Cultural Encounter Experience - Term Paper Example

Cultural Encounter Experience Introduction One of the social dynamics that the modern world is coming to terms with pertains to the treatment of homosexuals. This like racial and gender discrimination in the 1960s has raised high emotions in equal measure among those that support it and those that consider this to be going against the moral code. The issues raised by such individuals are based on some preconceived idea or notion rather than experience or reason. In this submission, a social experiment was undertaken with the aim of finding out the challenges that homosexuals go through as well as trying to understand their world view and perception with regards to their sexuality. The paper looks at the perceptions of different cultural groups and ages towards the homosexuals and the effect of this sexual prejudice to the gays. In this social experiment, I dressed up as a gay and visited two separate public places. The purpose of this was to learn more about gays, to better understand their way of life and be in a position to base an objective perception about their lifestyle. It is impossible for a straight man to understand and have a balanced view of homosexuality. All opinions devoid of this are at best pretentious and at worst unjust. With the company of a male friend, I went to the supermarket and also visited two restaurants, an American and Korean restaurant. My encounters along the way and in these two premises revealed to me the social perception that many hold towards the gay. Their justification for the negative attitudes is as a result of the opinion that gays have gone against the grain of the moral fabric and deserve such alienation. Along the streets and in the supermarket it was evident that Asians were not comfortable with having gays around. They avoided as much as they could to not look at us and were not willing to interact with us in any way. When we asked for some help, most of them shunned away, especially those that had children with them. This demonstrated that they did not want their kids to interact with people that were homosexuals. The same attitude was displayed when we offered to give any assistance, especially to the Asians. It was evident that people of Asian descent were not open to the idea homosexuality and adhered to some preconceived notion that homosexuality is not right. The same perception manifested when discussing with friends of Asian origin of whom four out five said they would not prefer to have a gay person as their superior. This contrasted to the four whites out of five that presented a neutral opinion to having a superior person being gay. Evidently there seems to exist a similar pattern of thinking about acceptance of homosexuality and morality along cultural lines. The experience of being gay helped me understand the different cultural predisposition towards the gay people. It was timely that I undertook such an experiment since it revealed to me the challenges that come with being gay. The challenges that I experienced in the course of this showed a society in which some cultures have declined to integrate with the gay community. The Asian community is clearly not open to the idea of homosexuality, and one can only imagine the challenges that an Asian gay person would experience. The social scientists have discovered a great disparity in how different cultures perceive homosexuals with traditional cultural beliefs being the root of such discrepancies. It was particularly challenging to me to portray that being gay does not make me any different from the rest of us, and I still have the same aspirations and needs that make us human. For the Asian populous, gays were clearly people that they preferred not to interact with even in a tight situation that only gay could be of assistance to them in a given context. One of the main factors that drive discrimination and prejudice is the concept of people with similar ideologies sticking together and harbouring negative attitude towards the rest of the people that may not be a part of that group. The case is no different among the homosexuals hence the concept of ‘otherness’ emerges. One of the best ways of overcoming discrimination of any type is by encouraging people to be willing to associate with people that may not necessarily stick to the same thought pattern as they do. One of the objectives of carrying out this study was to help overcome this barrier. It was interesting playing the role of a gay person, and getting to experience life as he does on a daily basis. Being ‘one of them’ helped me realise just how unfairly they are at times. The grouping of people into those that support and those that are against certain ideologies is what leads to the start of hate groups as each attempt to overshadow the other. More collaboration and integration should be encouraged as this would help reduce the tension and animosity that is brought about by the hate groups. Our social identity philosophy needs to be modified and give room for those who may not always share in all our ideologies. If this were to be the case, hate groups would be neutralised, and people would be more tolerable with each other. In the Asian restaurant, an old couple had to leave simply because they did not feel comfortable sitting next to the place where I was as others opted to stay as far away as they could. Along the streets and in the supermarket, many people of Asian descent were not willing interact with us even when we were offering to help them out. Being gay does not make anyone any different from the rest of us. Just as we all embrace our different races and genders and not consider any to be superior or inferior, same case ought to apply about the gay people. The experience fosters one to appreciative of diversity and be willing to accept those that may not share the same belief system as I do. All manner of discrimination is retrogressive, for real equity and justice to reign there should be no ill treatment or ill will for any given section of the society. From my experience in this study, I also learnt that there is a lot of covert discrimination, in which case the prejudice is not, but it is still very much alive. Many of such people would not even acknowledge of their discriminative tendencies. If confronted by the truth, they still hold on to some internal Prejudice that dictates how they interact with the gay people. This became apparent when discussing this issue with some of my Asian Americans that had always claimed not to be homophobic. However, when probed further it is apparent that they would not prefer to have a gay person as their superior. It becomes evident, therefore, that their true inclinations are against the gay people. Such covert discrimination from my observation in this study is something that is in many people. Many people that I met in the streets did not want to look even at us. The elderly people that did not wish to share seats with us at the restaurant is more than enough evidence to me that covert discrimination ensnares even those not belonging to any hate group. Social dominance orientation is also something that developed to a reality within study. This describes the notion whereby a certain group is at the top where it dominates over the rest. With my Asian friends, this was apparently the case since instead of being neutral to whoever happened to be their superior; they clearly preferred it not to be a gay person. My white friends gave a better response to this by not being biased to whatever type of sexuality that the superior person portrayed. The social dominance exhibited by a variety of people of this nature. It not only sets up some group to be superior to the rest but also sets the balance in such a way that the groups at the bottom remain there. Clearly this disproportionate society makeup has no place in the modern world that we are living in. Initiatives that do not only enlighten people of this but also encourage integration should be adopted to remedy the situation where it is the norm. Conclusion This experience broadened my world view and shed some light on the dynamics that accompany the gay lifestyle. The experience equipped me with knowledge and insights on how to fairly treat people that may be of different sexualities. The need to reconsider our social make-up and initiate structures that allow for more cohesion and integration among the people from different sects became more apparent to me. It is clear to me from my social experiment that different cultures have different opinions with regards to the gay lifestyle. Asian Americans seem not yet understand and embrace this lifestyle. To most, this seems to go against the traditional set up of the family, and they seem to think that those that choose to go against this deserve the negative treatment that they get. In contrast, white Americans seem to be neutral about the issue and not have any form of prejudice against the gays. Clearly demonstrating the role that cultural values play in how the different sexualities are. Unfortunately, cultural set ups cannot be changed overnight but rather it is to be a long progressive process whose results can only be in the generations to come. With proper structures that serve to push people towards more integration and harmony, this is something that can and will be achieved. Read More