fuck homophobia*

the following is a reprint of a text whose author is unknown to me. this
text appeared at the home page of the late "fuck homophobia" webring.

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welcome to fuck homophobia.

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homophobia 
1. Aversion to gay or homosexual people or their lifestyle or culture. 
2. Behavior or an act based on this aversion. 
(The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd ed., 1992)

homophobia 
Irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or
homosexuals. 
(Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed., 1993)

homophobia 
n. 1. unreasoning fear of or antipathy toward homosexuals and
homosexuality. [1955-60; HOMO (SEXUAL) + - PHOBIA]
Derived words --ho'mo-phobe, n.; ho mo-pho'bic, adj. 
(Random House/Webster's Online Dictionary, Version 1 for Windows, 1992.)

Introduction

Different people have different views about sex and sexuality. Some people
have very powerful fears of homosexuality and homosexual people: called
'homophobia'. This section has background information about homophobia.
This is only an introduction to the topic, use the Further Contacts to go
to other sources for more information and ideas about sexuality. [Go to
Contacts] 

Homophobia is the dread, fear and loathing of homosexuality, of
homosexuals, and of people perceived to be homosexual - whether the person
is homosexual, bisexual, transgender, inter-sexed, heterosexual or HIV
positive. [See Fact Sheet 1] 

This definition is based on that given by George Weinberg in Society and
the healthy homosexual (Anchor Press/Doubleday, New York, 1973). 

What causes homophobia? 

Psychologists and sociologists suggest there are a number of sources of
homophobia. 

Maintaining power 

One view is that men use hostility to homosexuals to reassure themselves
about their own (hetero-)sexuality and masculinity and to assert the
dominance of 'masculine' men over women and 'effeminate' men. 

Prejudice 

Another view is that this fear (a negative feeling) becomes
self-righteousness (a 'positive' feeling). This self-righteousness is then
used as a cover or excuse for prejudice. This self-righteousness can take
the form of a 'moral repugnance' of homosexuality or 'being sickened by'
homosexuals. 

These prejudices might provide a basis for other, seemingly 'rational'
accounts for homophobia, such as a belief that homosexuals are a sexual
threat to children or that homosexuality is a 'sin'. 

Denial 

Another view is that people who have homosexual feelings themselves want to
deny this because society does not approve of homosexuality. This confusion
and conflict causes them to want to distance themselves from people they
perceive as homosexual. In other words, people bash and hassle people they
think are gay or lesbian as a way of showing that they aren't themselves.
Most people who use violence against lesbians and gay men are younger
people - the age when we have to start sorting out our own sexuality. Some
studies have shown that people with homophobic attitudes often have
same-sex attractions themselves. 

Control mechanism 

Another view about why homophobia happens is that homophobia is a way to
maintain control over people's behaviour. This view sees that 'society'
regulates or makes people conform through a range of attitudes and values.
Homophobia might be just one. 

Maintaining privilege 

Another view is that some groups of people are marginalised and blamed for
social problems so that other, more powerful groups can keep their
privileges and benefits. This view holds that some groups of people are
disadvantaged and discriminated against to keep things the way they are. 

No one knows for sure. 

When does it start?

Homophobia develops in young people at an early age 

Two studies of young people show that young people generally hold
homophobic attitudes. 

Van de Ven studied the attitudes of young offenders in a Sydney juvenile
justice centre in 1992. (Source: Paul Van de Ven, 'Talking with juvenile
offenders about gay males and lesbians: implications for combating
homophobia', Adolescence, 30 (117), Spring 1995) The study involved
interviews with 31 young offenders aged 13-19. 

Sixteen participants expressed completely negative attitudes to gays and
lesbians and 10 were ambivalent (they had both negative and positive
attitudes in their responses). Only five participants expressed completely
positive attitudes to wards gays or lesbians. The main reason expressed for
negative attitudes (by 15 of the combined 26 completely negative and
ambivalent respondents) was defensiveness. This is the projection of
unacceptable motives onto homosexual persons and expression of hostility
towards them. 

The study also found that nine respondents 'unequivocally' admitted to
having bashed gays and lesbians, while another 10 were identified as
'potential perpetrators' of anti-gay and anti-lesbian victimisation and
violence. The remaining 12 had not harassed and bashed gays or lesbians and
most of them stated that they had 'never felt like or never would do so'.

Another study was an evaluation of the 'Violence against homosexuals'
module of the NSW Department of School Education's Resources for teaching
against violence teaching kit. The research involved a survey of 130 Grade
9 students in six Sydney high schools in 1993. Schools were selected as
representing middle Australia and the cultural diversity of Sydney and were
located in areas of average socio-economic status.

The study found that homophobic anger (ie. not accepting, angry, despising,
disgusted attitudes) was expressed by: 

59% of boys in coeducational schools 
57% of boys in single sex schools 
44% of girls in coeducational schools 
31% of girls in single sex schools, 
This was before they were exposed to the learning module. (Source: Paul Van
de Ven, 'Effects on high school students of a teaching module for reducing
homophobia', Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 17 (1/2), 1995, 153-172.)


Homophobic violence

Homophobic violence is violence committed against someone (whether the
victim/survivor is homosexual, bisexual, transgender, inter-sexed,
heterosexual or HIV positive) where the perpetrator is motivated by
homophobia or the violence is associated with homophobia. Where the
violence is a crime and the crime is motivated by or associated with
homophobia, we call it a 'hate crime'.