Homophobia is more than denying homosexuality.
The common reasons for denying homosexuality may be "unnatural" or "unreasonable", and homophobes' attitudes towards homosexuality also contain more emotional reactions. They will not only oppose and reject homosexuality, but also produce more feelings of disgust, fear and even hatred.
In the decades of gay affirmative action, scientists and sociologists have confirmed that homosexuality is a common phenomenon in nature, homosexuals have never been eliminated by evolution, and children raised by gay families can grow up healthily (read more: homosexuality: always evolving and never being eliminated). However, these analyses still can't eliminate the discrimination and disgust of homosexuals, and the existence of their negative emotions makes people more prejudiced against homosexuality. Therefore, understanding the source of homophobia is also an indispensable link to eliminate homophobia.
Why are you afraid of homosexuality?
Compared with simple prejudice, the situation of homophobes seems to be more difficult for others to understand-gay groups usually do not pose any real threat to them. Why do they still have such obvious negative emotions? The mechanism of homophobia has also been puzzling psychologists, until now, people have not got a clear conclusion. However, some of these ideas are really worth thinking about.
Argument 1: "Don't treat me like a woman"
Although "homophobia" is not an officially recognized diagnosis, it does have some similarities with other types of phobias. In DSM, an important criterion for judging phobia is that "the fear that individuals have is far greater than the actual threat of things". Just as individuals who are afraid of snakes believe that snakes can be deadly deterrent even through glass windows, acrophobia patients will be afraid that the bridge will be destroyed when standing on a well-protected overpass, and homophobes also hold some unreasonable beliefs about gay groups.
Professor Kilmartin mentioned in The Man's Self that gay men outnumber lesbian women in number and degree, and their fear of gay men may largely come from gender stereotypes. In other words, for some men, the association with gay men will make them feel that their "masculinity" is threatened [1].
In modern society, many men and women are still imprisoned by gender stereotypes. Boys have been instilled with ideas such as "Men should not cry lightly", "Men should be independent", "Boys should not be emotional" and "Boys should carry on the family line". Independence, rationality, enterprising, and shouldering the great cause of reproduction are all labels that men can't tear off easily, otherwise they will bear the risk of being regarded as heterogeneous [2]. At the same time, society also has certain prejudice against gay men. They are often regarded as "sissies" and labeled as similar to female stereotypes [1]. Studies have shown that men's strict adherence to stereotypes has reached a very serious level. Many men have become accustomed to taking the opposite of female stereotypes as their own code of conduct, ignoring the * * * relationship that could have existed between the two sexes. When they are in contact with gay men, they feel that their values have been challenged, resulting in negative emotions such as insecurity, anxiety, fear and anger. At the same time, gay men are also afraid of being "treated like women" by homosexuals, whether from the perspective of friendship or love [1]. Homophobia can "protect" them from the threat of "homosexual behavior", thus retaining their "masculinity".
From this point of view, eliminating gender stereotypes has become an important aspect of reducing homophobic negative emotions. Next time you hear "Men don't look like men!" While waiting for comments, try asking, "Everyone is human. Why can't men do this? "
Argument 2: Is it true that homophobia is a closet?
Another common explanation for homophobia is called "homophobia is a closet". According to this view, many homophobes are actually homosexual, but they just deny and suppress their true thoughts. From this perspective, "homophobia" is different from phobia in general.
This view is expected to make homophobic groups feel quite angry, but it seems that cases that are consistent with it do happen from time to time. In 20 13, Exodus International, the largest gay treatment organization in the United States, announced its closure. The reason is that Alan Chambers, the chairman of the organization, finally failed to suppress his homosexual tendencies, announced coming out and dissolved the organization. Missionaries who declared high-profile opposition to homosexuality were bombarded by cowherd and went to Europe for vacation [4]; Northern California * * * and homophobic politicians were exploded. 10 years ago, they publicly "drag queen" in the same-sex club [5]; In addition, public figures who openly oppose homosexuality, such as senators, famous lawyers and Baptists, have been exposed to homosexual tendencies [5]. Is this a coincidence or a potential law?
In order to confirm whether homophobia really exists, the researchers also consumed a lot of brain cells. An important research supporting this view was published in 1996 [6]. Adams and other researchers used questionnaires to distinguish 35 male homophobic patients and 29 male non-homophobic patients, and asked them to watch same-sex and opposite-sex pornographic movies respectively, and measured the erectile degree of the penis when the subjects watched the movies. The results show that homophobes have bigger erections when watching gay movies than non-homophobes. Researchers believe that this can be regarded as a manifestation of "reaction formation". Homosexuality repressed to the subconscious is constantly looking for opportunities, anger and existence, so as to reduce individual anxiety, and the way individuals take is to disguise their true thoughts and turn them into opposite but more acceptable thoughts and behaviors-fear and rejection of homosexuality.
20 12, another study also provides some explanations for homophobes with homosexual tendencies [7]. Through experiments, they found those individuals whose potential sexual orientation was different from subjective reports, and investigated their childhood family education environment. The results show that those subjects who hide and deny their true orientation are more likely to be in a bad family education environment, and most of their fathers are gay. And those who have homosexual tendencies in their hearts, but flaunt themselves as heterosexual, also show a stronger "homophobic" tendency. Authoritative parents do not support their children to have their own unique views and ideas, but instill their values into their children as "absolutely correct" views. When children's own ideas are not supported, in order to continue to get the love of their parents, they have to choose to hide their true self and accept their parents' ideas (read more: Why do some homosexuals oppose homosexuality? )。
However, not all studies support the view that homophobia is a closet. In 2006, Meyer and others pointed out the shortcomings of the 1996 experiment. They believe that men can also get erections when they are anxious, so it is not so reliable to measure sexual arousal and sexual orientation by the degree of erection. This group of researchers first proposed a method to measure the potential sexual orientation of subjects with subliminal stimuli (stimuli that the subjects could not feel). The results showed that phobia was consistent with the sexual orientation and potential sexual orientation reported by the subjects, and no "potential sexual arousal" was found [8]. After that, although the follow-up research has been going on, there is still no consistent conclusion [12].
Generally speaking, homosexuals may indeed reject homosexuality, but "homophobia is hidden in the closet" cannot be regarded as a common phenomenon of all homophobes.
How far are we from eliminating homophobia?
Until now, the traditional concept of marriage and gender still deeply affects many people. Under its influence, the rejection and even disgust of homosexuals may not be completely eliminated for a long time. People are afraid of being different from others because the price is too high. Being discriminated against, left out, and pointed at, these costs lead people to actively, passively, consciously or unconsciously accept rigid gender settings and vilify all other possibilities.
Now, the reasons for our prejudice against homophobes need further in-depth analysis. When we understand why people are afraid, gay equality will really begin.