Gender, Bodies, and Sexuality - Literature review Example

Running Head: Gender and Sexuality Gender and Sexuality Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecture Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Introduction Being gay in a society that is overwhelmingly heterosexual could mean living in fear and in stigma. Gays are excluded from society because of their different sexual orientation. 98 per cent of gays and lesbians in the United States have undergone some form of discrimination. Most communities have homophobic orientation meaning gay people are not free to express their sexuality openly. Gay people still have to contend with prejudice in at school, work and the media has been very critical of people who are not heterosexuals. Ricky Martin who came out as openly gay in 2010, lived through a generation where gay people where openly rejected and discriminated against. In this paper we explore the foundation of sexual discrimination against gay people. The discussion on the history of sexual orientation and ordering or heterosexuality above homosexuality is excerpted from the work of Katz (2004) who traces the history of the two terms. Secondly, the paper dwells into how stereotype in the community affect the identity of gay individuals. The paper particularly emphasizes on how gay are mentally affected and forever live with low self-esteem. Thirdly, the paper tackles the issue of whether homosexuals should be allowed to bring up children and whether the lack of children in a marriage affects the status of that marriage. Finally, the paper brings to the fore the problems of Latinos and South-Asian gays who are facing rejection from their communities. Historical beginning of Homosexual Discrimination In Katz (2004), it is revealed that the division of sexual orientation into heterosexuality and homosexuality occurred recently. In 1886, a writer, Karl Maria Kertbeny coined the phrases “homosexuality” and “heterosexuality”. According to Katz (2004) the word homosexual does not have its origins from the medical professions. However, this did not prevent the medical profession from adopting the term and using it to label and condemn people who were gay. On the other hand, heterosexuality referred to the erotic intercourse between a man and a woman. Just like homosexuality, heterosexuality implied bad, immoral relation up to the twentieth century. The evolution of the term heterosexual to refer to “normal” male female-male eroticism occurred gradually (Harvey, 2002). In 1892 when the word was first published it was used to refer to pervasive sexual orientation. By 1923, the term was still used to describe people who were described as persons with a “morbid sexual passion for one of the opposite sex”. Finally, in the first quarter of the twentieth century the heterosexuality was advanced and accepted as the standard sexual orientation (Cromwell, 2006). With this standardization, heterosexuality was regularized as the only acceptable form of eroticism. According to Katz (2004), medical men forced the regulation and separation of sex into sex “normals” from sex “perverts” while “hetero” over “homo” in a new orthodox hierarchy of eroticisms. The medical field narrow and discriminatory view of sexual division into homosexuality and heterosexuality came to pass on to the wider community as a commonplace notion. In the views of Katz (2004), “heterosexuality” and “sexuality” are constructed from sexual ethic, sexual political perspective of the world. He views the term as socially constructed rather than omnipresent as most people seem to think in contemporary society. He further argues that the ordering of eroticism to heterosexual or homosexual is similar to the structuring of masculinity, femininity and lust (Harvey, 2002). As seen in the discussion above the other socially constructed sexual terms including gender categories, communities, institutions, meanings change over time but “Homosexual behavior” has been singled out as negative reference to eroticism (Butler, 1990). Theorists who have a heterosexual perspective of the world view heterosexual orientation as universal while homosexual identity is identified as specific. From this analysis the reformation of the history of eroticism is seen to bias against the term homosexuality. However, after years of being ostracized as “perverts” the word “homosexual” is gradually being accepted as an alternative acceptable form of sexuality in contemporary society (Katz, 2004). In the 1980’s the heyday of Ricky Martin’s career being gay was looked down upon and unacceptable. If Ricky Martin had come in the 1980’s to announce he is openly gay, he would not have probably his music would not have sold as many copies as it did. As a handsome man, Ricky Martin was a sexual image identified with heterosexuality where people were attracted to his music because he was handsome (Cromwell, 2006). For a celebrity in his Heyday to show pervasive sexual behavior would not have been acceptable to his fans. In the view of Katz (2004) the notion that heterosexuality is universal should be abandoned and people recognize that sexual identity and behavior keeps changing with its social context. Living in Fear and Seclusion Rick Martin revealed that he lived in fear most of his life, afraid that he would fall victim to the prejudice and discrimination, threats of violence of social isolation. According to Sullivan (2003), the attitudes and values that negative responses to homosexuality are founded in ideology. In most communities for a long time gay people were viewed as sick and sinful. This stereotypes means a gay person living in a homophobic community is highly stigmatized. Being conscious of the existence of stereotypes in ones immediate social community and to which extent they might fall victim to these stereotypes is referred to as ‘Stigma consciousnesses (Cromwell, 2006). According to Sullivan (2003), gay people who are aware of the Stigma associated with their group in the community tend to have stress with sexual identity, they suffer from mood disturbance, they are also depressed and show sign of not being well physically (Schooler and Ward, 2006)..Although, being aware of the stereotype and prejudice of the local community may lead to the above symptoms, negative feelings among gay people may be caused by other factors. However, another group of gays say they do not experience anxiety or stress although they were aware the belonged to an ostracized group in the community (Cromwell, 2006). In conclusion, viewing oneself as belonging to a sinful and abnormal group leads to both negative and physical health consequences. Ricky martin says that he hated himself for a long time because he had grown up in a community that was prejudiced towards gay people. Internalizing these feelings of low self worth has negative impact on the development of healthy gay identity. According to Cromwell (2006) feeling you belong to a group that is abnormal leads to feelings of depression, anxiety, feelings of stress and suicide ideas similar those expressed by Ricky Martin until he came out to declare he is openly gay. Being subjected to verbal or physical abuse led to an increase in mental health problems among homosexual individuals (Cromwell, 2006). Being subjected to abuse also leads to high incidence of substance abuse and self-harm. The consideration of heterosexuality as universal has been linked to this problem. With the gay way of life believed to be deviant, gay people will always continue to have mental problems . Gay people are also afraid to even reveal their sexual identity to physicians for wanting to remain anonymous and avoid discrimination. This means even the health services they receive are of lower quality than other groups. Healthcare professionals are also prejudiced towards gay people and are thus not able to provide quality healthcare to this individuals. Fighting Discrimination Ricky Martin has been at the forefront of advocating for the legalization of Gay marriages. However, he reveals that children should be borne in a family that has a mother and a father. Ricky Martin’s views are different from those expressed by the rest of the gay community in who show a great desire to raise children in their same sex marriages. However, most anti-gay activist argues that same-sex couples should not be allowed to raise children since their union cannot produces children (Cromwell, 2006). On the other hand, there is an argument that gays marriages are wrong since they cannot reproduce children the objective of the institution of marriage. In the view of Angelides (2004), if the only purpose of marriage was childbearing, then it is right for gay marriage to remain illegal. Furthermore, same-sex marriages are not harmful, although some people may be able to prove they are purposeless. One of the counter arguments by the gay community for allowing same-sex marriages is based on the fact that marriage are not solely for childbearing. According to Angelides (2004) the question of whether a person is the best suited to be the parent of one’s children is not the main thing one thinks about while considering a marriage partner. Majority of people consider whether they are attracted to the person whom they intend to marry. Most times, attraction starts with sexual attraction. With sexual attraction, then other feelings of trust and dependency follow. Most people choose people with common values with them. This common values may include the question of whether, either the partners want to have children or not, and whether their ideas of parenting are compatible or not. In conclusion, having children is not the only reason people want to get married and in is not always the most important factor in people deciding whether they want to get married or not. Secondly, heterosexual couples without children are common. Drummond (2005), notes that there are many couples who cannot have children or have no intention of having children who are married. Various groups of people without child bearing abilities like terminally ill patients or infertile people marry anyway. In the views of Angelides (2004), if infertile couples were prevented from marrying, such a move would be a denial of privacy and an outright discrimination. In contrast marriages between gay couples are mostly looked down upon as unreal marriages because they do not have child bearing ability. On the other hand, all types of heterosexual relationships are allowed to adopt. This follows that same sex couples should also be free to adopt children. According to Angelides (2004), whether a couple has a child or not has no bearing on whether they union is a real marriage or not. Other argue that the reason the law disallows marriage of minors is that they cannot reproduce. However, the real reason for barring minors from getting married is that they do not posses independence of judgement. The gay community also presents the cases of successful same-sex couples who raise kids successfully as an argument to allow them get married legally or adopt children. According to the US Census Bureau, 34 per cent of female-female households have children while 22 per cent of male-male couples have children (Angelides, 2004). In comparison less than half of married opposite-sexed couples have children. The argument that gay couples are not biological parents is rebuffed by the fact that they care many heterosexual couples who are not the biological parents of their children (Cromwell, 2006). According to Angelides (2004), adopting children or using sperm banks for reproductive purposes does not making a parent less worthy. Furthermore, procedures have can be developed where same sex women can have a daughter without need for a male participant. In conclusion, the Ricky martin’s idea that children should have a mother and a father is consistent with the antigay idea that marriage exists exclusively or primarily to promote childrearing. The fact that Ricky Martin thinks that children should have a male and female parent show the singer is still a captive of the heterosexual based regulatory system of gender and sex. According to Gopinath (2005) many stereotypes about gays are so deeply rooted that even people who are openly gay believe them. According to Butler (1990) people grow up viewing genders as strictly separated and with clearly set goal for the role of each gender. Experience of gays in South Asian and Latino communities From the life story of Ricky martin one is able to see how he is fighting for the rights of gay people to be assimilated in the at some point Rick Martin has described himself as a Luck Gay. This is in comparison to other gays in minority group especially the Soth Asian community. Apart from facing discrimination from the whole society, gays among south Asian communities are discriminated by friends, family and their religion. South Asian and Latino communities display higher levels of machoism than the average western community. In his native Puerto Rico, Ricky Martin is having a much harder time working to end discrimination against his gay countrymen. In South Asian communities there is a cultural clash that prevents the advancement of Gay rights. Among these communities the stressors associated with gay people are amplified (Gopinath, 2005). People feel that being gay is equal to abandoning their culture. Within the South Asian community there is a reluctance to tackle matters of sexual orientation as they are viewed as shameful. According to Drummond (2005), mainstream South Asian communities will take a long time in accepting gay people within the community than other communities. The gay community argues that it does not need to be tolerated, but be recognised and respected. Commentators have urged the South Asian community to show greater acceptance of gay people within their communities. According to Gopinath (2005) more teaching the South Asian community to be more respectful of people who have a different sexual orientation is more important than teaching people to be gay. The Latino community, Ricky Martin grew up in has very high levels of homophobia which explains why the singer grew up in fear. Similar, the South-Asian Diaspora is very intolerant of people it perceives to be sexually intolerant. Mental problems among the South-Asian gay community are amplified. South-Asian gay show higher levels of depression distress and are likely to go on self-exile from their communities. More South-Asian gays show a greater desire to commit suicide as they are not being accepted by their communities. Similarly, Ricky Martin grew in a community that is intolerant of deviant sexuality but when he comes out to speak about gay, he is an encouragement to the thousands of Latino’s and South-Asian as their culture is hostile to homosexuality. Conclusion Ricky Martin’s announcement he is openly gay goes a long way in fighting the notion that heterosexuality is universal while homosexuality is abnormal. Ricky refers to being gay as wonderful. Ricky supports the view of Katz (2004) that the raising of heterosexuality above homosexuality is wrong and both are equally acceptable forms of eroticism. Ricky Martin also show how a gay person can overcome discrimination and the fear of discrimination associated with being gay. Most of the mental and physical health problems facing homosexual people are as a result of not accepting their identity as homosexual and buying into the ideas of those who discriminate against gay without any reason. Society as a whole should accept homosexuality as real form of eroticism and a way of life as traditional regulatory system of sexes and gender has been faulted and is dysfunctional. References Angelides, S. (2004). Sex and the Child, in Meanjin 63:4, 28-36. Butler, J (1990). Excerpt from Gender Trouble. New York: Routledge. pp 134-149. Butler, J. (1999). Revisiting bodies and pleasures. Theory Culture and Society, 16, 11-20. Cromwell, J. (2006). Queering the Binaries: Transituated Identities, Bodies and Sexualities. Also in The Transgender Studies Reader. Routledge Drummond, M. J. (2005). Asian gay men's bodies. The Journal of Men's Studies, 13(3), 291-300. Edwards, T. (2002). Erotics and politics: Gay male sexuality, masculinity and feminism. London: Routledge. Gopinath, G. (2005). Introduction to Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures. Durham: Duke University Press. Harvey, K. (2002). The century of sex? Gender, bodies, and sexuality in the long eighteenth century. The Historical Journal, 45(4), 899-916. Schooler, D., & Ward, L. M. (2006). Average Joes: Men's relationships with media, real bodies, and sexuality. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 7(1), 27. Sullivan, N (2003). Queer Race. In A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory. Read More

In the views of Katz (2004), “heterosexuality” and “sexuality” are constructed from sexual ethic, sexual political perspective of the world. He views the term as socially constructed rather than omnipresent as most people seem to think in contemporary society. He further argues that the ordering of eroticism to heterosexual or homosexual is similar to the structuring of masculinity, femininity and lust (Harvey, 2002). As seen in the discussion above the other socially constructed sexual terms including gender categories, communities, institutions, meanings change over time but “Homosexual behavior” has been singled out as negative reference to eroticism (Butler, 1990).

Theorists who have a heterosexual perspective of the world view heterosexual orientation as universal while homosexual identity is identified as specific. From this analysis the reformation of the history of eroticism is seen to bias against the term homosexuality. However, after years of being ostracized as “perverts” the word “homosexual” is gradually being accepted as an alternative acceptable form of sexuality in contemporary society (Katz, 2004). In the 1980’s the heyday of Ricky Martin’s career being gay was looked down upon and unacceptable.

If Ricky Martin had come in the 1980’s to announce he is openly gay, he would not have probably his music would not have sold as many copies as it did. As a handsome man, Ricky Martin was a sexual image identified with heterosexuality where people were attracted to his music because he was handsome (Cromwell, 2006). For a celebrity in his Heyday to show pervasive sexual behavior would not have been acceptable to his fans. In the view of Katz (2004) the notion that heterosexuality is universal should be abandoned and people recognize that sexual identity and behavior keeps changing with its social context.

Living in Fear and Seclusion Rick Martin revealed that he lived in fear most of his life, afraid that he would fall victim to the prejudice and discrimination, threats of violence of social isolation. According to Sullivan (2003), the attitudes and values that negative responses to homosexuality are founded in ideology. In most communities for a long time gay people were viewed as sick and sinful. This stereotypes means a gay person living in a homophobic community is highly stigmatized. Being conscious of the existence of stereotypes in ones immediate social community and to which extent they might fall victim to these stereotypes is referred to as ‘Stigma consciousnesses (Cromwell, 2006).

According to Sullivan (2003), gay people who are aware of the Stigma associated with their group in the community tend to have stress with sexual identity, they suffer from mood disturbance, they are also depressed and show sign of not being well physically (Schooler and Ward, 2006)..Although, being aware of the stereotype and prejudice of the local community may lead to the above symptoms, negative feelings among gay people may be caused by other factors. However, another group of gays say they do not experience anxiety or stress although they were aware the belonged to an ostracized group in the community (Cromwell, 2006).

In conclusion, viewing oneself as belonging to a sinful and abnormal group leads to both negative and physical health consequences. Ricky martin says that he hated himself for a long time because he had grown up in a community that was prejudiced towards gay people. Internalizing these feelings of low self worth has negative impact on the development of healthy gay identity. According to Cromwell (2006) feeling you belong to a group that is abnormal leads to feelings of depression, anxiety, feelings of stress and suicide ideas similar those expressed by Ricky Martin until he came out to declare he is openly gay.

Being subjected to verbal or physical abuse led to an increase in mental health problems among homosexual individuals (Cromwell, 2006). Being subjected to abuse also leads to high incidence of substance abuse and self-harm.

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