Does an Absent Father Lead to Homosexuality in Their Children - Assignment Example

Topic:  Does an absent father lead to homosexuality in their children? Introduction Have any parents ever wondered that their children could have thepotentiality to grow up as homosexual at some point of their life. If so, it is not a single case; the emergence of gay children has become a common issue in many parts of the world today. The concept of homosexuality is more evident in a family where the children lack a father or a mother. Especially in case of a gay son, there can be a presence of a distorted or abnormal father –son relationship. The absence of a father largely is a motivation for a son to turn into gay identity. The basic reason behind this is that, every child needs love and nurturing from a father and in the absence of it, they turn to other sources. Nurturing is an important aspect of parenting a child and in case of a male child, more attention should d be given to them to aid them in growing up into a complete individual According to (Johnson,1996 ) “The father-absence literature predominates in this area of father-child relations and arrives at the conclusion that non residence of fathers has a negative effect on child development”. Apart from the absence of fathers and nurturing, the Christianity and bible plays a significant role in guiding the male child in the proper direction. Father’s presence is a complex and rich social construction that can build and decorate the life of a son. The Aspect of Father’s Absenteeism A child to develop appropriately needs the assistance of both mother and father. In the same manner, the absence of father is much more likely to produce loneliness and disregard in the life of a male child. A male child, who is growing up, built his sexual identity by observing his father. In case of families where fathers are absent, the male child lack guidance, care and support which he deserves. The studies on the absenteeism of fathers have revealed that the male children behavioral, educational and social problems linked to different developmental stages of the child. A male child develops its sexual identity in different stages of his growing and an absence of father totally destroys a child’s sexual identity pattern. The male child whose father is absent, projects psychosexual identity problems and also aggression to an extent. When there is lack of love and affection from a father the male child look up to people other than parents for the same. It is a fact that more of gay men have loving mothers and distant fathers. As per (Moon, 2005)“ Mothers of gay men were found to be seductive, babying, and controlling: fathers were distant, competitive, or hostile”. It could be well said that a hostile father can lead to homosexual behavior in male child to a large extend. Father is the most influential person in a male child’s life, and absence of this personality can distort the sexual identity of male child. It is also a fact that male child with an absent father is many a times fragile and disorganized. Religious Influence on Gay Sons The Christianity has certain perspectives on the homosexuality issue and this can seriously hamper the further lifestyle of a homosexual child. Christianity or Bible, both are not in favor of homosexuality and it out rightly taboo this concept. A child whose father is absent is already at a vulnerable stage and additional hostile religious attitude can lead to damaged personality in gay children. The Christian view of homosexuality is ardently based on the Bible, and Biblical ideologies and concept are mostly unfavorable to a homosexual male child. In his article (Robinson, 2011)writes that “The Christian point of view is based solely upon the Bible, the divinely inspired Word of God. A truly Christian standard of ethics is the conduct of divine revelation, neither of statistical research nor of public opinion”. Christianity as a religion has nurtured hatred and despise against homosexuality. The homosexual behavior is seen as a sin... This kind of attitude along with absence of father can built up lot of mental pressure on a male child. Once a child identifies himself as a gay, he requires support and comfort from both the parents. A father should be able to accept a gay child understanding that it is a typical psychological dimension of his nature. The physiological and psychological balance of a male child is hampered when he finds that he lacks support from his father and religion. Nature vs Nurture and Absent Father Here while contemplating on nature vs. nurture, we can find that an absent father or weakened father son relationship can only make things worse. The nature vs. nurture is a psychological theory which is centered on the correlation between the genetical inheritance and environmental situation. Here homosexuality of the male child is the genetical inheritance and absence of father is an environmental situation. Both these factors have a significant contribution to the mental health and physical well being of a male child. It is the absence of father mainly directed the male child to seek comfort from other men in the society .The fact is that how much ever we resist, something’s are inborn and cannot be avoided by an individual at any co cost. Likewise, the gay attitude of male child in most cases is inborn. There is also suggestion from psychologist that human mind when born begins as a blank state and get conditioned as it experience various situations. According to (Cherry, 2012)”The well-known thinkers such as John Locke believed in what is known as tabula rasa, which suggests that, the mind begins as a blank slate”. This is true, as a male child is abandoned by father, he seeks for guidance, love and affection from men outside the family .When he finds love and affection from men outside the family, he tries to build a rapport with them and as the relationship becomes strong, homosexual relationship arise. Mostly, it is the absence of love and care from the father which leads to the development of homosexual behavioral in a male child. Sports Participation by the Child It is a common fact that male children are more connected to sports than girls. Unlike girls, boys are mostly indulging in sports activities. This interest of sports by men conveys the aspect of masculinity in them. However it does not necessarily mean that men who do not play sport are gay. Nevertheless it is seen that, some gay children possess a body with more of feminine quality. And this feminine quality does not convey that less sportive male child is a gay...It is observed that many a times the parent would force the gay child to participate in sports. This action goes against the sexual identity and psychological development of a child. Lack of interest of a male child in sports does not indicate that the child is a gay. It is not an unknown fact, that some gay men are overly masculine and manly from every perspective. Generally some male children are less interested in sports. No way, this conclude that they are about to evolve into a homosexual person. As per (Belonsky,2012) “People think that in offering people with same sex attraction the chance to learn how to play sports they will learn to be manlier”. There are many homosexual children who play sports. A sport is a leisure activity, and any person can indulge in sports with any kind of sexual identity. We can see many girls who play sports; this does not mean they are lesbians. Sports are a common physical activity enjoyed by any person with any kind of sexual identity. Playing sports in no way is an indication to understand or detect a person’s sexual identity. Sexual identity can be only traced by observing the inclinations of child in his day to day activities. Conclusion The sexual identity of a child is depended on various factors and that of the absent father is one among them. When it comes to a male child, his sexual identity is deeply collaborated with that of his father .When the male child has no father he attempts to look up on other men to build his sexual identity. Once the child get attention, affection and comfort from other men, the male child overly connect with them .So here we can understand that, a male child misidentifying with his father plays an important factor in establishing his sexual identity. The development of sexual identity of a child is based on experiential factors. The theory of nature vs. nurture has an important role to play in understanding the development of sexual identity in a male child. Here, if the nature of a male child is masculine and he encounters situations which are absurd and experience an environment which persuade him to be a homosexual, then nothing can revert the happening. It is the nature of the child which gets molded according to unfavorable situation and experiences. Apart from this a homosexual child encounters prohibition form his religion on his sexual identity. If a child has no father and he develops homosexual behavior and on top of that he experience ignorance and lack of support from the religion, the suppression the child experience is unexplainable. Additionally, the lack of interest of a male child in sports is not an indication that he is gay. Finally, it could be concluded that it is the absence of father, pressure from religion which create obstacles in the psychosocial development of a gay son. Work Cited Johnson, D. J. (1996). Father Presence Matters: A Review of the Literature. In ncoff.gse.up enn.edu. Retrieved June 20, 2012, from http://www.ncoff.gse.upenn.edu/content/father-presence-matters-review-literature Belonsky, A. (2012, May 24). Sports Camp Helps Men Move Beyond Being Gay. In towl eroad.com. Retrieved June 22, 2012,from http://www.towleroad.com/2012/05/sports-camp-helps-men-move-beyond-being-gay.html Cherry, K. (2012). What Is Nature Versus Nurture?. In psychology.about.com. Retrieved June 22, 2012, from http://psychology.about.com/od/nindex/g/nature-nurture.htm Moon, T. (2005, April 7). Absent Fathers, Smothering Mothers, and You . In sfbaytimes.com. Retrieved June 22, 2012, from http://www.sfbaytimes.com/index. php?sec=article &articl e_id=3491 Robinson, B. (2011, September 20). Homosexuality and the Bible. In religioustolerance.org. Retrieved June 22, 2012, from http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibx.htm Read More