The Benefits of Homophobia???

Introduction

"The scientist gasps and drops the binoculars. A notebook falls from astonished hands. Graduate students mutter in alarm. Nobody wants to be the one to tell the granting agency what they're seeing. A female ape wraps her legs around another female, 'rubbing her own clitoris against her partner's while emitting screams of enjoyment.' The researcher explains: It's a form of greeting behavior. Or reconciliation. Possibly food-exchange behavior. It's certainly not sex. Not lesbian sex. Not hot lesbian sex."

Expanding on ideas and tangents looked at during scientific study and research of "gay" animals, we've decided to give homosexuality within sociobiology a new approach. In the stead of, or perhaps in addition to giving brief plause to the nature versus nurture argument as applied to homosexuality among human beings, we've decided to look at the positive and negative aspects and effects of homophobia.

Weíd like to gain an understanding of homosexuality and homophobia within human cultural evolution. What roles have homosexuals played, what roles have their advocates and persecutors played, and how have all of these been either a benefit or a detriment to human evolution?

ìClaimed that homosexuality and other forms of stigmatized sex behavior were ways of challenging society. He claimed that in those societiesí where sexuality had been viewed as a useful end necessary for the reproduction of children, those individuals who refused to reproduce and chose homosexuality upheld sex as an end in itself. Thus, by placing sex outside the performance principle, the homosexual challenged the very function of society.î

Relevance of Research Question

It is clear that both homosexuality and homophobia are thoroughly human constructs. Other animals donít judge or even acknowledge the non-phenomenon. Looking at the heterosexuality vs. homosexuality question as more of a continuum (where very few fall at one end of the spectrum or the otherómaking everyone bisexual to some extent) the main question we have involves the reason for, or use of, the moral judgements of homophobia that have arisen in many cultures. Obviously, the culture we will be studying most in-depth is our own. More specifically, the culture of the sheltered Miami Student (Survey time!)

A lot of people have hang-ups about homosexuality. Views of ìsexual inversionî range greatly (especially in Western culture), including ideas of homosexuality as a psychological disorder or neurosis; being synonymous with pedophilia; or the product of abusive or neglectful parenting; (and the list goes on.) However, itís quite obvious that this sort of homophobic feeling has not been a ubiquitous part of human evolution, historically. Weíd like to look at homophobia within different cultures to ascertain a better understanding of what roles it plays both positively and negatively in the normal flow of a given society.

Survey

Age:
Gender:
Major:
Sexual orientation (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Straight, Asexual, etc.):
1. Whatís your ethnic background?
a. Caucasian
b. Hispanic
c. African American
d. Native American
e. Other: please list
2. Where are you from? Specifically?
a. Big City
b. Small Town
c. Rural Area
d. Suburbs
3. What is your familyís household income?
a. Under 30,000
b. 31,000 to 55,000
c. 56, 000 to 80,000
d. 80,000 to 120,000
e. 121,000 and greater
4. What has been your experience with homosexuality/ homosexuals thus far?
5. Please write your personal feeling(s) on homosexuality and the roles homosexuals play in our society.
6. On February 12th, Miami hosted the ceremony between Levi Grooms and Matt Agan, its first same-sex marriage. Do you have any feelings on the topic of same-sex marriage? How do you feel it has/ will affect the university?
7. What would you say is the origin of homosexuality (chosen, genetic, environmental, etc.)?
8. What are your parents views on homosexuality?

Foster, Marion and Murray, Kent. A Not So Gay World. McClelland and Stewart Limited: Toronto, 1972.

Murphy, Timothy. Gay Science. Columbia University Press: New York, 1997.

Bullough, Vern and Bonnie. Sin, Sickness, and Sanity: A History of Sexual Attitudes. The New American Library Inc.: New York, 1997.

McNeill, John. Church and the Homosexual. Beacon Press Books: Boston, 1988.

Corvino, John. Same Sex: Debating the Ethics, Science, and Culture of Homosexuality. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc.: Lanham, Maryland, 1997.

Hinsch. Passions of the Cutlsleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China. University of California Press: LA, 1990.

Murray, Steven and Roscoe, Will. Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies of African Homosexualities. Saint Martinís Press: NY, 1998.

Herdt, Gilbert. Ritualized Homosexuality in Melanesia. University of California Press: LA, 1984.

Dover, K.J. Greek Homosexuality. Gerald Duckworth and Company Ltd.: London, 1978.

Williams, Walter. The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture. Boston Press: Boston, 1986.

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Here is a list of responses that have been posted to this Study...

• !@#$%^&*!@#$%^&* (3/7/00) [ Contributor: Duncan and Lorraine-Section: Cummins ]
• Lesbisan Love (3/6/00) [ Contributor: Jimmy Broccolo & Astrid Senturia-Section: Cummins ]
• How about... (2/29/00) [ Contributor: K. Morton and D. Hoerchemeyer-Section: cummins ]
• Hmmm (2/27/00) [ Contributor: Corinne Mehas, Michael Pateman-Section: Myers ]

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