregory M. 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."[15] 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.[16] Critics of the termSome 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.[17] In 1980 Hudson and Ricketts proposed the term "homonegativity," arguing that "homophobia" was unscientific in its presumption of motivation.[18] 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.[19] 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.'"[20] Classification of homophobiaHomophobia 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.[21] There were also ideas to classify homophobia, racism, and sexism as an intolerant personality disorder.[22] Homophobia is not mentioned directly in any diseases clasifications (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems). For some, homophobia is a non-clinical term[23]. Internalized homophobiaInternalized 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.[24] 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 percent of non-heterosexual youth attempt suicide) has been attributed to this phenomenon.[25] The theory attributing higher incidences of depression, alcoholism and other self-destructive tendencies among homosexual 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 homosexuality from the DSM. Studies of gay people in societies such as Sweden, New Zealand and the Netherlands found similar incidences of such behavior.[26][27] 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 can include extreme repression and denial coupled with forced outward displays of heteronormative behavior for the purpose of appearing or attempting to feel "normal" or "accepted". This might also include less overt behavior like 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 judgement 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 homophobes 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 found that the allegedly homophobic men (as measured by the Index of Homophobia)[28] were considerably more likely to experience more erectile responses when exposed to homoerotic images than non-homophobic men.[29] Fear of being identified as gayTheorists including Calvin Thomas and Judith Butler have suggested that homophobia can be rooted in an individual's fear of being identified as gay.[citation needed] At least one study indicates that homophobia in men is correlated with insecurity about masculinity.[30] They have argued that a person who expresses homophobic thoughts and feelings does so not only to communicate their beliefs about the class of gay people, but also to distance themself from this class and its social status. Thus, by distancing themself from gay people, they are reaffirming their role as a heterosexual in a heteronormative culture, thereby attempting to prevent themself from being labelled and treated as a gay person. This interpretation alludes to the idea that a person may posit violent opposition to "the Other" as a means of establishing their own identity as part of the majority and thus gaining social validation. This concept is also recurrent in interpretations of racism and xenophobia. Nancy J. Chodorow states that homophobia can be viewed as a method of protection of male masculinity.[31] Various psychoanalytic theories explain homophobia as a threat to an individual's own same-sex impulses, whether those impulses are imminent or merely hypothetical. This threat causes repression, denial or reaction formation.[32] Homophobia as leading to a climate of prejudiceSexist beliefsSome 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 UK and USDisapproval of homosexuality and of gay people is not evenly distributed throughout society, but is more or less pronounced according to age, ethnicity, race, 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.[33] 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",[34] suggesting it is an abuse of power. A study performed in 2007 in the UK for the charity Stonewall reports that 90 percent of the population support the ban on discrimination against gays and lesbians.[35] Societal institutions can perpetuate homophobic attitudes. Such institutional sources in the black community include:
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