Chapter 12: Sexual Orientation

Growing up gay presents challenges(go over 6 main points)

1) Exclusion from friendship groups, verbal abuse. 2) Some gay adolescence choose to "pass as straight". - but this can interfere with physcological development and with sexual and social relationships later in life. 3) Growing up gay can be a positive experience! - Importance of role models, discussions of gay issues, support organizations, teacher efforts, parent acceptance. 4) Coming out is a lifelong process. - Several elements to the coming out process: - Coming out to oneself (hardest step for many) - coming out to others (a gradual process) - joining a gay or lesbian community -- moving to a "gay mecca" used to be popular, but this may cause isolation. - integrating the gay side of their identity with other aspects of who they are. 5) Lesbians and gay men are well represented in certain occupations. - lesbians are overrepresented in professional sports. - gay men are overrepresented in creative arts 6) Gay people who belong to minorities have special concerns.

Homophobia has multiple roots; how people do not treat gay people well and all of that stuff.Aka how are gay people treated badly? Also include how to overcome homophobia. (discuss 5 main points about this)

1) Gay Bashing - hate crimes against gay people 2) Homophobia - includes an entire spectrum of anti-gay attitudes and behaviors 3) Cultural Indoctrination - Transmits homophobia across generations - recieving anti-gay messages from parents, teachers, religous authorities, etc. - regular partcipation in organized wosrhip=strongest demographic predictor that a person disapproves of gay sex - silence can also convey an anti-gay message - failure of media to present positive images 4) Homosexuality is seen as transgressive - "gay people break rules/disrupting the natural order of things"(motivations for anti gay attitudes) - femiphobia: Prejudice against femininity in males - strongly homophobic attitudes may be associated with homosexual feelings that the person denies or is unaware of 5) Overcoming homophobia must start at the bottom - passage of nondiscrimination and hate crime states -gay positive attitudes of leaders - interactions with people whom have ongoing association

The gay community has struggled for equal rights. Discuss 3 main points

1) Gay rights movement began in Germany (scientific research commitee) - "Stonewall Rebellion": Often viewed as the starting point of the modern gay rights movement - Before rebellion, homosexuality was officially listed as a mental disorder and gay people had no legal protection - Bars used to represent the entirety of gay social life - AIDS epidemic as :gay disease" - Pro-gay trend - important judicial and legislative decisions 2) Gay people are in transition - slight majority of Americans still believe that sex between M or between W is morally wrong - many hate crimes 3) Gay rights are a global issue - Most ban homosexual behavior completely(capital offense in Iran and a few other islamic countries)

Go over 4 diverse theories that attempt to explain sexual orientation.

1) Physcodynamic theories: (in terms of internal mental process) vs biological theories. (in terms of phenomena, hormones, genes, etc.) 2) Freud Theories: Thought that the "normal" development process could be disrupted by abnormal relationships; certain phenomena could block "normal development", and child could remain stuck in early homosexual phase. 3) Sexual Orientation as attribution of socialization: As a result of molestation during childhood, from rape or other early sexual experiences. No positive evidence for a parental influence. 4) Biological theories focus on parental hormones and genes - Parental Hormones hypothesis: Leading theory proposes that sexual orientation reflects sexual differentiation of the brain under the influence of prenatal sex hormones. (fetuses exposed to high levels of androgens will be sexually attracted to women, and vice versa). - everything depends on androgen levels during a sensitive period of prenatal development (fetuses exposed to high levels of androgens will be sexually attracted to W and vice versa). - Has a solid basis in animal research - Hypothalamus part of the brain that differs in size between men women, and homosexual men and women.

Gay Sex has its own style (go over 8 main points)

1) Physical pleasure and emotional intimacy as primary goals. 2) Same sex couples take their time over sex. 3) Some sexual activity may be in groups rather than pairs. 4) Some lack options, so they have sex in places like parks and toliets - Sex in bathhouses; large numbers of men engage ins ex in a semi-public environment. 5) Large numbers of gay men live in very ordinary monogamous relationships 6) There is diversity within the gay community. - may be divided into subtypes on the basis of gender characteristics - Butch(masculine acting) and femme(feminine acting) - Tops and bottoms - Sexual and social subcultures: -- Bears (burly men with plenty of body hair) 7) Some gay people are parents. - Most children are going to come from opposite sex relationships - can adopt a child - but, can produce and rear children as well(very expensive) 8)Children of gay parents generally thrive - Most certain to be wanted and loved; never an "accident" - do not differ significantly from children of heterosexual couples - may suffer a degree of teasing and taunting

Bisexuals are caught between two worlds and often not treated fairly(discuss 2 main points)

1) The prevelance of bisexuality depends on definition. - "bisexual" is commonly used as a self-identifier by young men who are on their way to coming out of the closet. At the level of genital arousal, most or all Women seem to be bisexual 2) Bisexuals face prejudice. - Biphobia: neg. attitudes towards bisexual people - more widespread than anti-gay attitudes - belief that people who claim to be bisexual are deceiving themselves or lying - negative belief that bisexuals are "oversexed" - these negative views are starting to change, especially among college students - have lagged behind gays and lesbians in developing a community identity.

What are stereotypes about gays? What on average, is true?

1- Not all gay men are "effeminate", and not all lesbians are "mannish"; these are stereotypes! 2- but gay people, on average, do differ from straight people of the same sex in a # of gender related traits. For example, - in childhood, gay men engage less in rough and tumble play, athletics, and aggresive behavior; while in gay women, the opposite is true.

Global Perspectives on Sexual Orientation(BOX**)

In many non western cultures, people are likely to partner sexually with individuals of their own birth sex, but this sexual preference is not a core aspect of their identity. - Not labeled with "gay" etc. -For instace, a man could marry a man, get divorced and marry someone else, and never be thought of as gay.

Changing sexual orientation is difficult or impossible(quick, short point)

- Generally, conversion treatments are ineffective and potentially harmful.

Gay Matryrs (Harvey Milk and Kato)(BOX**)

- In 1977, Mlik was the first openly gay man to be elected to city governor in US. - helped lead campaign to reject prop 6, which would have forced California to fire openly gay teachers. - Was shot dead by anti-gay supervisor - Kato was a gay rights activist and came out as first openly gay man in Uganda; unfortunately 3 months later he was beaten to death by a man wielding a hammer.

Why Gay Genes? (BOX***)

- Many people ask how gay genes survive in the population if they cause their owners to engage in nonreproductive sex? - man say that not everyone who posesses a gay gene is gay. Can happen when gay gene passed down to the female, who will in turn become hyperheterosexual rather than gay. - Another idea is that gay males increase their sister's reproductive success by their behavior. Not being parents themselves, they devote more time to their sisters, enabling the sister to have more children and help those children survive and reproduce. in their turn.

Gay and Homelessness (***BOXX)))

- about 40% of homeless youth in US adientify as gay, lesbian, etc. - many leave because rejected by their families, foced out by parents, left because of physical or emotional abuse, etc. - many gay homeless people turn to prostitution to survive, which causes a lot of STDs

Boys will be Girls (BOX**)

- researcher interviewed families (age 4 to 10_) whose sons were marked more feminine. The central finding of the study was the control group of boys became almost exclusively heterosexual. Of the feminine boys, the majority became gay or bisexual. - important to point out that some of them were heterosexual, even the little boy who at the beg, said he wished he was a girl when he was younger. - childhood characteristics are not entirely predictive of adult orientation, and most gay men do not have a history of such radical gender nonconformity during their childhood. In fact, some recall a very masculine childhood.

What is sexual orientation mean? What is the Kinsey scale?

Sexual Orientation: The direction of a person's feelings towards persons of the same sex, other sex, or both sexes. - Alfred Kinsey's seven point scale of sexual orientation ranges from group 0(exclusively attracted to the opposite sex), to group 6(exclusively attracted to the same sex)