Introduction
Sexual orientationism is best described as discrimination or prejudice against homosexuals on the assumption that heterosexuality is the dominant, or normal, sexual orientation. Within society there are many barriers, assumptions, and stigmas placed upon the queer community, numerous of which steam from this heterosexist stance that has become the dominant ideology. This stance has historical significance in trauma, and oppression of those within the sexual minority, and how this can play on representation.
Social Location
Because sexual orientationism, or homophobia, is something that is unconsciously encouraged since our youth by the media and its lack of representation of the queer community, there is often a lot of work that has to be done internally in order to understand and accept homosexuality, regardless of whether you identify with or simply wish to be an ally. My understanding of my privilege or oppression with sexual orientation comes from many years of internally restructuring my own understanding of societal norms. I had a much easier time of accepting the community from my mother who was always there to encourage my acceptance, and growth not only of, but within the community. As an individual who identifies as a pansexual male, my deconstruction of what was proposed as the norm, and reconciling that with my own understanding of what I felt inside to be true was fairly straight forward, but no less substantial. However, I do recognize my own
In, “The interSexion: A Vision for a Queer Progressive Agenda” by Deepoli Gokhale, she writes about queer oppression. She defines heterosexism as the “belief that there are only two genders, and that a sexual relationship between a man and a
There are many issues that have arrived in our culture that may conflict with a traditional viewpoint. Day by day, I see people parting from conservative life styles to those that are flamboyant and boisterous. I can’t pin point just one group or sector of people, beliefs, or ideologies that is morally altering the future generations; but I will expound on sexual orientation and how it affect us, socially, emotionally, and politically.
Finally, sexual orientation discrimination is denying an individual an opportunity or treating them differently because of their sexual orientation. This includes lesbians, homosexuals, bisexuals or heterosexual individuals (Moran, 2013).
Chapter 3- Homophobia: Whose Unnatural Now Homophobia is the discrimination, fear or hatred of homosexuality, homosexual people, lesbian, gay and bisexual identity, and refers to the values and behaviours of the people that express this fear and hatred. It can be expressed as antipathy, contempt, prejudice or aversion. It can also be based on an irrational fear, and is sometimes related back to religious beliefs. It can form on many different levels such as personal or internalized homophobia (when gay or lesbians believes they are personally have sinful urges or thoughts), interpersonal homophobia (the exclusion, name calling or physical abuse of others based on sexual orientation ), institutional homophobia (government, business, churches and other organisations discriminating against others based on sexual orientation) and cultural homophobia (social standards and norms which dictate that being heterosexual is better than being lesbian, gay or bisexual).
The everlasting discussions and debates about the LGBTIQ group has gotten more popular as awareness is given to the variations of sexual orientation and gender identity. According to The Free Dictionary, LGBTIQ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer/ Questioning, which represents the group of people with sexual orientations or gender identities different from the heterosexual or cisgender majority. The reasons of this anomaly have been explained and accepted by many scientists that it is not a choice but rather a biological and unchangeable feature from birth.[1] The irrational fear of, aversion to, or
Relatively recent inclusion of sexual orientation measures in a few federal and state health surveillance surveys is enabling the production of population-based information about sexual minority health and its status relative to that of the heterosexual majority.
Sexual orientation is considered highly controversial in our world today. There are many issues that society is faced with concerning homosexuality. When thinking of homosexuality most people refer to the Bible for an answer. There is even more controversy within the Bible’s text. Not only is there reference to the Bible, but also to our mind to answer whether or not homosexuality is a moral issue. Psychological and Biological research is searching for an answer to this illustrious area of confusion.
Being part of a stigmatized group often accompanies a sense of negative self-worth. This association can become increasingly evident if an individual is constantly faced with adversities that make the individual feel devalued. Specifically, individuals in the LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual) population have unique experiences that proliferate the rate of being marginalized. This marginalization can negatively affect the individual and can be portrayed in multiple ways. At the society level, Herek & Garnets (2007) coined the term sexual stigma to describe this phenomenon in relation to sexual minorities. Sexual stigma, in the researcher’s terms, means that there is an inferior status in relation to a society that does not tolerate of any nonheterosexual behavior, identity, or relationship (Herek & Garnets, 2007). An example of this stigma would be a religion frowning upon a homosexual relationship and not tolerating or devaluing the homosexual couple. Herek also describes this at an individual level: sexual prejudice means “negative attitudes based on sexual orientation” (Herek, 2000), as a result, the individual may feel devalued through various means such as not being able to build relationships with individuals who oppose homosexuality. Both at the societal and individual level can include: prejudice -which is a negative attitude that an individual may associate to an identity (in this case an nonheterosexual identity)-, blatant
To put it casually, sexual orientation concerns the way human culture manages human bodies, and the numerous results of that "arrangement" in our own lives and our aggregate destiny.
The theme that we have been focusing on in class for the past two weeks is sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is more complex than just the gender a person is attracted to. Instead sexual orientation is on more of a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum a person can be solely heterosexual and on the opposite side a person can be completely homosexual. This also means that a person can be bisexual if they identify more in the middle of the spectrum. The spectrum allows for all individuals of all different sexualities to have a place on the spectrum. In the films Chasing Amy and XXY we see two individuals who are more fluid with their sexuality and do not identify with being solely homosexual or solely heterosexual.
Males and females are classed differently from the moment they are pronounced boy or girl. Gender determines the differences in power and control in which men and women have over the socioeconomic determinants of their health, lives and status in their community. Our society moulds how men and women should and should not behave and can be observed in all parts of our society. As a result of these Gender stereotypes men and women have issues which affect their health which are unique to each gender. Males for example are perceived to be greater risk takers as a whole in our society than that of females. We represent risk taking behavior with masculinity and violence, high speed driving and contact sport with the male gender. (Doyle 2005)
Being sexual and romantic is the norm. Even now when other sexualities are more widely accepted you don’t hear about romantic orientations. You don’t hear that your romantic orientation can be different from your sexual orientation. You don’t hear that there are romantic orientations, each just as diverse and varied as sexual orientations. You particularly do not hear about the lack of these seemingly intrinsic human traits. If you do hear about them they tend to be caused by a health issue, or past trauma, abuse or a bad relationship. One of the only times I have seen an asexual couple on TV ended with one lying and the other hand waved off with brain cancer. So we are liars, or sick, we get told to get our hormones checked, that we haven’t met
New introductions of sexual orientation measures in some of the health surveillance surveys addressed by the states and federal governments, are allowing for population-based information analysis regarding sexual minorities, and their health, along with its status relative to that of the heterosexual majority. Very few studies have successfully been able to investigate variability in health conditions by sexual orientation, especially the ones that involve sexual orientation as well as other important social characteristics including ethnicity, gender, race, and socioeconomic status. However, research suggests heterogeneity within sexual minorities health. For example, lesbians who participated in the National Survey of Family Growth were more likely to be overweight than were hetero ladies, however the same was not true regarding cross-sexual women. Bisexual ladies and gay male members in the California Quality of Life Survey were more likely to report digestive issues than were their same-sex, hetero peers, but lesbians and androgynous men were not.
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
Americans live in a society that seems constantly plagued by various types of discrimination. For instance, ableism, classism, and sizeism are a few examples of the sorts of systematic discriminations that Americans face every day. However, as of late, one of the most prevalent forms that targets homosexual minorities is Heterosexist discrimination. Heterosexism is defined as the discrimination or prejudice against homosexuals (“Heterosexism”). In addition to being prejudiced and discriminatory, heterosexism is more often than not paired with the idea that heterosexuality is the normal sexual orientation, therefore superior. This kind of thinking is extremely detrimental to the wellbeing of homosexual people.