Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Prejudice in social psychology
Prejudice in social psychology
Prejudice in social psychology
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Prejudice in social psychology
Psychology of Homophobia/Sexual Prejudice Society began to rethink homosexuality in the 1960’s when heterosexual psychologist George Weinberg coined the term “homophobia.” Weinberg used the term to label heterosexuals’ fear of being in contact of homosexuals as well as the self-loathing of homosexuals, meaning that homosexuals hated themselves for being gay. As of the new millennium, there has been a new special term that has been born to define the fear, hate and disgust that people show towards anyone’s sexual orientation called “sexual prejudice.” Like other types of prejudice, there are three main principals that surround sexual prejudice: it is an attitude, it is directed at social groups and its members, and it is negative as involving hostility or dislike. As time goes by there has been differing perspectives on sexual prejudice (homophobia). In an interview with Karen Franklin, a forensic psychologist and former criminal investigator, which was conducted by PBS’s program “FRONTLINE,” reveals her interest and perspective on anti-gay hate crimes that relate to homophobia. Franklin has interviewed multiple perpetrators of anti-gay hate crimes and with San Francisco Bay Area College students that has lead to the production of important data of the nature and extent to the negative reactions to gays. When Karen Franklin was asked, “What makes a person become a gay basher?” she answered, “there is no simple answer to that question.” Franklin explains that for a person to commit any violent act one must have had something influence them to be violent and the fact that a gay person is being targeted is another motivation. She explains that there are several motivations for these acts. The first motivation is “peer dynamics,” in which a person tries to prove masculinity, or to prove heterosexuality, or just not to back down and let one’s peers down. The next most common motivation she found was what she called “anti-gay ideology” in which their reasons for their anti-gay feelings are based on morals or religion. Another common motivation was that a person might be thrill-seeking and trying to have a good time at someone else’s expense. Franklin states that, in general, “people are trying to endorse a cultural message that gay people are second class citizens and are not worthy of respect. Franklin feels that this sexual prejudice is a c... ... middle of paper ... ...use whether we know it or not, we all contribute in even the smallest ways to this problem. For instance, when we go up to our male youth and ask them if they like any girls in their class or when we ask a female if she has a boyfriend, we are contributing to the problem in a subliminal and subconscious manner. We are sending a subliminal message to society; we are trying to tell them who they are supposed to be. It is quite ironic to find that men hate gay men, although, at the same time they love and desire gay women and it is acceptable. Sexual prejudice is very complex, confusing, wrong, misunderstood, and very harmful to society. References 1. Internalized Homophobia http://www.lgcsc.org/internalized.html 2. Psychological Perspective – Henry Adams http://www.rtis.com/reg/bcs/pol/touchstone/november96/muehlen.htm 3. The Mind of A Gay Basher – Karen Franklin http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/assault/interviews/franklin.html 4. Bigots and Buggers – Peter Tatcheell http://www.petertatchell.net/homophobia/bigots%20are%20buggers.htm 5. American Psychological Association – Henry Adams http://www.apa.org/releases/homophob.html
Life for most homosexuals during the first half of the Twentieth century was one of hiding, being ever so careful to not give away their true feelings and predilections. Although the 1920s saw a brief moment of openness in American society, that was quickly destroyed with the progress of the Cold War, and by default, that of McCarthyism. The homosexuals of the 50s “felt the heavy weight of medical prejudice, police harassment and church condemnation … [and] were not able to challenge these authorities.” They were constantly battered, both physically and emotionally, by the society that surrounded them. The very mention or rumor of one’s homosexuality could lead to the loss of their family, their livelihood and, in some cases, their lives. Geanne Harwood, interviewed on an National Public Radio Broadcast commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, said that “being gay before Stonewall was a very difficult proposition … we felt that in order to survive we had to try to look and act as rugged and as manly as possibly to get by in a society that was really very much against us.” The age of communist threats, and of Joseph McCarthy’s insistence that homosexuals were treacherous, gave credence to the feeling of most society members that homosexuality was a perversion, and that one inflicted was one to not be trusted.
Hate crime legislation is needed. Crimes are on the upswing, becoming more public, more violent, and more acceptable in certain places of society. Without the proposed laws there is little chance that this shall become any less prevalent. As NGLTF, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, a well-respected agency who fights for equal rights for homosexuals, stated in their December 1997 article, the exclusion or removal of sexual orientation from hate crimes legislation by law makers is morally indefensible at a time when anti-gay violence is widespread. Failure to address this critical problem sends a dangerous message to law enforcement and the public that anti-gay violence does not exist, or worse, is somehow less reprehensible than violence against other minorities.
To be honest, when I had my first encounter with homophobia, I didn’t really understand this hatred. I watched a movie called The Laramie Project. It tells the true story of Matthew Shepard. You may have heard of him. Matthew Shepard was an innocent gay student who was tortured and left to die tied to a fence because of his sexual orientation. I couldn’t comprehend it because until then I had never been exposed to gay culture and therefore I didn’t consider homosexuality a weakness. The thing is, I saw homosexuality as a fact, I didn’t question it, I didn’t attribute certain features or qualities to it. And I still don’t. For me it is merely a part of people’s personal lives. You can imagine how shocked I was when I found out that there were people who thought that the sexual preferences of others affected them. But I wanted to understand, because there must have been some explanation behind this behaviour. So I started reading.
The Web. 12 May 2014. Fone, Byrne. A. Homophobia: A History of the.
Within the LGBTQ community, internalized homophobia is an extremely prevalent occurrence. One in which members of the LGBTQ community believe that the negative connotations and stigmas towards LGBTQ individuals are true. This, in part, is due to anti-gay and heteronormative social environments which have mental health effects on gays and lesbians. Ilan H. Meyer, a psychiatric epidemiologist, has referred to these negative social environments as a form of minority stress and has done extensive research on describing its effect on mental health. Gregory M. Herek states that “At the core of minority stress is some kind of conflict or disharmony between the minority member and the dominant social environment.” The most insidious attribute of internalized homophobia is that the people who experience it may not realize that it is directly related to the person’s low self-regard
In the first attack in Columbia Heights, the victim was reported to have been shot by suspects who were alleged to have used homophobic epithets. The second alleged attack took place on March 12, 2012, when a man walking home was reportedly assaulted and taunted with anti-gay slurs.” (PR, N. 2012) These unacceptable acts against the LGBT community are more violent than they ever were. Not only are they harmful to the victim, but they affect the whole community as well.
Hate Crime in the United States of America THESIS: In this research paper, information will be given on hate crime in the United States of America. It’s best to know about these types of crimes before it’s too late because it’s rarely reported or spoken about but does occur on regular bases. Hate crime didn't come about until the early 1980's. It's sad how these types of crimes still occur so many years later; there are innocent people who are attacked simply because of their race, religion or sexual orientation. Based on the articles, hate crime in the USA is very common and the chances to be a victim are high enough. Hate crimes are ignorant and pointless, they need to be stopped.Done to many different people in many different waysHate crimes are biased motivated, they're based on ethnicity, gender, language, nationality, physical appearance and sexual orientation. Hate crimes have various ways of being committed. They can be done either by physically assaulting another individual, doing damage to their property, bullying them, harassing them, verbal abusing or insulting someone. Hate crimes occur because of people who are prejudice and ignorant who can’t understand that there are differences among people. A victim of hate crime is more than likely to be attacked by another individual because of their race. The most common type of hate crimes that are committed is racially motivated. While gay people are also attacked often also, hate crimes based on sexual orientation come in second. In 2012 and 2013 there were 42,236 reported hate crimes. 85% were race hate crimes, 10% were sexual orientation, 4% were disability and religion hate crimes and 1% transgender. The FBI has found that most hate crime offenders are white at 70%...
Across the globe, society is changing. Countries worldwide are adapting their laws to recognize the inherent rights of homosexual citizens. Attitudes of homosexuality as taboo are being altered as a tide of goodwill takes the globe by storm.
On February 4th, 2012 three individuals attacked a 20-year-old gay man outside of a grocery store in an Atlanta neighborhood. The three individuals admitted to beating the man because of his sexual orientation and yelled anti-gay slurs during the attack (“Two Atlanta Men,” 2013). On October 12th, 2013 27-year-old Scott Jones was reportedly stabbed twice in the back and his throat had been slashed while he was out celebrating the opening of an art studio in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Police are unwilling to call this a hate crime as the investigation is still ongoing but witnesses reported hearing the suspect making anti-gay slurs at the victim just before the attack occurred (“Scott Jones, Gay,” 2013). On May 18th, 2013 32-year-old Mark Carson was shot a...
Homophobia refers to a prejudicial belief that gay, lesbian, and bisexual people are threatening. They see them as sick, unnatural, immoral, or disgusting people that are inferior to heterosexuals and they deserve to be hated. Homophobia tends to occur on several distinct but joined levels. These levels are personal, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural.
In today's society, there exists a mixture of issues which tend to raise arguments with people all over. There are a handful of topics that always seem to escalate these differences between people to the point where one who earnestly participates in discussion, debate and argument can direct their anger towards their feelings on the person themselves. Some examples of such delicate subjects are the death penalty, abortion, and euthanasia. An issue that has in recent years, begun to increase arguments, is the acceptability of homosexuality in society. Until recently, homosexuality was considered strictly taboo. If an individual was homosexual, it was considered a secret to be kept from all family, friends, and society. However, it seem that society has begun to accept this lifestyle by allowing same sex couples. The idea of coming out of the 'closet' has moved to the head of homosexual individuals when it used to be the exception. Homosexuality is nothing to be ashamed of and we should all come to realize this.
Kuehnle, K., & Sullivan, A. (2001). Patterns of Anti-Gay Violence: An Analysis of Incident Characteristics and Victim Reporting. Journal of Intrapersonal Violence .
Zeindler, Christine. “Psychological Impacts of Homophobia”. Concordia University. Concordia University, 02 Feb. 2011. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.
Society today has become more accepting of homosexuality. There are single gender couples in the media, and gay rights, such as marriage, have become a political standpoint. In this class we have discussed how society today is changing, and how important it is to be accepting of others who are different. In a heterosexual society, it is a big deal that we are becoming more accepting of people who like the same sex. The problem is, some people aren't just heterosexual or homosexual. Similar to the gender binary, there is a sexual orientation binary being created by the media. The black and white view is damaging to people who like both genders. Society tries to put labels on people, causing people to question their own identity. In the time of adolescence this can be very damaging to someone, male or female. Education about bisexuality could be the step society needs to take to create a more accepting society. Right now, a bisexual is seen as someone who cannot make a choice, but society should not pressure people to choose. People should not have to label themselves heterosexual or homosexual. The media has become more accepting of same sex couples, however, it exploits bisexuality.
When one hears the words “LGBT” and “Homosexuality” it often conjures up a mental picture of people fighting for their rights, which were unjustly taken away or even the social emergence of gay culture in the world in the1980s and the discovery of AIDS. However, many people do not know that the history of LGBT people stretches as far back in humanity’s history, and continues in this day and age. Nevertheless, the LGBT community today faces much discrimination and adversity. Many think the problem lies within society itself, and often enough that may be the case. Society holds preconceptions and prejudice of the LGBT community, though not always due to actual hatred of the LGBT community, but rather through lack of knowledge and poor media portrayal.