Preview

The Irrational Fear Of Homophobia

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
105 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Irrational Fear Of Homophobia
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, homophobia is defined as an “irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals.” Sadly, it is something that has plagued our nation for hundreds of years. A lot of the time, the homophobic people feel as though being gay is not normal, and that the lifestyle “choice” they made is incorrect. To them, a man and a woman being together is the only natural way. “Do you think I just woke up one day and decided I wanted to be society’s definition of a deviant?” is the question that Daniel Phelan has always wanted to ask (Streisand).

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Homophobia is negative feelings and attitudes towards homosexuality. It is represented in line four with the rhetorical question ‘are you queer?’ it is representing a sense of hostility towards the homosexuals by asking that question.…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Laramie Project, a character name Cathy Connolly claims that gay the people in Laramie feel the oppression from society, and are compelled to hide there identities. Cathy being gay herself tells why gay people are afraid of change which is sparked by opression from anti-homosexuals. “And so-she was-a kind of lesbian... she later told me that there were other lesbians that she knew who wouldn't been seen with me. That I would irreparably taint them, that just to be seen with me could be a problem.” (Kaufman 22) She says that being known as a homosexual in Laramie “would irreparably taint”. This gives you a great understanding of how oppressed gay people, if they are so afraid to reveal themselves to make a comment for a friend who has passed. Murdock Cooper another character said that “most of 'em that are gay or lesbian they know damn well who to talk to. If you step out of line you're asking for it.” (Kaufman 58) The gay people of Laramie feeling opressed because they are living in a society that has not been modernized to be able to accept homosexuals socially. Gay people and the prejudice people of Lamarie are afraid of change. They are both afraid of accepting each other, one opressing the other because they are arfraid of having homosexuals in the societty. These homophobic people would goto the extreme of even killing someone because they do not like…

    • 1097 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The essay “Masculinity as homophobia” by Michael S. Kimmel talks about how masculinity and homophobia go hand in hand with each other. Trying to prove ourselves masculine, makes us change how we really are, showing a different face than what we want to show. Homophobia is the fear of not measuring up as a real man. We are afraid of being humiliated by other men. All this leads to silence, to a silence that shows that we agree with the things that are done to women, to gays and lesbians.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Weapons Training

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Homophobia is negative feelings and attitudes towards homosexuality. It is represented in line four with the rhetorical question ‘are you queer?’ it is representing a sense of hostility towards the homosexuals by asking that question.…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Homosexual” is a term that is more common in today’s society. This is a term meaning a girl or boy likes someone of the same sex. Homosexuals are often discriminated against similar to blacks in different slurs or physically damaged. Richard D. Mohr explains how gays are dealing with discrimination.…

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Wirlees

    • 1729 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Word “homosexual”, comes from Greek and a Latin hybrid. The Greek part, homos, means “same”, unrealation to the Latin Word homo, which means “man” many believe, assuming that would be the same as in Latin words such as in Homo sapiens. The attitudes towrads the same sex relationship have existed throught the history of human kind and had varied over the time and place for example, at some part of history all males were expected to be invl¡olved in sema-sex relationship, after the time went by, this chage to a simply integration, through aceeptance. As the time went by, these changed and started to be seen as…

    • 1729 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Morin and Garfinkle (1978) in the book “Homophobia: Conceptual, Definitional, and Value Issues,” characterized the homophobic as an individual who does not value a homosexual lifestyle equally with a heterosexual lifestyle. “‘Homophobia’ has become popular as a descriptor of a wide range of negative emotions, attitudes, and behaviors toward homosexual people.” (Haaga, “Homophobia”)…

    • 1274 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Homophobia Pros And Cons

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The definition of "Homophobia is the range of negative attitudes and feelings towards homosexuality or people who are perceived to be homosexual. In the United States, social disapproval of homosexuality is not evenly distributed throughout society. That being said, it is more or less pronounced according to age, ethnicity, geographic location, race, sex, social class, education, political identification, and religious status ("Homophobia ")". "Significantly, sexual orientation does not only refer to one's sexual practices, but also includes a psychological component, like the direction of an individual's erotic desire." Sex "Sexual identity refers to an individual's conception of their own sexuality, while sexual behavior limits one's understanding of sexuality to behaviors performed. "("Sexual Orientation ")". People are…

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Stonewall Riots

    • 2627 Words
    • 11 Pages

    For many years homosexuals have been persecuted and looked down upon for leading different lifestyles than the so-called "normal," person. Homosexuals live in fear; a fear of opening up and showing the world their true selves. There are many reasons why homosexuals chose and still choose to stay in the "closet." The fact that many people thought lesbians and gay men had psychological problems was one of them. According to the article The Stonewall Riots- 1969, Sigmund Freud's writings on sexuality in the early 1900's and his theories on homosexuality, the public began to think that lesbians and gay men would benefit from medical treatment. Freud's theories primarily stated that homosexuality was something learned in childhood and was basically a choice. A choice that physicians thought they could change through treatments such as castration, hypnosis, surgery, electric shock, drugs and hormones. (Wright)…

    • 2627 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everybody has their own beliefs on homosexuality. Some believe it is a sin, and some believe love is love; whether that is with the opposite or same sex. Homosexuality is something that in this point is time is accepted way more than it was a couple years back. Of course we still have some people who discriminate homosexuals in many ways. Some are against it due to religion, or the way they were brought up, I feel everyone is entitled to their opinion but they should keep an open mind. Like I said, the world is changing and you don’t have to accept it but you should learn to live with it without discriminating or putting them down.…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I grew up and currently live in a homophobic household. I have heard my mother, father, sister and brother all say something homophobic. Ranging from “thats gay” to “look at those fags”. There was even a point in my life when I was thinking and saying those homophobic things.…

    • 519 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Furthermore, homophobia leads to violent actions towards LGBT people. The media through movies shows that gays and lesbians are to be the victims of violence and this representation leads society to get physically aggressive with GLBT. With the rampant hate crimes against gays, some of which are legal in some parts of the world, the LGBT community is more likely to be victims of a violent crime. Violent crimes such asthe brutal murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998, who was tortured, beaten, bound, tied to a fence, and left to die in Laramie, Wyoming are painful reminders of hate crimes. His murderers, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, weren’t even charged with a hate crime because Wyoming didn’t have that as a possible charge at the time.…

    • 127 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Homophobia against the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community is horrifyingly common. In a study of 390 Victorians in 2008 it was showed that nearly 1 in 8 lived in fear of homophobic violence and 85% of them had been subject to homophobic harassment in their life. Many people fear and don’t agree what they don’t understand so their first reaction is to go against the things they don’t understand, for example, those who aren’t heterosexual. Various religious people say that homosexuality is a sin and against their religion, but in a way, that’s like saying that someone can’t eat junk food because you’re on a diet. Just because you don’t want to be involved with something, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. In 2010 a study of 3134 young Australians found that 61% had suffered verbal abuse due to their sexuality, 18% had experienced physical abuse, and as well as the first two 69% had suffered other forms of homophobia such as exclusion or rumors. Due to all these movements against the LGBT community it’s estimated that 30-40% have attempted suicide at some point. Suicide is the 3rd most common cause of death for those between 15-24 with lesbians, gays and bisexuals attempting it 4 times more often as heterosexuals. In September 2010 there were 10 reported cases of suicide between LGBTQ people.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Homophobia is a real issue today, people. In the event that ""God"" is an altruistic, irrepressible power for good, why would it be a good idea for him to consume individuals for being gay? God did not consume Sodom for being gay - he consumed it since they had a go at RAPING a holy messenger. No say that it was on the grounds that they were gay - they had a go at implementing themselves into an unwilling individual.…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gay Bashing

    • 1657 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In 2008, 190 homosexuals were killed in Brazil, one every two days, known as a 55 percent increase on the previous year. The annual report on murders of homosexuals, according to the Grupo Gay da Bahia from Brazil, says that 64 percent of the victims were gay men, 32 percent were transvestites, and four percent were lesbians. This is absolutely astonishing. Even though homosexuals have chosen an alternative lifestyle, they still deserve to live a normal life without being victimized of physical harm for their choices. Homosexuality is not "normal" in biological terms. If it were normal, then everybody would be homosexual and that is self-evident. Homosexuals are actively striving to convince us that homosexuality is "normal," but they confuse frequency and familiarity with normality. Today 's world is more familiar with homosexuals, their reputation, their struggles, their status in the population, but that doesn 't change the underlying biology: homosexuality is not "normal."…

    • 1657 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays