UPDATE, 2/12/10.
In my previous post there is referenced an article dealing with 10 myths used by strident homophobes to seek to justify their disdain for Gay people and their desire to prevent Gay people from acquiring full and equal rights. Homophobes adhere to these myths, despite ample evidence showing their assertions to be false, and one must examine why one would tenaciously adhere to his/her belief system despite ample contradictory evidence.
It seems to me that making a virtual career out of condemning others meets certain psychological needs that must be addressed to show the bankrupt nature of homophobia on the one hand and also highlight the envy that may well lie behind the tenacious adherence to the myths that are shared by so many homophobes.
A mentally healthy person doesn't ridicule or condemn other non-predatory people, nor does he/she obsess over what other people do in bed! Hence, the mere existence of homophobia shows us a psyche that lacks health! Indeed, when one does engage in these activities, it tells us far more about him/her than it does about the people he/she is purporting to describe!
For example, one of the justifications for denying Gay people equal rights is that Gay people recruit others into being Gay. Now, when one says such a thing, he/she is intimating that same-sex activity is seductive and attractive!
After all, these homophobes don't suggest that one can be recruited into eating feces, or standing in front of a truck that is barreling down a highway. Obviously, very few people would see these activities as being seductive or desirable.
However, when one speaks of people being "recruited" into being Gay, they are unwittingly intimating that being Gay is desirable and attractive, and that they, deep down in their psyches, may well view being Gay as desirable and attractive as well.
For example, Alan Keyes, whose daughter is a lesbian, is quoted as having said that homosexuality is "selfish hedonism." "Hedonism" connotes pleasure-seeking!
When one uses "pleasure-seeking" in the same context as homosexuality, it seems to me that that person must at some level view being Gay as pleasurable! Whether or not Alan Keyes feels same-sex activity to be pleasurable, I don't know. However, it is curious to me that he would link homosexuality with pleasure!
Carefully listening to the rhetoric of homophobes can be very instructive regarding the psychological dynamics that lie behind homophobia, and the nature of envy, and the defense mechanism of denial, may not be all that far off the mark, especially when one considers strident homophobes' tenacious adherence to the spewing of rhetoric concerning Gay people that have been shown to be mere myths!
Homophobia tells us far more about the homophobe than it does about anything else! In part, it likely tells us about his or her need to use bankrupt justifications for what envious psychological needs are being repressed or suppressed; envious needs that their homophobic rhetoric and/or actions may well be meeting!
2 comments:
Homophobia does tell us more about the hater/fearer than the one hated/feared. I think more holding bigoted ideas, though, would believe we have some evil "enticement" in the same way that alcohol or booze does. Like the Nazis and the KKK, there is always the association of the one hated with "vermin" and other evil, ugly, disgusting things. I'd like to see your take on that, as well.
Hi Lynne: I agree with you, and my take on it is somewhat dealt with in my articles, "Homophobia is the Result of Emotional Deficiencies," and "Homophobia Stems From The Unconscious," both of which can be found in the Links section of this blog.
Haters can't afford to view the object of their hate as human beings like they are because then their hatred would not seem rational to them, so they have to denigrate and associate the object of their hate with slurs: viewing Jews as rats during the Nazi era; calling Gays "queer" and "fag," etc. Best wishes, Jerry.
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