Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as beinglesbian,gay orbisexual.[1][2][3] It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, orantipathy, may be based on irrational fear and may sometimes be attributed to religious beliefs.[4][5] Homophobia is observable in critical and hostile behavior such as discrimination andviolence on the basis ofsexual orientations that arenon-heterosexual.[1][2][6]
Recognized types of homophobia includeinstitutionalized homophobia, e.g. religious homophobia and state-sponsored homophobia, andinternalized homophobia, experienced by people who have same-sex attractions, regardless of how they identify.[7][8] According to 2010 Hate Crimes Statistics released by the FBI National Press Office, 19.3 percent ofhate crimes across the United States "were motivated by a sexual orientation bias."[9] Moreover, in aSouthern Poverty Law Center 2010Intelligence Report extrapolating data from FBI national hate crime statistics from 1995 to 2008, found that LGBTQ people were "far more likely than any otherminority group in the United States to be victimized by violent hate crime."[10]
Coined byGeorge Weinberg, a psychologist, in the 1960s,[13] the termhomophobia is ablend of (1) the wordhomosexual, itself a mix of neo-classicalmorphemes, and (2)phobia from the Greekφόβος, phóbos, meaning "fear", "morbid fear" or "aversion".[14][15][16] Weinberg is credited as the first person to have used the term in speech.[12] The wordhomophobia first appeared in print in an article written for the 23 May 1969 edition of the American pornographic magazineScrew, in which the word was used to refer to heterosexual men's fear that others might think they are gay.[12]
Conceptualizing anti-LGBTQ prejudice as asocial problem worthy of scholarly attention was not new. A 1969 article inTime described examples of negative attitudes toward homosexuality as "homophobia", including "a mixture of revulsion and apprehension" which some calledhomosexual panic.[17] In 1971, Kenneth Smith usedhomophobia as a personality profile to describe the psychological aversion to homosexuality.[18] Weinberg also used it this way in his 1972 bookSociety and the Healthy Homosexual,[19] published one year before theAmerican Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from its list ofmental disorders.[20][21] Weinberg's term became an important tool for gay and lesbian activists, advocates, and their allies.[12] He describes the concept as a medicalphobia:[19]
[A] phobia about homosexuals.... It was a fear of homosexuals which seemed to be associated with a fear of contagion, a fear of reducing the things one fought for — home and family. It was a religious fear and it had led to great brutality as fear always does.[12]
However, when taken literally,homophobia may be a problematic term. Professor David A. F. Haaga says that contemporary usage includes "a wide range ofnegative emotions, attitudes and behaviours toward homosexual people," which are characteristics that are not consistent with accepted definitions of phobias, that of "an intense, illogical, or abnormal fear of a specified thing."[23]
Types
Brochure used bySave Our Children, a political coalition formed in 1977 in Miami, Florida, U.S., to overturn a recently legislated county ordinance that banned discrimination in areas of housing, employment, and public accommodation based on sexual orientation
Homophobia manifests in different forms, and a number of different types have been postulated, among which are internalized homophobia, social homophobia, emotional homophobia, rationalized homophobia, and others.[24] There were also ideas to classify homophobia and other types of bigotry asintolerantpersonality disorder.[25]
In 1992, theAmerican Psychiatric Association, recognizing the power of the stigma against homosexuality, issued the following statement, reaffirmed by the Board of Trustees, July 2011:[26]
Whereas homosexualityper se implies no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability, or general social or vocational capabilities, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) calls on all international health organizations, psychiatric organizations, and individual psychiatrists in other countries to urge the repeal in their own countries of legislation that penalizes homosexual acts by consenting adults in private. Further, APA calls on these organizations and individuals to do all that is possible to decrease the stigma related to homosexuality wherever and whenever it may occur.
Religious protestors at a pride parade inJerusalem, with a sign that reads, "Homo sex is immoral (Lev. 18/22)". The association of homosexual sex with immorality or sinfulness is seen by many as a homophobic act.
Some world religions contain anti-homosexual teachings, while other religions have varying degrees of ambivalence, neutrality, or incorporate teachings that regard homosexuals asthird gender. Even within some religions which generally discourage homosexuality, there may also be people who view homosexuality positively, and somereligious denominations bless or conductsame-sex marriages. There also exist so-calledQueer religions, dedicated to serving the spiritual needs ofLGBTQ people.Queer theology seeks to provide a counterpoint to religious homophobia.[27] In 2015, attorney and authorRoberta Kaplan stated thatKim Davis "is the clearest example of someone who wants to use a religious liberty argument to discriminate [againstsame-sex couples]."[28]
Passages commonly interpreted as condemning homosexuality or same-gender sexual relations are found in bothOld andNew Testaments of the Bible.Leviticus 18:22 says "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." The destruction ofSodom and Gomorrah is also commonly seen as a condemnation of homosexuality. Christians and Jews who oppose homosexuality may often cite such passages; the historical context and interpretation of which is more complicated. Scholarly debate over the interpretation of these passages has tended to focus on placing them in proper historical context, for instance pointing out that Sodom's sins are historically interpreted as being other than homosexuality,[29] and on the translation of rare or unusual words in the passages in question. InReligion Dispatches magazine, Candace Chellew-Hodge argues that the six or so verses that are often cited to condemn LGBTQ people are referring instead to "abusive sex". She states that the Bible has no condemnation for "loving, committed, gay and lesbian relationships" and that Jesus was silent on the subject.[30] This view is opposed by a number of conservative evangelicals,[31] includingRobert A. J. Gagnon.[32]
The official teaching of theCatholic Church regarding homosexuality is that same-sex behavior should not be expressed.[33] In the United States, a February 2012Pew Research Center poll shows that Catholics supportgay marriage by a margin of 52% to 37%.[34] That is a shift upwards from 2010, when 46% of Catholics favored gay marriage.[35] TheCatechism of the Catholic Church states that,"'homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.'...They are contrary to the natural law.... Under no circumstances can they be approved."[33]
In some cases, the distinction between religious homophobia and state-sponsored homophobia is not clear, a key example being territories underIslamic authority. All majorIslamic sectsforbid homosexuality, which is a crime underSharia Law and treated as such in mostMuslim countries. In Afghanistan, for instance, homosexuality carried the death penalty under theTaliban. After their fall, homosexuality was reduced from a capital crime to one that is punished with fines and prison sentences.[36][37][38][39] After the revolution of 1979 in Iran and the establishment of a new government based on Islamic Sharia, the pressure and punishment against LGBTQ people has expanded in this country.[40][41][42] The legal situation in the United Arab Emirates, however, is unclear.
In 2009, theInternational Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) published a report entitledState Sponsored Homophobia 2009,[43] which is based on research carried out by Daniel Ottosson at Södertörn University College, Stockholm, Sweden. This research found that of the 80 countries around the world that continue to consider homosexuality illegal:[44][45]
Seven carry the death penalty for homosexual activity: Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan and Brunei.[46][39] Since the 1979Islamic revolution in Iran, the Iranian government has executed more than 4,000 people charged with homosexual acts.[47][48] In Saudi Arabia, the maximum punishment for homosexuality is public execution, but the government will use other punishments – e.g., fines, jail time,whipping – and even forced sex change as alternatives, unless it feels that people engaging in homosexual activity are challenging state authority by engaging inLGBTQ social movements.[49] On the other hand, due to the traditional and religious structure of Islamic societies, people also refuse to accept the identity of homosexuals and have a conservative attitude towards them.[50][51][52][53]
In 2001,Al-Muhajiroun, an international organization seeking the establishment of a global Islamiccaliphate, issued afatwa declaring that all members ofThe Al-Fatiha Foundation (which advances the cause of gay, lesbian, andtransgender Muslims) weremurtadd, orapostates, and condemning them to death. Because of the threat and because they come from conservative societies, many members of the foundation's site still prefer to be anonymous so as to protect their identities while they are continuing a tradition of secrecy.[54]
Restrictions of association with arrests or detention
1No imprisonment in the past three years[timeframe?] ormoratorium on law. 2Marriage not available locally. Some jurisdictions may perform other types of partnerships.
State-sponsored homophobia includes the criminalization and penalization of homosexuality, hate speech from government figures, and other forms of discrimination, violence, persecution of LGBTQ people.[57]
Inmedieval Europe, homosexuality was consideredsodomy and was punishable by death. Persecutions reached their height during theMedieval Inquisitions, when the sects ofCathars andWaldensians were accused offornication and sodomy, alongside accusations ofSatanism. In 1307, accusations of sodomy and homosexuality were major charges leveled during theTrial of the Knights Templar.[58] The theologianThomas Aquinas was influential in linking condemnation of homosexuality with the idea ofnatural law, arguing that "special sins are against nature, as, for instance, those that run counter to the intercourse of male and female natural to animals, and so are peculiarly qualified as unnatural vices."[59]
Although bisexuality was accepted as normal human behavior in Ancient China,[60] homophobia became ingrained in the lateQing dynasty and theRepublic of China due to interactions with the Christian West,[61] and homosexual behavior was outlawed in 1740.[62] During theCultural Revolution, homosexuality was treated by the government as a "social disgrace or a form of mental illness", and individuals who were homosexual widely faced persecution. Although there were no laws specifically against homosexuality, other laws were used to prosecute homosexual people and they were "charged with hooliganism or disturbing public order."[63][better source needed]
TheSoviet Union underVladimir Lenin decriminalized homosexuality in 1922, long before many other European countries. TheSoviet Communist Party effectively legalized no-fault divorce, abortion and homosexuality, when they abolished all the oldTsarist laws and the initial Soviet criminal code kept these liberal sexual policies in place.[64] Lenin's emancipation was reversed a decade later byJoseph Stalin and homosexuality remained illegal under Article 121 until theYeltsin era.
As of May 2016, homosexuality is illegal in 74 countries.[66] The North Korean government condemns Westerngay culture as a vice caused by the decadence of acapitalist society, and it denounces it as promotingconsumerism,classism, and promiscuity.[67] In North Korea, "violating the rules of collective socialist life" can be punished with up to two years' imprisonment.[68] Park Jeong-Won, a law professor atKookmin University, said that, while he was not aware of any North Korean laws explicitly prohibiting homosexual relationships, laws against extramarital affairs and breaking moral customs would likely be used to prosecute homosexual acts.[69]
Robert Mugabe, the former president of Zimbabwe, waged a violent campaign againstLGBTQ people, arguing that before colonisation, Zimbabweans did not engage in homosexual acts.[70] His first major public condemnation of homosexuality was in August 1995, during theZimbabwe International Book Fair.[71] He told an audience: "If you see people parading themselves as lesbians and gays, arrest them and hand them over to the police!"[72] In September 1995, Zimbabwe's parliament introduced legislation banning homosexual acts.[71] In 1997, a court foundCanaan Banana, Mugabe's predecessor and the first President of Zimbabwe, guilty of 11 counts of sodomy andindecent assault.[73][74]
Internalized homophobia refers to negative stereotypes, beliefs, stigma, and prejudice about homosexuality andLGBTQ people that a person with same-sex attraction turns inward on themselves, whether or not they identify as LGBTQ.[12][80][7]
Some studies have shown that people who are homophobic are more likely to have repressed homosexual desires. In 1996, a controlled study of 64 heterosexual men (half said they were homophobic by experience, with self-reported orientation) at theUniversity of Georgia found that men who were found to be homophobic (as measured by the Index of Homophobia) were considerably more likely to experience more erectile responses when exposed to homoerotic images than non-homophobic men.[81][82] Weinstein and colleagues[83] arrived at similar results when researchers found that students who came from controlling and homophobic homes were most likely to reveal repressed homosexual attraction. The researchers said that this explained why some religious leaders who denounce homosexuality are later revealed to have secret homosexual relations. One co-author said, "In many cases these are people who are at war with themselves and they are turning this internal conflict outward."[84] A 2016 eye-tracking study showed that heterosexual men with high negative impulse reactions toward homosexuals gazed for longer periods at homosexual imagery than other heterosexual men.[85] According to Cheval et al. (2016), these findings reinforce the necessity to consider that homophobia might reflect concerns about sexuality in general and not homosexuality in particular.[86] In contrast, Jesse Marczyk argued inPsychology Today that homophobia is not necessarily repressed homosexuality.[87]
The effect of these ideas depends on how much and which they have consciously and subconsciously internalized.[88] These negative beliefs can be mitigated with education, life experience, and therapy,[7][89] especially withgay-friendly psychotherapy/analysis.[90] Internalized homophobia also applies to conscious or unconscious behaviors which a person feels the need to promote or conform to cultural expectations ofheteronormativity orheterosexism. This can include repression and denial coupled with forced outward displays of heteronormative behavior for the purpose of appearing or attempting to feel "normal" or "accepted". Other expressions of internalized homophobia can also be subtle. Some less overt behaviors may include making assumptions about the gender of a person's romantic partner, or about gender roles.[12] Some researchers also apply this label to LGBTQ people who support "compromise" policies, such as those that findcivil unions acceptable in place ofsame-sex marriage.[91]
Researcher Iain R. Williamson finds the termhomophobia to be "highly problematic," but for reasons of continuity and consistency with the majority of other publications on the issue retains its use rather than using more accurate but obscure terminology.[7] The phraseinternalized sexual stigma is sometimes used in place to represent internalized homophobia.[82] An internalized stigma arises when a person believes negative stereotypes about themselves, regardless of where the stereotypes come from. It can also refer to many stereotypes beyond sexuality andgender roles. Internalized homophobia can cause discomfort with and disapproval of one's ownsexual orientation.Ego-dystonic sexual orientation oregodystonic homophobia, for instance, is a condition characterized by having a sexual orientation or an attraction that is at odds with one's idealizedself-image, causinganxiety and a desire to change one's orientation or become more comfortable with one's sexual orientation. Such a situation may cause extreme repression of homosexual desires.[81] In other cases, a conscious internal struggle may occur for some time, often pitting deeply held religious or social beliefs against strong sexual and emotional desires. This discordance can cause clinical depression, and a higher rate ofsuicide among LGBTQ youth (up to 30 percent ofnon-heterosexual youth attempt suicide) has been attributed to this phenomenon.[88] Psychotherapy, such asgay affirmative psychotherapy, and participation in a sexual-minority affirming group can help resolve the internal conflicts, such as between religious beliefs and sexual identity.[82] Even informal therapies that address understanding and accepting of non-heterosexual orientations can prove effective.[88] Many diagnostic "Internalized Homophobia Scales" can be used to measure a person's discomfort with their sexuality and some can be used by people regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Critics of the scales note that they presume a discomfort with non-heterosexuality which in itself enforces heteronormativity.[81][92]
Social
The fear of being identified as gay can be considered as a form of social homophobia. Theorists includingCalvin Thomas andJudith Butler have suggested that homophobia can be rooted in an individual's fear of being identified as gay. Homophobia in men is correlated with insecurity about masculinity.[93][94] For this reason, homophobia is allegedly rampant in sports, and in thesubculture of its supporters that is consideredstereotypically male, such as association football andrugby.[95]
Nancy J. Chodorow states that homophobia can be viewed as a method of protection of male masculinity.[96] Variouspsychoanalytic theories explain homophobia as a threat to an individual's own same-sex impulses, whether those impulses are imminent or merely hypothetical. This threat causes repression, denial orreaction formation.[97]
Boys Beware, a 1961 USsocial guidance film warning boys to beware the "predatory" dangers of homosexual men. The film pushes the common homophobic tropes that homosexuality is a mental illness, and thatgay men arepedophiles.[98]Between January 2010 and November 2014, 47 individuals have been killed due to their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity in Turkey according to online news sources.
Homophobia is not evenly distributed throughout society, but is more or less pronouncedaccording to ethnicity, age, geographic location, race, sex, social class, education, partisan identification and religion.[12] According to UK HIV/AIDS charityAVERT, religious views, lack of homosexual feelings or experiences, and lack of interaction with gay people are strongly associated with such views.[99]
The anxiety of heterosexual individuals (particularly adolescents whose construction of heterosexual masculinity is based in part on not being seen as gay) that others may identify them as gay[100][101] has also been identified byMichael Kimmel as an example of homophobia.[102] The taunting of boys seen as eccentric (and who are not usually gay) is said to be endemic in rural and suburbanAmerican schools, and has been associated with risk-taking behavior and outbursts of violence (such as a spate ofschool shootings) by boys seeking revenge or trying to assert their masculinity.[103] Homophobic bullying is also very common in schools in the United Kingdom.[104] At least 445LGBTQ Brazilians were either murdered or committed suicide in 2017.[105]
In some cases, the works of authors who merely have the word "Gay" in their name (Gay Talese,Peter Gay) or works about things also contain the name (Enola Gay) have been destroyed because of a perceived pro-homosexual bias.[106]
In the United States, attitudes vary on the basis of partisan identification.Republicans are far more likely thanDemocrats to have negative attitudes about gays and lesbians, according to surveys conducted by theNational Election Studies from 2000 through 2004.[107] Homophobia also varies by region; statistics show that the Southern United States has more reports of anti-gay prejudice than any other region in the US.[108]
In a 1998 address,civil rights leaderCoretta Scott King stated, "Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood."[109] One study of white adolescent males conducted at theUniversity of Cincinnati by Janet Baker[which?] has been used to argue that negative feelings towards gay people are also associated with otherdiscriminatory behaviors.[110] According to the study, hatred of gay people,antisemitism, and racism are "likely companions".[110] Baker hypothesized "maybe it's a matter of power and looking down on all you think are at the bottom."[110] A study performed in 2007 in the UK for the charity Stonewall reports that up to 90 percent of the population supportanti-discrimination laws protecting gay and lesbian people.[111]
Economic cost
There are at least two studies which indicate that homophobia may have a negative economic impact for the countries where it is widespread. In these countries there is aflight of their LGBTQ populations—with the consequent loss of talent—as well as an avoidance ofLGBTQ tourism, that leaves thepink money in LGBTQ-friendlier countries. As an example, LGBTQ tourists contribute 6.8 billion dollars every year to theSpanish economy.[112]
As soon as 2005, an editorial from theNew York Times related the politics ofdon't ask, don't tell in theUS Army with the lack of translators from Arabic, and with the delay in the translation of Arabic documents, calculated to be about 120,000 hours at the time. Since 1998, with the introduction of the new policy, about 20 Arabic translators had been expelled from the Army, specifically during the years the US was involved in wars inIraq andAfghanistan.[113]
M. V. Lee Badgett, an economist at theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst, presented in March 2014 in a meeting of theWorld Bank the results of a study about the economic impact of homophobia in India. Only in health expenses, caused by depression, suicide, and HIV treatment, India would have spent additional 23,100 million dollars due to homophobia. On top, there would be costs caused by violence, workplace loss, rejection of the family, and bullying at school, that would result in a lower education level, lower productivity, lower wages, worse health, and a lower life expectancy among the LGBTQ population.[114] In total, she estimated for 2014 in India a loss of up to 30,800 million dollars, or 1.7% of the Indian GDP.[112][115][116]
The LGBTQ activist Adebisi Alimi, in a preliminary estimation, has calculated that the economic loss due to homophobia in Nigeria is about 1% of its GDP. Taking into account that in 2015 homosexuality is still illegal in 36 of the 54 African countries, the money loss due to homophobia in the continent could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars every year.[112]
Another study regarding socioecological measurement of homophobia and its public health impact for 158 countries was conducted in 2018. It found that the prejudice against gay people has a worldwide economic cost of $119.1 billion. Economical loss in Asia was 88.29 billion dollars due to homophobia, and in Latin America & the Caribbean it was 8.04 billion dollars. Economical cost in East Asia and Middle Asia was 10.85 billion dollars. Economical cost in Middle East and North Africa was 16.92 billion dollars. The researcher suggested that a 1% decrease in the level of homophobia is correlated with a 10% increase in the gross domestic product per capita – though this does not imply causation.[117]
A 2018 study byThe Williams Institute (UCLA School of Law) concludes that there is a positive correlation between LGBTQ inclusion andGDP per capita. According to this study, the legal rights of LGBTQ people have a bigger influence than the degree of acceptance in the society, but both effects reinforce each other.[118] A one-point increase in their LGBT Global Acceptance Index (GAI) showed an increase of $1,506 in GDP per capita, and one additional legal right was correlated with an increase of $1,694 in GDP per capita.[119]
Most international human rights organizations, such asHuman Rights Watch andAmnesty International, condemn laws that make homosexual relations between consenting adults a crime. Since 1994, the United NationsHuman Rights Committee has also ruled that such laws violated theright to privacy guaranteed in theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights and theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In 2008, theRoman Catholic Church issued a statement which "urges States to do away with criminal penalties against [homosexual persons]." The statement, however, was addressed to reject a resolution by the UN Assembly that would have precisely called for an end of penalties against homosexuals in the world.[120] In March 2010, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a recommendation on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity, described by CoE Secretary General as the first legal instrument in the world dealing specifically with one of the most long-lasting and difficult forms of discrimination to combat.[121]
To combat homophobia, the LGBTQ community uses events such asgay pride parades and political activism (Seegay pride). Cities across the word use crossings repainted in rainbow colors for their annual pride parades. The first permanent crossings have been put on roads inLambeth, England.[122]
One form of organized resistance to homophobia is theInternational Day Against Homophobia (or IDAHO),[123] first celebrated 17 May 2005, in related activities in more than 40 countries.[124] The four largest countries of Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia) developed mass media campaigns against homophobia since 2002.[125]
In addition to public expression, legislation has been designed, controversially, to oppose homophobia, as inhate speech,hate crime, and laws against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Successful preventative strategies against homophobic prejudice and bullying in schools have included teaching pupils about historical figures who were gay, or who suffered discrimination because of their sexuality.[126]
Some argue that anti-LGBTQ prejudice is immoral and goes above and beyond the effects on that class of people. Warren J. Blumenfeld argues that this emotion gains a dimension beyond itself, as a tool for extreme right-wing conservatives and fundamentalist religious groups and as a restricting factor on gender-relations as to the weight associated with performing each role accordingly.[127] Furthermore, Blumenfeld in particular stated:
"Anti-gay bias causes young people to engage in sexual behavior earlier in order to prove that they are straight. Anti-gay bias contributed significantly to the spread of the AIDS epidemic. Anti-gay bias prevents the ability of schools to create effective honest sexual education programs that would save children's lives and prevent STDs (sexually transmitted diseases)."[127]
Drawing upon research byArizona State University Professor Elizabeth Segal,University of Memphis professors Robin Lennon-Dearing andElena Delavega argued in a 2016 article published in theJournal of Homosexuality that homophobia could be reduced through exposure (learning about LGBTQ experiences), explanation (understanding the different challenges faced by LGBTQ people), and experience (putting themselves in situations experienced by LGBTQ people by working alongside LGBTQ co-workers or volunteering at an LGBTQ community center).[128]
Criticism of meaning and purpose
Distinctions and proposed alternatives
Researchers have proposed alternative terms to describe prejudice and discrimination againstLGBTQ people. Some of these alternatives show moresemantic transparency while others do not include -phobia:
Homoerotophobia, being a possible precursor term tohomophobia, was coined by Wainwright Churchill and documented inHomosexual Behavior Among Males in 1967.
The etymology ofhomophobia citing the union ofhomos andphobos is the basis forLGBTQ historianJohn Boswell's criticism of the term and for his suggestion in 1980 of the alternativehomosexophobia.[129]
Homonegativity is based on the termhomonegativism used by Hudson and Ricketts in a 1980 paper; they coined the term for their research to avoidhomophobia, which they regarded as being unscientific in its presumption of motivation.[130]
Heterosexism refers to a system of negative attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favour of opposite-sex sexual orientation and relationships.[131] It can include the presumption that everyone is heterosexual or that opposite-sex attractions and relationships are the onlynorm[citation needed] and therefore superior.
Sexual prejudice – Researcher at theUniversity of California, Davis,Gregory M. Herek preferredsexual prejudice as being descriptive, free of presumptions about motivations, and lacking value judgments as to the irrationality or immorality of those so labeled.[132][133] He comparedhomophobia,heterosexism, andsexual prejudice, and, in preferring the third term, noted thathomophobia was "probably more widely used and more often criticized." He also observed that "Its critics note that homophobia implicitly suggests that antigay attitudes are best understood as an irrational fear and that they represent a form of individualpsychopathology rather than a socially reinforced prejudice."
Use ofhomophobia,homophobic, andhomophobe has been criticized aspejorative againstLGBTQ rights opponents.Behavioral scientistsWilliam O'Donohue and Christine Caselles stated in 1993 that "as [homophobia] is usually used, [it] makes an illegitimately pejorative evaluation of certain open and debatable value positions, much like the former disease construct of homosexuality" itself, arguing that the term may be used as anad hominem argument against those who advocate values or positions of which the user does not approve.[136]
PsychologistsGregory M. Herek andBeverly A. Greene also find fault with the term "homophobia:" "Technically, homophobia means fear of sameness, yet its usage implies a fear of homosexuals....the –phobia suffix implies a specific kind of fear... Fear or aversion may comprise one component of beliefs about homosexuality, but other factors are unquestionably important. Several alternative terms have been offered ...These include homonegativism (Hudson & Ricketts, 1980), homosexism (Hansen, 1982), and heterosexism (Herek, 1986a). Unfortunately, none has gained widespread acceptance."[137]
However, neutral use of the term has gained acceptance and usage over time since the 1990s. In 2017, theAssociated Press Stylebook added an entry for "homophobia" and "homophobic" for the first time,[138] after having excluded it in 2012.[139] The entry says the terms are "acceptable in broad references or in quotations to the concept of fear or hatred of gays, lesbians and bisexuals."
Heterophobia
The termheterophobia is sometimes used to describereverse discrimination towards heterosexuals.[140] The scientific use ofheterophobia insexology is restricted to a few researchers who questionAlfred Kinsey's sex research.[141][142] To date, the existence or extent of heterophobia is mostly unrecognized by sexologists.[140] Beyond sexology, there is no consensus as to the meaning of the term because it is also used to mean "fear of the opposite", such as inPierre-André Taguieff'sThe Force of Prejudice: On Racism and Its Doubles (2001). Referring to the debate on both meaning and use,SUNY lecturer Raymond J. Noonan stated:[140]
The term heterophobia is confusing for some people for several reasons. On the one hand, some look at it as just another of the many me-too social constructions that have arisen in the pseudoscience of victimology in recent decades. (Many of us recall John Money's 1995 criticism of the ascendancy of victimology and its negative impact on sexual science.) Others look at the parallelism between heterophobia and homophobia, and suggest that the former trivializes the latter... For others, it is merely a curiosity or parallel-construction word game. But for others still, it is part of both the recognition and politicization of heterosexuals' cultural interests in contrast to those of gays—particularly where those interests are perceived to clash.
Stephen M. White and Louis R. Franzini introduced the related termheteronegativism to refer to the range of negative feelings that some gay individuals may hold toward heterosexuals. This term is preferred toheterophobia because it does not imply extreme or irrational fear.[143] TheMerriam-Webster dictionary of the English language definesheterophobia as "irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against heterosexual people".[144]
^abcAdams, Maurianne; Bell, Lee Anne; Griffin, Pat (2007).Teaching for diversity and social justice.Routledge. pp. 198–199.ISBN978-1-135-92850-6.Because of the complicated interplay among gender identity, gender roles, and sexual identity, transgender people are often assumed to be lesbian or gay (SeeOverview: Sexism, Heterosexism, and Transgender Oppression). ... Because transgender identity challenges a binary conception of sexuality and gender, educators must clarify their own understanding of these concepts. ... Facilitators must be able to help participants understand the connections among sexism, heterosexism, and transgender oppression and the ways in which gender roles are maintained, in part, through homophobia.
^abSchuiling, Kerri Durnell; Likis, Frances E. (2011).Women's gynecologic health.Jones & Bartlett Publishers. pp. 187–188.ISBN978-0-7637-5637-6.Homophobia is an individual's irrational fear or hate of homosexual people. This may include bisexual or transgender persons, but sometimes the more distinct terms of biphobia or transphobia, respectively, are used.
^*"homophobia".webster.com. 2008. Archived fromthe original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved29 January 2008.
"homophobia".Dictionary.com. 2008. Retrieved29 January 2008.
^"The Riddle homophobia scale". Archived fromthe original on 4 September 2006. Retrieved1 June 2016. from Allies Committee website, Department of Student Life, Texas A&M University
^Isay, Richard A.; Sved, Margery; Klinger, Rochelle L.; Carter, Debbie R.; Kertzner, Robert M.; Akman, Jeffrey; Atkins, Daphne Lanette; Cabaj, Robert P.; Townsend, Mark H.; Ashley, Kenneth (2011) [1992]."Position statement on homosexuality". American Psychiatric Association. Archived fromthe original on 27 August 2011.
^West, Mona (12 July 2005)."Queer spirituality". Abilene, Texas: Metropolitan Community Churches. Archived fromthe original on 27 May 2007.
^Eke, Steven (28 July 2005)."Iran 'must stop youth executions'".BBC News.Human Rights Watch calls on Iran to end juvenile executions, after claims that two boys were executed for being gay.
^Moore, Patrick (31 January 2006).Murder and hypocrisy.The Advocate. p. 37.Homan, and organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Iranians in exile, estimates that more than 4,000 gay Iranians have been executed in the country since the Islamic revolution of 1979.
^Whitaker, Brian (18 March 2005)."Arrests at Saudi 'gay wedding'".The Observer. London.Saudi executions are not systematically reported, and officials deny that the death penalty is applied for same-sex activity alone
^Herek, Gregory M.; Cogan, Jeanine C.; Gillis, J. Roy; Glunt, Eric K. (1997). "Correlates of internalized homophobia in a community sample of lesbians and gay men".Journal of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association.2 (1):17–25.CiteSeerX10.1.1.582.7247.OCLC206392016.
^abcAdams, Henry E.; Wright, Lester W.; Lohr, Bethany A. (August 1996). "Is homophobia associated with homosexual arousal?".Journal of Abnormal Psychology.105 (3):440–445.doi:10.1037/0021-843X.105.3.440.PMID8772014.S2CID8349682.
^Weinstein, Netta; Ryan, William S.; DeHaan, Cody R.; Przybylski, Andrew K.; Legate, Nicole; Ryan, Richard M. (2012). "Parental autonomy support and discrepancies between implicit and explicit sexual identities: Dynamics of self-acceptance and defense".Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.102 (4):815–832.doi:10.1037/a0026854.PMID22288529.S2CID804948.
^Cheval, Boris; Radel, Remi; Grob, Emmanuelle; Ghisletta, Paolo; Bianchi-Demicheli, Francesco; Chanal, Julien (May 2016). "Homophobia: An impulsive attraction to the same sex? Evidence from eye-tracking data in a picture-viewing task".The Journal of Sexual Medicine.13 (5):825–834.doi:10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.02.165.PMID27006197.
^Cheval, Boris; Grob, Emmanuelle; Chanal, Julien; Ghisletta, Paolo; Bianchi-Demicheli, Francesco; Radel, Remi (October 2016). "Homophobia is related to a low interest in sexuality in general: An analysis of pupillometric evoked responses".The Journal of Sexual Medicine.13 (10):1539–1545.doi:10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.07.013.PMID27528498.
^abcGonsiorek, John C. (March 1988). "Mental health issues of gay and lesbian adolescents".Journal of Adolescent Health Care.9 (2):114–122.doi:10.1016/0197-0070(88)90057-5.PMID3283088.
^Martino, Wayne (1 January 2000). "Policing masculinities: Investigating the role of homophobia and heteronormativity in the lives of adolescent school boys".The Journal of Men's Studies.8 (2):213–236.doi:10.3149/jms.0802.213.S2CID145712607.
^Rostosky, Sharon Scales; Riggle, Ellen D. B.; Horne, Sharon G.; Miller, Angela D. (January 2009). "Marriage amendments and psychological distress in lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adults".Journal of Counseling Psychology.56 (1):56–66.doi:10.1037/a0013609.S2CID43455275.
^Shidlo, Ariel (1994). "Internalized Homophobia: Conceptual and Empirical Issues in Measurement".Lesbian and gay psychology: Theory, research, and clinical applications. pp. 176–205.doi:10.4135/9781483326757.n10.ISBN978-0-8039-5312-3.
^Epstein, Debbie (1996). "Keeping them in their Place: Hetero/Sexist Harassment, Gender and the Enforcement of Heterosexuality".Sex, sensibility and the gendered body. pp. 202–221.doi:10.1007/978-1-349-24536-9_11.ISBN978-0-333-65002-8.
^Herek, Gregory M., ed. (1998).Stigma and sexual orientation: Understanding prejudice against lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals. Psychological perspectives on lesbian and gay issues. Vol. 4. Sage Publications.ISBN978-0-8039-5385-7.OCLC37721264.
^Kimmel, Michael Scott (13 June 1994). "Masculinity as homophobia: Fear, shame and silence in the construction of gender identity". In Brod, Harry; Kaufman, Michael (eds.).Theorizing masculinities. Newbury Park, California: SAGE Publications. pp. 119–141.ISBN978-1-5063-1964-3.
^Delavega, Elena; Lennon-Dearing, Robin (2016). "Do social workers apply 'love thy neighbor as thyself' to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transpersons in the south?".Journal of Homosexuality.63 (9):1171–1193.doi:10.1080/00918369.2016.1150058.PMID26849856.S2CID205471075.
^Herek, Gregory M. (1990). "The context of anti-gay violence: Notes on cultural and psychological heterosexism".J Interpers Violence.5 (3):316–333.doi:10.1177/088626090005003006.S2CID145678459.
^Herek, Gregory M. (February 2000). "The psychology of sexual prejudice".Current Directions in Psychological Science.9 (1):19–22.doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00051.S2CID36963920.
^Spijkerboer, Thomas (2013).Fleeing homophobia: Sexual orientation, gender identity and asylum.Routledge. p. 122.ISBN978-1-134-09835-4.Transgender people subjected to violence, in a range of cultural contexts, frequently report that transphobic violence is expressed in homophobic terms. The tendency to translate violence against a trans person to homophobia reflects the role of gender in attribution of homosexuality as well as the fact that hostility connected to homosexuality is often associated with the perpetrators' prejudices about particular gender practices and their visibility.
^O'Donohue, William; Caselles, Christine (September 1993). "Homophobia: Conceptual, definitional, and value issues".J Psychopathol Behav Assess.15 (3):177–195.doi:10.1007/BF01371377.S2CID144801673.
^Reisman, Judith A.; Eichel, Edward W.; Muir, J. Gordon; Court, John Hugh (1990).Kinsey, sex and fraud: The indoctrination of a people, an investigation into the human sexuality research of Alfred C. Kinsey, Wardell B. Pomeroy, Clyde E. Martin, and Paul H. Gebhard. Lochinvar-Huntington House.ISBN978-0-910311-20-5.[page needed]
^The Complete Dictionary of Sexuality by Robert T. Francoeur[page needed]
^White, Stephen M.; Franzini, Louis R. (24 February 1999). "Heteronegativism: The attitudes of gay men and lesbians toward heterosexuals".Journal of Homosexuality.37 (1):65–79.doi:10.1300/J082v37n01_05.PMID10203070.
^"heterophobia".Merriam-Webster (Online ed.). Retrieved15 March 2022.
%2522.jpg)
.png)
