HOME WEB NEWS IMAGES CLASSIFIEDS YELLOW PAGESPOLLS - SURVEYS WIKI COUNTRIES PHOTOS US UK INDIA
Cities Stocks Weather Movies Coupons Travel Blogs Health Horoscope Maps ASIA EUROPE Classifieds Yellow Pages
 nebraska medical, clinical trials, patient care, medical college | ||
|
St Lucia hotel, Services and Information at STLUCIAIWORLD.COM ST LUCIA - St Lucia, St Lucia hotel, Services and Information at STLUCIAIWORLD.COM sandal St Lucia | ||
|
lucent technologies, weapons stockpile, research centre testing, water testing, underwriter laboratory inc | ||
 1
|
A protest by The Westboro Baptist Church, a group identified by the Anti-Defamation League as "virulently homophobic".Anti-Defamation League on the Westboro Baptist ChurchAnti-homosexual quotes from WBC on ADL\'s website.
Homophobia (from Greek homós: one and the same; phóbos: fear, phobia) is irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexualsThe American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.webster.com (2008). Retrieved on 2008-01-29.homophobial Dictonary.com. Dictonary.com (2008). Retrieved on 2008-01-29.aol.com. aol.com (2008). Retrieved on 2008-01-29. It can also mean hatred, hostility, disapproval of, or prejudice towards homosexuals, or homosexual behavior or cultures.Merriam-Webster Online and 11th Collegiate Dictionary, 2005, American Heritage Dictionary. 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.William O\'Donohue and Christine E. Caselles, "Homophobia: Conceptual, definitional, and value issues", Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment (2005).
Contents |
|
Psychologist George Weinberg introduced the first scholarly use of the concept homophobia in his 1972 book Society and the Healthy Homosexual,Weinberg, George (1972). Society and the Healthy Homosexual. New York: St. Martin\'s. ISBN 0901072168. published one year before the American Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.Freedman, Alfred M (2000-09-01), "Recalling APA\'s Historic Step", APA News, <http://www.psych.org/pnews/00-09-01/recalling.html>. Retrieved on 2007-05-04 Weinberg\'s "term became an important tool for gay and lesbian activists, advocates, and their allies."Herek, Gregory M. (April 2004). "Beyond "Homophobia": Thinking About Sexual Prejudice and Stigma in the Twenty-First Century". Sexuality Research & Social Policy 1 (2): 2-24. doi:10.1525/srsp.2004.1.2.6. Retrieved on 2007-09-29. 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.
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.
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
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").Oxford Shorter English Dictionary, 2002
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. A possible etymological precursor was homoerotophobia, coined by Wainwright Churchill in Homosexual Behavior Among Males in 1967.
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.Homophobia | TEACH ProjectHomophobia is a misnomer, according to a group of U.S. psychologists.
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."Herek, G. M. (1990). The context of anti-gay violence: Notes on cultural and psychological heterosexism. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 5, 316-333
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.Is Homophobia The Same As Racism/Sexism? By George Yancey, Assistant Professor
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.Herek, Gregory M. (2000). The psychology of sexual prejudice. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9
In 1980 Hudson and Ricketts proposed the term "homonegativity," arguing that "homophobia" was unscientific in its presumption of motivation.Hudson, W. and Ricketts, W. (1980) A strategy for the measure of homophobia. Journal of Homosexuality, 5, 357–372.
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.O\'Donohue, William and Christine Caselles (September 1993). Homophobia: Conceptual, definitional, and value issues. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 15 no. 3.
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.\'"N.A.R.T.H.
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.The Riddle Homophobia Scale from Allies Committee website, Department of Student Life, Texas A&M University There were also ideas to classify homophobia, racism, and sexism as an intolerant personality disorder.Guindon, M.H., Green, A.G. & Hanna, F.J. (2003). Intolerance and Psychopathology: Toward a General Diagnosis for Racism, Sexism, and Homophobia. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 73, 2, pp. 167-176.
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 termPaula A. Treichler, AIDS, Homophobia, and Biomedical Discourse: An Epidemic of Signification, October, Vol. 43, AIDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural Activism (Winter, 1987), pp. 31-70..
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.Adams, H.E., Wright, R.W. & Lohr, B.A. (1996). "Is Homophobia Associated With Homosexual Arousal?", Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, no. 3, pp. 440-445. 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.Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity — Discrimination and Conflicts from Planned Parenthood
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.http://www.chmeds.ac.nz/research/chds/publications/2005/264.pdf "Same-Sex Sexual Behavior and Psychiatric Disorders": Findings From the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study (NEMESIS)" by Theo G. M. Sandfort, Ron de Graaf, Rob V. Bijl and Paul Schnabel. Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 58 No. 1, January 2001, pp. 85-91.
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)Index of Homophobia: W. W. Hudson and W. A. Ricketts, 1980. were considerably more likely to experience more erectile responses when exposed to homoerotic images than non-homophobic men."Is Homophobia Associated With Homosexual Arousal?" by Henry E. Adams, Lester W. Wright, Jr. and Bethany A. Lohr, University of Georgia (Athens), Department of Psychology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 105, No. 3, pp 440-445. Abstract at PubMed. Summarized in an American Psychological Association press release, August 1996: "New Study Links Homophobia with Homosexual Arousal".
Theorists 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.Masculinity Challenged, Men Prefer War and SUVs
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.Nancy J. Chodorow. Statement in a public forum on homophobia by The American Psychoanalytic Foundation, 1999
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.West, D.J. Homosexuality re-examined. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1977. ISBN 0816608121
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.
Disapproval 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.Prejudice & Attitudes to Gay Men & Lesbians
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","Homophobia, racism likely companions, study shows," Jet, January 10, 1994 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.Majority support gay equality rights, poll finds. Guardian (2007-05-23).
Societal institutions can perpetuate homophobic attitudes. Such institutional sources in the black community include:
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,Epstein, D. (1995). "Keeping them in their place: Hetero/sexist harassment, gender and the enforcement of heterosexuality." In J. Holland&L. Adkins (Eds.), Sex, sensibility and the gendered body. London: Macmillan.Herek, G. (Ed.). (1998). Stigma and sexual orientation: Understanding prejudice against lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. has also been identified by Michael Kimmel as an example of homophobia.Kimmel, M. (1994). Masculinity as homophobia: Fear, shame and silence in the construction of gender identity. In H. Brod & M. Kaufman (Eds.), Theorizing masculinities (pp. 119-141). Newbury Park, CA: Sage 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.Michael S. Kimmel and Matthew Mahler, "Adolescent Masculinity, Homophobia, and Violence: Random School Shootings", 1982-2001, State University of New York at Stony Brook, in American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 46 No. 10, June 2003 pp. 1439-1458
To combat homophobia, the LGBT community uses events such as gay pride parades and political activism (See gay pride). One form of organized resistance to homophobia is the International Day Against Homophobia (or IDAHO),"Towards an international Day against Homophobia", April 10, 2004 first celebrated May 17, 2005 in related activities in more than 40 countries."1st Annual International Day Against Homophobia to be Celebrated in over 40 Countries on May 17", May 12, 2005
In addition to 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.Blumenfield, Warren J., "Homophobia: How we all pay the price" (1992). Furthermore, Blumenfeld in particular claimed:
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Look up Homophobia in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
| Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) series | ||
|---|---|---|
| Homosexuality | Gay • Lesbian • Queer • Banjee • Homophobia • Heterosexism • Societal attitudes • Religious attitudes • Biology • Psychology |  |
| Bisexuality | Bi-curious • Pansexuality • Gay-for-pay • Prison sexuality • Biphobia • Bisexual chic • Bisexual erasure • Media portrayal | |
| Transgender | Transsexualism • Transvestism • Cross-dressing • Two-Spirit • Genderqueer • Androgyny • Third gender • Transsexual sexuality • Homosexuality and transgender • Drag king • Drag queen • Transphobia • Sex reassignment therapy • Legal aspects • Film and television | |
| History | Timeline • Homosexuality and the Holocaust • Gay Liberation • Stonewall riots • History of lesbianism • Adelphopoiesis | |
| Culture | Demographics • Bisexual community • Gay community • Social movements • Queer nationalism • Gay pride • The Gay Games • LGBT symbols • Gay icon • Gay slang • LGBT tourism • Gay village • Gay bar • Genderfuck • LGBT films • Pink dollar / Pound • Lesbian utopia | |
| Rights | Homosexuality laws of the world • Adoption • LGBT parenting • Same-sex marriage • Civil union • Sodomy law • Violence against LGBT people • Gay bashing • Declaration of Montreal | |
| Categories | LGBT civil rights • LGBT culture • LGBT history • LGBT people • Queer studies • Sexual orientation and identity • Sexual orientation and science • Sexual orientation and society • Transgender | |
| Portal | ||
| Discrimination | |
|---|---|
General forms | |
| Ageism · Racism · Religious intolerance · Sexism · Xenophobia | |
Specific forms | |
| Social | Ableism · Adultism · Biphobia · Classism · Elitism · Gerontophobia · Heightism · Heterosexism · Homophobia · Lesbophobia · Lookism · Misandry · Misogyny · Sizeism · Transphobia |
| Against cultures | American · Arab · Armenian · Australian · Canadian · Catalan · Chinese · English · European · French · German · Indian · Iranian · Irish · Italian · Japanese · Jewish · Malay · Mexican · Polish · Portuguese · Quebec · Roma · Romanian · Russian · Scottish · Serb · Spanish · Turkish |
| Against religions | Bahá\'í · Catholicism · Christianity · Hinduism · Judaism · Mormonism · Islam · Protestantism · New religious movements |
Manifestations | |
| Blood libel · Ephebiphobia · Ethnic cleansing · Ethnocide · Gay bashing · Genocide (examples) · Hate crime · Hate speech · Lynching · Paternalism · Pogrom · Race war · Racial profiling · Religious persecution · Slavery · Police brutality | |
Movements | |
| Discriminatory | American Nazi Party · Aryanism · Grey Wolves · Hate groups · Kahanism · Ku Klux Klan · Neo-Nazism · South African National Party · Supremacism |
| Anti-discriminatory | Abolitionism · Autistic rights · Children\'s rights · Civil rights · Disability rights (Inclusion) · Feminism · LGBT rights · Masculism · Men\'sTemplate:\w Fathers\' rights · Women\'sTemplate:\w Universal suffrage · Youth rights · Equalism |
Policies | |
| Discriminatory | Apartheid · Internment · RaceTemplate:\wReligionTemplate:\w Sex segregation · Redlining |
| Anti-discriminatory | Civil rights · Desegregation · Emancipation · Integration · Equal opportunity |
| Counter-discriminatory | Affirmative action · Forced busing · Racial quota · Reparation · Reservation (India) · Employment equity (Canada) |
Law | |
| Discriminatory | Alien and Sedition Acts · Anti-immigration · Anti-miscegenation · Apartheid laws · Black codes · Jim Crow laws · Nuremberg Laws · Ethnocracy |
| Anti-discriminatory | Anti-discrimination acts · Anti-discrimination law · 14th Amendment · Crime of apartheid |
Other forms | |
| Androcentrism · Adultcentrism · Colorism · Cronyism · Economic · Ethnocentrism · Gynocentrism · Linguicism · Nepotism · Triumphalism | |
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia
