Line #11 UsefulNotes/Homosexual


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gay_flag.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:The Rainbow Flag, originally designed by Gilbert Baker, third revision (1979).[[labelnote:Wanna know what those colors mean?]]From top to bottom, the stripes represent life, healing, sunlight, nature, serenity, and spirit. The original 1978 flag also included a pink stripe for sex and a turquoise stripe for magic, both dropped for ease of manufacturing.[[/labelnote]]]]
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4	->'''Blanche''': I don't really mind Clayton being homosexual, I just don't like him dating men.\
5	'''Dorothy''': You really haven't grasped the concept of this gay thing yet, have you?\
6	'''Blanche''': There must be homosexuals who date women?\
7	'''Sophia''': Yeah, they're called lesbians.
8	-->-- ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', "[[Recap/TheGoldenGirlss06E14SisterOfTheBride Sister of the Bride]]"
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10	A "Homosexual" is a person, of either sex, who is sexually and often (though not always) romantically attracted exclusively to people of the same sex.
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12	There are multiple words for the trait. "Gay" is gender-neutral, but more likely to apply to men. "Lesbian" applies to women; this is a reference to the Greek isle of Lesbos, where poetess Creator/{{Sappho}} kept a collection of women with whom she was enamored ("UsefulNotes/{{Sapphi\|sm}}c relationship" comes from this as well). Then there's "homosexual" itself, but this word can carry negative connotations (not to mention five syllables) and is oftentimes avoided outside of technical speak; the shortened version, "homo," is mostly used as a slur, as are "faggot" and "dyke."
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14	Current statistics claim that about one person in ten is homosexual. This has contributed to the historical view that it is unusual at best, a serious deviation at worst. Until 1973, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnostic_and_Statistical_Manual_of_Mental_Disorders Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders]], basically the official textbook for abnormal psychology, listed homosexuality as a mental disorder [[labelnote:*]]Filed under DSM-II 302.0: "Sexual Orientation Disturbance (homosexuality)"[[/labelnote]]. Just about the only term that has escaped the pejorative label is "Bi", as in "UsefulNotes/{{Bisexual}}," meaning "attracted to members of ''both'' sexes". This is partially because the term is relatively new, as is the idea that sexual orientation is a spectrum; and it's also because bi people are still willing to sleep with people of the opposite sex, which is a big point in its favor.
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16	Since homosexuality is harmless as far as sexual orientations go, why is there so much hostility towards and/or disapproval of it? One interpretation has to do with conditions people have lived in through history. In the past, child mortality rates were horrific: on average, half of all children died before the age of five[[note]]Today, it's one in twenty, and that's the the lowest it's ever been; just sixty years ago, it was three in twenty[[/note]]. DeathByChildbirth was also a major risk, which was even worse because it killed not only the mother, but every child she might have had thereafter. Long story short, you wanted every able-bodied male and female available to be involved in the process of continuing the species. Men and women not interested in reproducing (because they wanted to get busy with their own sex exclusively) added nothing to the process. It should be pointed out that in many cultures, however, having gay sex ''on the side'' was okay (in fact, sometimes man-on-man sex was considered a ''virtue''). Women-on-women was seen as non-existent (as it was commonly believed in patriarchal societies that AllWomenArePrudes and only have sex to procreate), or given a blind eye, as long as you were still pumping out babies. This meant that homosexuals were often [[SituationalSexuality functionally bisexual]].
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18	Many animal species include homosexual members, just like humans do; and since it's such a widespread phenomenon, biologists theorize that homosexuality in a population must be an adaptive trait despite the stigma. When the population equals or exceeds the food supply, homosexual (and asexual) members of a population can contribute to the well-being of the community, but do not add more children. The end result is that the children of the straight and bi members of the population have a better environment and a better chance of surviving because there are more people to support each child. Infant mortality goes down, and the next generation is smaller but healthier. And, of course, there is nothing to necessarily prevent homosexual people from reproducing themselves, even if the opposite sex isn't their preference (after all, as mentioned above, it was socially enforced that all people, regardless of desire, would have children--women especially). In other species, homosexuality actually does have very relevant evolutionary traits: in social mammals, like dolphins and lions, same-sex behavior helps reduce aggression among males, while in birds like black swans and seagulls, studies show that more chicks survive if raised by couples composed of the physically stronger sex (males in swans, females in seagulls). If this theory is correct, improved acceptance of gays and lesbians should eventually help mitigate the problem of overpopulation in crowded countries. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiotropy Pleiotrophy]] may also be a factor, as the same gene can produce different phenotypes depending on other factors, including the carrier's biological sex. A direct correlation has often been found between a woman's ease of conceiving and carrying a child to term with the likelihood that her male relatives will be gay. So even if a gay man is not fathering any children himself, his mother, sisters, and female cousins will still ensure the continuation of the family line.
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20	The {{Squick}} factor is important too. Homosexuality is a concept many straight people do not understand, and as Creator/HPLovecraft put it, "the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." Men who engage in same-sex relations, especially those on the "receiving" end of anal intercourse, are considered unmanly in most modern cultures, and sick weirdos for not appreciating the "fairer" sex. Suggesting that a man is gay is often the worst insult against him in any language (except ''maybe'' calling him a {{virgin\|Shaming}} or a {{cuckold}}). For lesbians, it's a little different but not by much. GirlOnGirlIsHot, and it's okay to ogle women making out, but seriously acknowledging a relationship between two women (i.e., women who don't need love, or at least sexual fulfillment, from a man) is a no-go. And this is where you get cases of people trying to CureYourGays through torture, often incorporating TheLudovicoTechnique or RapeAndSwitch.
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22	[[AC:Historical Context]]
23	The term "homosexual," and indeed the entire idea of sexual orientation, is much NewerThanTheyThink. The first time "homosexual" appeared in print was 1869. Now, this is not to say that there have not been same-sex lovers since basically the beginning of time; in fact, as homosexual behavior is found in animals, it actually ''predates'' the human race. It's simply that, as explained earlier, humans placed a huge emphasis on making babies. As long as you were doing that, nobody cared what, or who, you did in your spare time, but it wasn't a ''lifestyle'' you could adopt, or identify with. You weren't gay; you weren't straight either. There ''was'' no category. As such, going to just about any historical figure and trying to describe them as gay or straight is inappropriate, since such social constructs didn't exist yet. Whether or not Creator/WilliamShakespeare liked boys, it's an absolute guarantee that he didn't ''think'' of himself as being gay. Like any good Englishman, he sired issue on his wife, regardless of what he would have liked to do if given the chance. Of course there ''were'' people who saw themselves as homosexual in the modern sense of the word, but they often received the same kind of ostracism that goes on today--even though most of them would have had to be rich, powerful, respected or privileged just to ''get away'' with it. They were considered, well, deviants.
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25	[[AC:Expression and Gender Politics]]
26	The concept of gayness or straightness seems to be pretty simple, on the surface, but there's actually a lot of complication to it. What does it say about behavior?, about dress codes, about friends, about... all the other questions of life besides "where you put your dick". Instead of addressing those complications, we're going to go on a brief lecture about some traits that all humans have. It may seem irrelevant right now, but trust us, it's not.
27	* Your '''biological sex''' is, simply put, the genitalia you were born with. Traditionally, sex is considered a binary condition--you are either male or female, no exceptions--but sex is now seen as a spectrum, with "intersex" in-between and consisting of people who are born with characteristics of both male and female persons.
28	* Your '''sexual orientation''' consists of who you are attracted to. Some people like men, some people like women, some people like both--again, there's a spectrum. Notice, however, that there's only two extremes to the spectrum: you can like men exclusively or you can like women exclusively, but there are no additional points regarding what kind of junk you've got between your legs.
29	* Your '''gender expression''' has to do with your personality, actions, and tendencies, and whether they trend towards patterns that are (traditionally) masculine or feminine. You may have a vagina, but that doesn't mean (anymore) that you are ''required'' to act in a girly fashion. It's also okay for men with penises to act womanly, though not nearly ''as'' okay.
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31	Does all this seem complicated? Well, keep in mind that this is a ''simplified'' version of the conversation. Our little discussion doesn't include the option of having ''no'' place on the spectrum: having real life BarbieDollAnatomy and being sexless; being androgynous and having AmbiguousGender; or displaying UsefulNotes/{{asexuality}} and not being attracted to men ''or'' women. Additionally, it glosses over the distinction of the differences between romantic attraction and sexual attraction. It's perfectly possible to think men fall into the BrainlessBeauty category--fun to sleep with, but no good (for you) in relationships. For more on this subject, see the [[http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/03/the-genderbread-person-v2-0/ Genderbread Person]] discussion. This concludes our lecture.
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33	Now that the lecture's over, you may be thinking, "Why did we go through all the trouble of learning that?" Simple: In modern media, '''''those three separate traits are often believed to be one single trait.''''' If you have a penis, you must be the kind of person who likes UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball and belching--period. If you like flowers and sort clothes by color, you ''must'' own a vagina. And, if you 1) have a penis and 2) like to have sex with people who also have penises, you ''must'' be effeminate and foppish.
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35	Is this true? Well, pretty obviously, it is not. But Hollywood relentlessly hammers that, nuh-uh, it ''is'' true!, and more often than not we follow: notice how many GenderAndSexualityTropes link two or more of those factors together! ManlyGay (male sex; attracted to men; masculine gender expression), InTouchWithHisFeminineSide (male sex; feminine gender expression), {{Tomboy}} (female sex; masculine gender expression), and more. We felt it important to give at least a little time to the real facts of the matter, especially since this is a UsefulNotes page.
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37	The stereotype of the straight male is that he is a manly man... but it's possible to be an exclusively straight male but also swing over to the feminine side of the spectrum; stand-up comedian Creator/EddieIzzard, who has declared himself this sort of person, likes to call himself a "male lesbian". For the ladies, you have characters like Shannon Beiste from ''Series/{{Glee}}'', a rough and burly female football coach who has no sexual interest in other women. People such as this need not be UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}}, it's just their personality.[[note]]Izzard and the Beiste character both later came out as transgender, although the point stands.[[/note]] Furthermore, being transgender has nothing to do with homosexuality. A female-to-male transgender person who dates women is not a lesbian, for example, but a straight man, and is just as likely to be gay (attracted to other men) or bi. This is also why the "TransEqualsGay" trope exists and gets bundled up in this issue, despite being loosely related at best: the media like to stereotype it as being some sort of "ultra-gay" condition (reality: it is not, and in fact is so unrelated that it has a completely separate Useful Notes article, [[{{UsefulNotes/Transgender}} found by clicking here]]).
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39	The point is simply thus: don't confuse sex, gender, and sexuality. They're none of them the same thing... and some of the most interesting people (and characters) are the ones that combine them in unusual or unconventional ways.
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41	[[AC:Modern Times]]
42	Today, there are major stereotypes going on, some of them documented on this wiki, about the kind of person you are if you're a homosexual. We've talked about ManlyGay and LipstickLesbian, as well as the obvious CampGay and ButchLesbian. StraightGay is somewhere in the middle. Being bi just means being awesome; it's become rather trendy in recent years if you're a woman to identify yourself as bi, regardless of whether or not you would enter a serious relationship with the same sex/gender. Although, female bisexuals have also gained a reputation for not being "real" or "not oppressed" [[FauxYay since a number of straight women do pretend to be bisexual for the sake of attention]] in addition to perceptions of female bisexuality (and homosexuality in all fairness) being more socially acceptable, which has led to the stereotype that all women are secretly bisexual or more likely to be bisexual than men are. This ties in with how some statistics suggest that bisexual women are apparently more common than bisexual men. Bisexual men may be seen as more "masculine" or "normal" than gay men as they still engage in heterosexual relationships but there is also the idea that they [[DepravedBisexual are constantly horny and will have sex with anything.]] Some view bisexual men as gay men in denial about their true sexual orientations as [[SituationalSexuality functional bisexuality]] was the norm in many cultures--a gay man could have romantic and sexual relationships with men as long he also had a wife and was fathering children. Having said that, a lot of times the media don't know how to deal with bisexuals. And let's not even get into UsefulNotes/{{Asexuality}} or anything more complicated than that. But the point is that, whether rightly or wrongly, homosexuality is perceived as being about more than just who you sleep with; it's thought of as being a ''lifestyle''.
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44	Today, being homosexual is also about politics. As with [[UsefulNotes/AmericanGunPolitics gun control]], homosexuality, its legality, its normality and its social acceptability is a SingleIssueWonk for a lot of people on both sides of the debate. In modern American politics, for example, it's valid to ask, "Would you vote against [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama an African-American presidential candidate]] just ''because'' he's African-American, even if you actually agreed with how he wanted to run the country," because some people would ''actually answer Yes'' to that question (or, vice versa, that they would vote for him on account of his race even though the voter disagrees with him on every major political standpoint). A politician's stand on homosexuality can be a similar deal-breaker. It does not help that many gay people impose tests of ideological purity to determine who is [[NoTrueScotsman authentically gay]].
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46	Even better, there are scriptures in various religious texts condemning homosexual acts. This, of course, raises its own questions: why are those condemnations there? Is it to encourage reproduction, or does [deity of your choice] actually consider it evil? Does the passage of scripture actually mean what you say it does, or is it being taken out of context, or suffer from translation errors? Is it just because, before condoms and penicillin, [=STDs=] were much more of a problem and monogamy was the best way to reduce their spread? Some people refuse to ask these questions on principle. Indeed, they tend to focus on anti-gay scriptures while [[http://ozyandmillie.org/2000/08/14/ozy-and-millie-403/ ignoring those that condemn their own vices]], simply using religion as an excuse for preexisting hatred.
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48	Relatedly, you may hear some people claim that homosexuality, and indeed sexual orientation in general, is a ''choice''--as in, "You don't ''have'' to be gay, you just ''want'' to." This attitude has more grounding in theology than anything else. Many modern branches of UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} believe that homosexuality is a sin. They also hold that sins are actions that a person chooses to commit. In theory, it is always possible ''not'' to sin (the execution is obviously a bit more suspect). So, if homosexuality is a sin, the ensuing CircularReasoning is therefore that it must also be a choice. There also exists a slightly more nuanced viewpoint claiming that having homosexual urges is not, in itself, sinful, but that acting on them ''is'', which resolves the CircularReasoning (since actions definitely ''are'' choices), but for obvious reasons is usually seen as hair-splitting to those outside those particular belief systems. All this is complicated by differences between official doctrine and how a particular faith is actually practiced by common practitioners.
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50	The point is that this is an issue where personal morality, religion and politics all intersect, and if you talk about it openly someone might ask you for a political justification to what you had thought of as a purely religious opinion (or vice versa).
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52	The growing acceptance of homosexuality as a lifestyle ''does'' bring up one issue that, for good or ill, even open-minded straight people could consider problematic: the idea of single-gender parenting. What ''are'' the implications on childhood if a child having two mothers or two fathers? Religious conservatives would have you believe that [[SlipperySlopeFallacy this will result in all manner of perversions]], like brainwashing, bestiality and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking liberalism]]. What little scientific research has been done, however, suggests that if anything the opposite is true: homosexual parents tend to be more settled, saner and more involved as parents--in general, better. Supporters like to point out that gay couples are somewhat less likely to be afflicted with a SurprisePregnancy than are straight ones; they have to take very active steps before obtaining a child, and thus have plenty of time to prepare (or back out). They are also a great boon to the adoption industry, which itself is flourishing to a rather disturbing degree due to the three-hit combo of MissConception, TeenPregnancy and GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion in modern American schooling (promoted by, amusingly enough, the same religious conservatives who are terrified of gay marriage).
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54	Politics aside, the important thing is that homosexuality has existed for eons and will not be going anywhere any time soon. Gays are as diverse in interests and mannerism as any other group, and even though they continue to face persecution in many parts of the world, more and more countries are coming to the conclusion that gay rights (whether that be legalizing gay marriage and adoption or, at the least, not condemning them as criminals or insane) are human rights not bound by any religious or moral doctrine.

Context UsefulNotes / Homosexual