Underlying Psychological Causes of Homophobia - Essay Example

? Causes of Homophobia-Annotated Bibliography Research Question/ Topic: Underlying psychological causes of Homophobia: Why homosexuality is stigmatized by some people? The aim of this research is to scrutinize underlying reasons of the hostile attitudes towards homosexuals and homosexuality. It is important to understand why some people treat gays and lesbians badly, while others hold neutral or sympathetic views of homosexuality. I feel drawn to this topic because I have never understood why some people judge other people’s sexuality and I want to learn what makes them homophobic. I hope this research will provide insights with regard to the underlying causes of homophobia. Why some people fear homosexuality and others not? The answer might seem straightforward at first and it is easy to put blame on the stereotypical gender roles produced by what Judith Butler called hegemonic heterosexual matrix. However, it is important to understand homophobic psyche without any bias so that underlying roots of their fears could be revealed. I think it is essential to grasp their views in order to assuage their homophobic fears, if such thing is possible. Why homosexuality arouses such a strong response and hatred in some people? What are they truly afraid of? This annotated bibliography aims to explore the explanatory frameworks for homophobic people’s reactions. It is very difficult to understand why some people hate gays to the extent that they wish them dead or even attempt to kill them. I would like to dig the deeper causes of their homophobic fears. Furthermore, I also hope to find out if there is a gender differentiation with regard to homophobia and whether males are more prone to homophobia than females, and whether lesbianism is more acceptable than its male counterpart. This research also aims to examine the possible links between homosexuality and sexuality of homophobic people. I would like to know if their fears are related with their own sexuality and if it is linked with their own oedipal struggles. Adams, Henry A., Lester W. Wright and Bethany A. Lohr. “Is Homophobia Associated With Homosexual Arousal?” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 105, No. 3 (1996): 440-445. Henry Adams and his colleagues conduct a survey with the participation of a group of homophobic men and a group of non-homophobic men in order to investigate the role of homosexual arousal in homophobic people. They find a positive correlation and reveal that the group of homophobic men shows increased penile erection to male homosexual tapes. Their finding is consistent with the psychoanalytical theories which conceptualize homophobia as latent homosexuality. The article is very useful in a sense that it shows what homophobes are truly afraid of: their own homosexual tendencies. However, the research does not answer why they fear their own sexuality. Nevertheless, it is also not clear that why homophobes represses their homosexual tendencies while homosexuals don’t, it might be related with the gender matrix theory or with their deeper differences vis-a-vis the oedipal struggles. Bleich, David. “Homophobia and Sexism as Popular Values”. Feminist Teacher 4, no 2/3 (1989): 21-28 In his article, David Bleach argues that sexism is the oldest form of social domination and tries to prove Lerner's claim about the primordiality of sexism. He conducts a survey with the participation of 115 first -year students at Indiana University and examines their essays on homosexuality. He notes that almost %20 of the students (both men and women) gave utterly homophobic responses, including a passive participation in a gay-bashing incident, and they expressed their homophobic feelings under the cover of Christianity. Bleich also quotes the essays of his students who compared homosexuality with the apocalypse and approved that gays should be stoned or killed, or they just “don’t deserve to live”. Bleich also notes that there was one man in the class who is courageous enough to confess that every heterosexual young men in the class including himself has a fear of being labeled as gay and homosexuality threatens their own sexuality. Besides their sexuality, they also think that homosexuality threatens traditional patriarchal society and power it brings to men. David Bleich, also notes that girls attitude towards homosexuality or lesbianism is somewhat relatively softer than their male counterparts, at least they don’t think that homosexuals should be eliminated. After examining several and various responses Bleich concludes that homophobia is caused by “underlying coercive ideology of male sexism”. Although he provides a number of clues and insights with regard to the underlying causes of homophobia, his conclusion is somewhat tautological, some people are homophobes just because of male sexism; but he does not explain why % 80 of the students are still relatively neutral or sympathetic to homosexuality within predominantly sexist society. Furthermore, although his research reveals what homophobes fear e.g. threats to their own sexuality or society’s values; he fails to address “why” homosexuality arouses such strong feelings, contempt and hatred in some of his students. Boldt, G. M. “Sexist and Heterosexist Responses to Gender Bending in an Elementary Classroom” Curriculum Inquiry 26, No. 2 (Summer, 1996): 113-131. Like Emmy Renold, G.M. Boldt also deals with gender performances in her elementary classroom within the conceptual frameworks of Judith Butler and Eve Sedgwick. In her article, she tries to address the problem of sexism in the classroom. She begins her article by telling the story of her highly effeminate student, Stephen, and possible harassments he faces every day and gives examples of her students with “idealized gender identities” excluding effeminate Stephen and tomboy Kelly. She also notes that the role of tomboy seems more acceptable to other students than the role of effeminate boy. She tries to offer her unbiased version of sexuality and gender to her students without success. At the end of her article, she acknowledges that she fails to come up with a satisfactory solution the problem of sexism as she fails to address the underlying causes of homophobia and concludes this failure is inevitable within the closed system of gender identity, which I do not agree. Renold, Emma. “They Won't Let Us Play... Unless You're Going out with One of Them: Girls, Boys andButler's 'Heterosexual Matrix' in the Primary Years”. British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 27, No. 4, (Sep., 2006): 489-509. Emma Renold explores how hegemonic heterosexual matrix regulates gender roles in primary schools. She draws her analyses of gender construction from her prior ethnographic study she conducted with children (two classes of 30) in their final year (aged 10-11) of two primary schools. She resorts to Judith Butler’s conceptualization of hegemonic heterosexual matrix in which heterosexuality becomes a norm, if not compulsory. She notes that normative hierarchical (hetero) gender identities forces boys to display hegemonic forms of masculinity including anti-gay talk and mysogyny. She argues that “discourses and practices of homophobia, (hetero)sexism and misogyny all operated to consolidate and maintain Butler's hegemonic heterosexual matrix”. Her model, based on Judith Butler, helps to explain why homophobic discourse gains upper hand and why society allows, if not reinforces, homophobic practices. However, it does not explain why hegemonic heterosexual matrix fails to regulate homosexuality or evoke homophobic feelings in everybody. In a sense hegemonic heterosexual matrix like Christianity, provides a shelter or protection for homophobic people; nevertheless, it is not sufficient to understand the underlying causes of their fears. Stein, Arlene “Make Room for Daddy: Anxious Masculinity and Emergent Homophobias in Neopatriarchal Politics”. Gender and Society 19, No. 5 (Oct., 2005): 601-620. In her article, Arlene Stein asks about the sources of homophobia and argues that new forms of homophobia have emerged in line with the conservatives’ quest as protectors of the family. She also refers to the psychoanalytical theory, which explains homophobia as projection of masculine anxieties to others. According to the psychoanalytical view, men who are anxious about their own masculinity affirm their own masculinity through homophobia. She also refers to the feminist view which holds that homophobia is rather related with prejudices against gender non-conformity. Stein criticizes the feminist view on the account that homosexuality cannot be equated with gender non-conformity and argues that various gender expressions elicit different types of social stigma and masculine-looking gays are also subject to homophobic bias. Thus, she asserts that like there are several types of gender expressions, there are plural homophobias. She also gives examples of two campaigns which are directed against gender-conforming homosexuals. Stein’s account is very plausible in a sense that it explains that homophobia is not directly related with gender matrix; however her analysis lacks psychoanalytical depth. Instead of searching the deeper roots of homophobia in the homophobic male psyche, she pluralizes the types of homophobia. Conclusion: Above researches show that homophobia is almost exclusively male to male phenomenon. While lesbians and tomboys are relatively condoned for their non-normative sexualities and gender performances, male homosexuals are subjected to deeper hatred. Although hetero-normative gender matrix provides a refuge for homophobes, it seems that they rather fear losing their own masculinity and see homosexuals as a threat. Indeed, the research of Adams and his colleagues, reveals the link between homosexuality and homosexual arousal in homophobic people. Nevertheless, above researches fail to address the deeper roots of their masculinity anxiety which might be linked to the oedipal struggles. I think homophobia is somewhat related to oedipal castration complex and homosexuals remind them their own fears of castration. Read More