Alexander notes further, "both groups (transgendered individuals and bisexuals) are the most hated and abused within the gay and lesbian community" (cited in Zanazanian). Racism in the GLBTQ Community Similarly, the interests or concerns of double minorities might conflict with those of the larger the GLBTQ community (Jennings and Shapiro)
Further, both movements have often faced tremendous resistance from larger American society. Certainly, such resistance remains today against the Gay Rights movement, given the often high levels of homophobia in society in the United States (Menkart)
Given the deeply rooted societal nature of sexism, it is perhaps not surprising that sexism is clearly apparent within the GLBTQ community. Thus, sexism within the GLBTQ community represents a larger social problem, rather than simply a specific issue within the GLBTQ community (Zanazanian)
e. toward a certain sex or mate) over others over time based on personal idealisms, social experiences and a variety of factors, not simply biological ones (Delamater & Hyde, 1998:10)
Analysis of Human Sexuality from the Social Learning Approach The authors attempt to not simply describe human sexuality, but instead to provide a model for explaining the variation that occurs in human behavior without having to refer to 'psychodynamic models' as the authors literally state. According to Hogben & Dyrne (1999), social learning theory incorporates elements of "operant conditioning and social conditioning" and is founded on the principles of personality theory, assuming that behavior is "goal directed" and emphasized by expectations of rewards and perceived values of rewards (Dyrne & Hogben, 1999: 58)
Of the twelve, six were deserters, one was convicted of murder, and the remaining five were found guilty of buggery. Between 1703 and 1710, twelve sailors were tried for buggery or attempted buggery and six of these men were sentenced to death" (Davies, p
The sacred book of the Christian religion, the Bible, and especially the New Testament, is the law for many Christians, even if the separation between the state and church has happened long ago. Homosexuals were among those illustrated as burning in the flames of Hell in Biblical depictions and the contemporary Western society is still tributary to this image (Greenberg, 1988)
Although there is still so much left to discover in this field, humanity has already gathered a great amount of information about homosexuality, for example, that it is now possible to take it out of the list of sexual deviances or diseases and just consider it a variation of human sexual behavior. Still, the unknown territory left in the matter makes people in many American States be afraid that a contact with homosexuals, for example, may encourage children to start manifesting homosexual tendencies as well (Rubin, 1984, p
What, then, are the ethical and moral reasoning that brought forth the industry of pornography? Where are the traditional beliefs, the ingrained roots of displaying the acts of sex so vividly imagined and portrayed? It is in these sexual practices that we see the true objectification of individuals. Pornography is the "subordination of women…dehumanized as sexual objects, things or commodities"; it is the "distribution of power, about domination and subordination"; and it is a "form of hate speech/literature…[that] lies about or defames women" (Garry)
Gentlemen's clubs, strip bars, host clubs, and whorehouses still exist, and the acts of solicitations have not entirely disappeared. There is a feministic desire to "abolish discriminatory criminal statutes" that harass and penalize female prostitutes, yet at the same time, there is a certain viewpoint in which feminists find the prostitute's choice of career as "morally and politically objectionable" (Shrage)
lesbianism in understanding orientation. Still, this phenomenon of under-or over-masculinzation of the fetus has also be noted in non-human animals, namely that animals with insufficient masculinizing hormones will exhibit same-sex attraction: "The organization-activation theory posits that the nervous system of a developing fetus responds to prenatal androgens so that, at a postnatal time, it will determine how sexual behavior is manifest" (Diamond 2009)
Studies of brain development do suggest a strong biological predisposition for homosexuality, but not a singular cause-and-effect pattern. "In 2005 a study conducted at the University of Illinois at Chicago and published in Human Genetics indicated there were three different chromosomes that appeared to be linked to sexual orientation" (Graceffo 2008)
Thus invisible, subconscious biases about the nature of homosexuality, and the acceptance of one's cultural construction of homosexuality as a self-evident fact underlines the fact that science, particularly the science of sexuality, always takes place in a social context that affects the perception of the researchers. Works Cited Diamond, M. (2009)
It may be that the brains of gay men don't feel the full effects of testosterone at the right time during fetal development, and so are insufficiently masculinized" (Kunzig 2008). Studies of women have shown that there is an "increased incidence of non-heterosexual sexual orientations among women with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), an inherited disorder which causes higher than normal secretion of adrenal androgens," which also suggests a hormonal influence in the opposite direction, namely a masculinizing one (Hall & Schaeff 2008, p
This assumption contributes to the practice of not examining people who experience attraction to both sexes or treating them as quasi-homosexuals. Furthermore, such studies presuppose that heterosexuality is the norm and needs no explaination for coming into being, unlike homosexuality, although not all heterosexuals are fertile (Kauth 2008, p
Even in pairs of identical twins, often one twin is gay and the other twin is heterosexual. Even the most generous estimates "suggest there is a genetic basis for homosexuality in only 50% of gay men" (Kunzig 2008)
They remain areas of legal debate and challenge, and each time that a particular issue is heard before a high state court or the Supreme Court, the resulting decision is both a reflection of social acceptance and contemporary interpretation of law. As concerns women and prostitution and children, the immigration laws enacted in the United States have long been a source of regulating sexual morality and immorality (Bernstein and Schaffner, 2005, p
" That the ancient peoples sought to justify those behaviors or urges is the indication that even in those times, society as a whole did not approve of pedophilia. Indeed, there was some social acceptance of a man indoctrinating a young boy into his manhood through an experience with a grown man, but even those events were frowned upon by society at large (Bloch, 2001, p
Pedophiles are seeking social acceptance, working to make the image of pedophilia less one that is disturbing to the public, so that, like the gay movement, the public not only becomes accepting of the behavior, but supportive of that behavior. The North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) is an organization devoted to bringing about changes in perception surrounding the notion of men who have sex with boys (Clatterbaugh, 1997, p
123). This was at the same time as globalization as emerging as a hot topic of discussion, and child prostitution was, likewise, emerging as a burgeoning tourist trade in places like Malaysia, Southeast Asia and Germany (Davis, 1993, p