Monday, May 21, 2012

USE OF "AFFECTIONAL ORIENTATION" RATHER THAN "SEXUAL ORIENTATION"

It seems to me that a lot of homophobia is due to use of the term "sexual orientation" when dealing with Gay people in the media and in common discourse.  Unfortunately, in America, and in many other places, "sex" evokes both positive and negative emotions that mirror the ambivalence of people who have been raised with the notion that sex has magical, often forbidden, properties; morally must be relegated to heterosexual people.

And when the term "sex" is used in conjunction with Gay people, it overarches all other facets of Gay people; potential Straight allies focus on the sexual aspects and features of Gay people rather than on the love that two people of the same sex feel toward each other.

Rather than use "sexual orientation" to characterize Gay and Straight people, it would be more accurate and profitable to use the term "affectional orientation."  That term far more accurately determines the nature of same-sex love and opposite-sex love!  And sexual relations, save for promiscuous ones, are byproducts of affection; enable long-term marriages, be they Gay or Straight.

What makes people heterosexual is the affectional relations that they have for each other!  Indeed, a person is heterosexual even if he/she can't have sexual relations.  The same thing is true for Gay people!  One is Gay whether or not he/she can have sexual relations!

So, it seems to me that it would be far more profitable and accurate for people to use the term "affectional orientation" rather than "sexual orientation" to characterize the intimate relationships that people have with one another.
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4 comments:

DC HAMPTON JACOBS said...

MATTHEW 19: 3-6

Some Pharisees came to (the Lord) to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
“Haven’t you read,” He replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made (Adam) male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

This, in my opinion, is the most important chapter of the Gospels! Not only does Matthew 19 establish which laws apply to Christians, it also explains both heterosexual and homosexual attraction! What a treasure trove!

Men and women are attracted to each other because they are basically two halves of a whole spirit that was once complete within Adam, the first human being. As you know, Jerry, this original, undivided gender reflected the gender of God (Genesis 1: 27).

Further along in Matthew 19, Jesus Christ describes LGBT folk, which Scripture calls "born eunuchs". These people are much like Adam was, male and female blended in a single body. Born of binary gender parents, they look like their parents but looks are deceiving! They are male and female in appearance only! Butch, femme, or in-between, all of us LGBT folk are Transgender beings.

Just like men and women in heterosexual marriage, they we have been joined together by God, but in a different way: A way that more closely mirrors His Divine state. And just as is the case with heterosexual couples, the sexual attraction of LesBiGay couples is governed by their gender.

Transgender sexuality is unlike heterosexuality in many ways; its nature varies depending on whether a person identifies as homosexual, bisexual or Transsexual. Sexual orientation, which our society absurdly treats as if it were an actual entity, does not really exist! It is nothing but a form of gender expression.

I would prefer that LesBiGay sexuality be spoken of as gender expression. That concept links them with their Transsexual brothers and sisters; but I know better than to expect such a change in my lifetime, if ever. LGBT folk are resistant to seeing themselves as a unique gender. They insist they are all but identical to Straight people! But German sexologists of the 19th century, as well as many Native-American tribes, had the right concept of us . . . the Scriptural concept, affirmed by the Savior.

Jerry Maneker said...

Thanks so much for these insights, Don Charles. Best wishes, Jerry.

DC HAMPTON JACOBS said...

Jerry,

FYI, here is how the early German sexologists categorized human gender:

Urningin (or occasionally the variants Uranierin, Urnin, and Urnigin): A female-bodied person with a male psyche, whose main sexual attraction is to women
("Lesbian" or "Straight Transman").

Urning: A male-bodied person with a female psyche, whose main sexual attraction is to men("Gay" or "Straight Transwoman").

Dioningin: A heterosexual, feminine woman.

Dioning : A heterosexual, masculine man.

Uranodioningin: A female bisexual.

Uranodioning: A male bisexual.

Zwitter: Person with Intersexual genitalia.

I don't know about all these transgender sub-genders, but I do know that humankind's concept of male and female is impossibly narrow. There's no room in it for at least half the people in the world!

Jerry Maneker said...

Thanks so much, Don Charles. This is VERY helpful. Best wishes, Jerry.