Homosexuality: What About It?

Introduction:

For years the issues on homosexuality have toppled headlines of newspapers, magazines, and the news. The point being that it has been an ongoing debate both in the "scientific" world as well our "everyday" world, the world outside of the lab. It seems like something that can't be escaped. If it's not someone being beaten to death for being gay; there's issues with a gay movie star, if it's not a trail on gay marriage; it's should gays be allowed in the military? We just can't escape it! Even though these issues and debates are the very thing that propelled me to write my paper, I'm not going to focus on them particularly. Instead I'm going to cover aspects of them, questions and concerns. I'm not focusing my studies on one particular concern or debate because that's what I'll be doing the same thing the media has been doing for years, debating! My approach is simply to gain a better understanding of some of the views that people have on homosexuality and possible causes that can be linked, if any.

I intend to suggest that homosexuality is environmental to an extent. I feel that is innately biological and just happens to be discovered at different times for different people. For some it can be as early as a child and for others it could be late adulthood. This "discovery" I feel is influenced by one's environment (i.e. peers, family structure, media, childhood experience etc.). However, the important part is that it already "exists" in some way, shape, or form (not implying that there is a "gay" gene)! Also, I feel that many of the people will attest that family and pro-creation will have some influence.

Relevance:

Through my research I have come across many different researchers and therapist with different views on the subject. First, looking at sociologist Richard Troiden, he agrees that traditionally, "concepts drawn from psychology and psychiatry have dominated informed discussions of homosexuality (Troiden Ch.1)." From his perspective that's fine, but where the professional research is lacking is the approach in looking at homosexuality from a sociological perspective. There has been a shift over the past fifteen years or so in the research on homosexuality; it has been from psychological adjustments of the homosexual to "an interest in understanding how homosexuals themselves perceive and experience the homosexual situation in contemporary Western society (Troiden Ch.1)." Even though my research doesn't focus specifically on this, it is an important part of the topic because sociology helps to explain our own identities, be it homosexual or not. He argues that, "people are not born with perceptions of themselves as homosexual, ambisexual (bisexual), or heterosexual" he goes on to say, "Before they can identify themselves in terms of a social condition or category, they must learn that a social category representing the activity or feelings exists; discover that other people occupy the social category; and perceive that their own socially constructed needs and needs are more similar to those of persons who occupy that social category than they are different." He also adds that one must identify with those that are in their social category by electing and labeling themselves as a part of it. Whatever this new adoption is, a transformation must take place, that is, "it involves a way of life that represent a radical departure from previous socialization experiences." And it's one's environmental influences that cause these "identifications." The interesting thing about this however is that by identifying, that doesn't necessarily make one homosexual. According to numerous investigators on the matter, "not all women and men who engage in homosexual activities, entertain homosexual fantasies, or have homosexual preferences become homosexual in the sense that they perceive themselves as homosexual in the romantic and sexual sense (Troiden Ch. 1)." There exists today many theorists who argue with the belief that one is what one does. How is that one can justify the make up of the entire self by one simple act or action? This question is one that will continue to be argued throughout the years to come and one that is left for many to ponder.

But that is just one side of the argument. Even though there are no solid and concrete research results on homosexuality being biological, there are many that still argue it's something that you're born with. With the stigma placed on homosexuals in today's
society, why would anyone choose to be gay or lesbian? It simply has to be something that a person is born with! There is however a model provided by sociologists Vivienne Cass on the study of homosexuality that may support the claim that it may in fact be something that exists prior to birth or any real sense of comprehension of "self", but is later developed. This model is broken into four stages:

· Stage 1: Sensitization-

This actually occurs before puberty. At this time, lesbians and gay males don't even see homosexuality as personally relevant. They're status isn't even a question. They do however "typically acquire social experiences during their childhood's that serve later as bases for seeing homosexuality as personally relevant, lending support to emerging perceptions of themselves as possibly homosexual (Troiden, pg. 42)."

-By this first stage, it is clear that some sort of attractiveness exists prior to one even being aware of his/her own preferred affection towards a particular gender.

· Stage 2: Identity Confusion-

In this stage, you are a confused person. You may ask yourself the questions, "Who am I?," "Am I homosexual?," "Am I heterosexual?" There are many factors that may contribute to one being "confused." Factors can include heterosexual and homosexual arousal and behavior, altered perceptions of self, and inaccurate information about homosexuals and homosexuality.

· Stage 3: Identity Assumption-

In this stage, the homosexual identity becomes a self-identity as well as a presented identity. "Defining the self as homosexual and presenting the self as homosexual to other homosexuals are the first stages in a larger process of identity disclosure called coming out (Troiden pg.50)."

· Stage 4: Commitment-
In this stage you are out and willing to live happily as what you perceive yourself to be.

Taking another look at an issue is what many researchers call polymorphous perversity. Defined as, "an open-ended, diffuse, and relatively fluid capacity for bodily pleasure seeking that may attach itself to any of the objects, people, or events that exist in the immediate culture." This goes on to state that everyone is born with a capacity for a wide range of sexual experiences, this can be for both masculine and feminine behavior. This definition seems to justify the claims for people being attracted to the opposite and even their own sex. Troiden says, "sexual preferences develop out of this flexible pleasure-seeking potential." By this claim, it seems as if there is some sort of choice in which gender one would want to pleasure out.

Materials/Methods:

Through my research I wasn't looking for one definite answer or origin behind homosexuality because that would be unnecessary. It's been looked at and still is being looked at in labs by numerous scientists and again there has been many studies and surveys completed. Whether it's genetic/biological or an influence on one's environment, I don't fell it's right to attempt to pinpoint a specific cause because I don't think that there is just one. More importantly, what is it about homosexuality that frightens them, that which "freaks" them out? As a side note, I didn't consider the subject of religion in my project due to the complexity of it. I'm sure that there are endless arguments about religion and homosexuality, but for some reason it seems to me as if it's too speculative, which is why I chose to exclude it.
I decide to survey both males and females for the obvious (gender bias etc,). I distributed surveys all over the entire campus to get a more diverse mix of answers. Certain parts of the University house different types of people for different reasons. All of the residence halls are a part of something that's called "themed communities." Some are for athletes, some for leaders, some for multicultural etc. I figure this would be a good idea because I thought these students would have different views on different things. The questions that I asked were designed so that I could correlate between certain aspects of what people would respond to. For instance, I was curious to compare someone that said they had a strong family structure to a question about homosexual experiences.

Results:

Discussion/ Conclusion:

This has been a very interesting topic to explore. It's nice to see the different views and opinions that people hold. It amazes me how the various views that people hold sets one apart from another. Someday I hope that everyone will realize that difference is good, not bad. Instead of these differences that set us apart, we should be learning from one another. Honestly however, the most difficult part about this project for me was reviewing the responses. I guess I feel that everyone should be open to homosexuality because homosexuals are people too! But anyway, I respect those for their difference in opinion because it helps me to think about things from more than just my own perspective.

If I ever were to attempt to do this project again, I would probably do it with a partner first of all! But I would also try to include a wider age range and include that on my survey. Being here at school, I just figured I'd interview the students because that's whom I associate most of my time with. I'm sure that some adults that have family's and such would take different views having been around a lot longer than I have and have seen homosexuality from days past till now. I think it would also be interesting to interview people of different cultures to get a more "global" perspective in a sense. Over all, it's been an interesting topic.

Works Cited:

1.) Altmann, Dennis. "Homosexualization of America." New York; 1982

2.) Troiden, Richard. "Gay and Lesbian Identity: A Sociological Analysis." New York; 1988

3.) Mondimore, Francis. "A Natural History of Homosexuality." London; 1996

4.) Dank, Michael Barry. "Development of a Homosexual Identity." Michigan; 1973

5.) Weat, D.J. "Homosexuality Re-examined." Minneapolis; 1977

6.) http://www.heromag.com

7.) http://www.advocate.com

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