Discussion Posting 5: Homophobia
On Tuesday, February 26, 2008 5:44 am, Dr. Georg Vollweiler wrote...
Why do you think men are generally more homophobic than women? Why are men more often than women associated with gay bashing?
(Note: these questions are based on experimental research, national survey research, and U.S. crime statistics).
On Monday, March 3, 2008 7:44 pm, Mandy Buck replied...
I do not have much experience within bigoted environments and have chosen to keep myself separate from such intolerance. I never adopted this aversion to same sex coupling so it is hard for me to understand this type of bigotry, in the same way that it is hard for me to understand racism. I am having a hard time finding any hard-lined reasons why homophobia would be expressed by, and primarily associated with, men rather than women.
A few reasons could include a higher propensity towards physical violence due to hormones such as testosterone being higher in males makes them likely to express homophobic tendencies, but I think there is a lot more to it than that. I also believe that males are more evolutionarily wired to be competitive, and to achieve some rung on the ladder of social dominance. Although these forces do play a part, I do not think that they are the core motivators for such behavior and cognition -- neither of these explains it fully enough.
I see homophobia as being directly associated with Puritanical ideas that are still prevalent in our countries' groupthink. Ideas about sex such as "there is no holy expression of sex other than of a man for a woman for the purpose of procreation," are engrained within our society as normal and homosexuality would therefore be, "unholy." Whether aware of it or not, I do believe that a person's psyche is subjected to such compartmentalization of right and wrong, and homosexuality is likely to be seen as abnormal or sinful. I suppose one reaction would be that a person might want to harm or experience irrational fear of someone who appears to represent homosexual characteristics. If one were to believe that homosexuality was wrong as stated by "the word of God," then alternative sexual choices might represent the malady and evil of humankind.
I also believe that the same Puritanical ideas about the roles of men and women reinforce male fear and insecurity in relation to their own self-expression. If men are no longer head of household, no longer expected to see women as baby-makers (sexual devices), and are allowed to be gay, where does that leave them? With no acceptable role to fall into, fear and xenophobia are likely responses and are acted out in an aggressive fashion in an attempt to achieve some sort of balance in their worldview.
Why do you think men are generally more homophobic than women? Why are men more often than women associated with gay bashing?
(Note: these questions are based on experimental research, national survey research, and U.S. crime statistics).
On Monday, March 3, 2008 7:44 pm, Mandy Buck replied...
I do not have much experience within bigoted environments and have chosen to keep myself separate from such intolerance. I never adopted this aversion to same sex coupling so it is hard for me to understand this type of bigotry, in the same way that it is hard for me to understand racism. I am having a hard time finding any hard-lined reasons why homophobia would be expressed by, and primarily associated with, men rather than women.
A few reasons could include a higher propensity towards physical violence due to hormones such as testosterone being higher in males makes them likely to express homophobic tendencies, but I think there is a lot more to it than that. I also believe that males are more evolutionarily wired to be competitive, and to achieve some rung on the ladder of social dominance. Although these forces do play a part, I do not think that they are the core motivators for such behavior and cognition -- neither of these explains it fully enough.
I see homophobia as being directly associated with Puritanical ideas that are still prevalent in our countries' groupthink. Ideas about sex such as "there is no holy expression of sex other than of a man for a woman for the purpose of procreation," are engrained within our society as normal and homosexuality would therefore be, "unholy." Whether aware of it or not, I do believe that a person's psyche is subjected to such compartmentalization of right and wrong, and homosexuality is likely to be seen as abnormal or sinful. I suppose one reaction would be that a person might want to harm or experience irrational fear of someone who appears to represent homosexual characteristics. If one were to believe that homosexuality was wrong as stated by "the word of God," then alternative sexual choices might represent the malady and evil of humankind.
I also believe that the same Puritanical ideas about the roles of men and women reinforce male fear and insecurity in relation to their own self-expression. If men are no longer head of household, no longer expected to see women as baby-makers (sexual devices), and are allowed to be gay, where does that leave them? With no acceptable role to fall into, fear and xenophobia are likely responses and are acted out in an aggressive fashion in an attempt to achieve some sort of balance in their worldview.