PSYCHOLOGY 1010 ASSIGNMENT
Brendon Campbell, Student no. 213413521, Term W 2014, Section M
In recent years, the continent of Africa has become a prominent battle ground for human rights activism concerned with the persecution of homosexuals. Of the 78 countries worldwide where homosexuality is still explicitly illegal, 38 are in Africa alone. Despite emphatic appeals from Western governments and various human rights groups, countries such as Uganda and Nigeria have forged ahead with new anti-gay legislation, criminalizing it and enacting harsh punishments upon those who violate these laws—sometimes as lengthy a prison sentence as 14 years in Nigeria, and the possibility of life-imprisonment in Uganda. In many of these countries, primitive superstition and misinformation about such matters still pervades conventional wisdom. Homosexuality is often seen as a lifestyle choice that people willfully choose to adopt. A homosexual may also be looked upon as cursed, and therefore one to be shunned and avoided. African gays are maligned as defectors from traditional, often Christian values, and labeled a threat to society, trying to recruit and lure children into their ranks.
In Cameroon, Alice Nkom is a dedicated crusader of gay-rights. She is a 69 year-old lawyer, well past the traditional age of retirement, who has founded the Association for the Defense of Homosexuality, despite bureaucratic setbacks imposed by the Cameroonian government. She currently represents 8 imprisoned gay men in Cameroon jails and has been tirelessly campaigning for their release, as well as for the repeal of the laws which put them there. Gays in Cameroon can be arrested, detained, and jailed, even for mere suspicion of being a homosexual. Accusations a...
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...d evolved to survive, not to be an accurate instrument of scientific evaluation. We are liable to myriad perceptual biases and errors, many of which have made themselves manifest throughout history in nefarious ways. As we continue to become more enlightened about what it means to be human, we will undoubtedly stamp out more and more of these misconceptions about one another, hopefully reconciling ourselves to treat each other with a little more compassion and understanding.
Annotated Bibliography
Iemmola, F., & Camperio Ciani, A. (2009). New evidence of genetic factors influencing sexual orientation in men: Female fecundity increase in the maternal line. The Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38, 393-399. doi: 10.1007/s10508-008-9381-6
Weiten, W., & McCann, D. (2013). Psychology: Themes and Variations, Third Canadian Edition. Toronto, Ontario: Nelson
Education Ltd.
The persecution of homosexuals during this age of McCarthy proved exactly how vulnerable they were to attack and discrimination. Out of those persecutions came some of the first organized “gay rights” groups, known as Homophile organizations, the first two being the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilibis (who focused their efforts on Lesbian rights). Founded in 1950 by Harry Hay, the...
Rupp shows the constraining nature of heterosexuality by revealing the increasing prevalence “atypical” relationships in the global context. Because of factors like traditional values and religious beliefs, people are married to the idea of a relationship involving intimacy between a man and a woman. However, the various narrative examples of lesbians, from China to South Africa, are evidence that homosexuality is normal in that it exists in numerous settings. The countries that have long ago allowed same-sex marriage and removed all stigma associated with this nontraditional practice serve as models for others to learn from. In the end, core values and beliefs are hard to change, but they can still slowly change and globalize with the passage of
To look at what causes homosexuality, one must look back through history at different points in time, for example Homosexual acts occur naturally in nature and appear all over history. No one knows for sure what causes homosexuality or if there is a choice in sexual orientation at all. Scientific studies have furthered no evidence in supporting the idea of altering Sexual Orientation or choosing in what sexual acts you enjoy ruling out any possibility of Homosexuality being a choice. No link to psychopathy or family distress to homosexuality has been found, and all studies point to birth regarding sexual orientation at birth rather than during adolescence (APA).
The committee makes several recommendations in regards to changing the laws and legislations surrounding the incrimination of homosexuals for what had previously been considered sodomy. The basic premise being that “homosexual behaviour betwe...
In conclusion, homosexuality is not caused by a mutation, although it could be an allele that is passed down on the X chromosome. There as many theories as to why there are homosexuals, some say it is nature, others say it is nurture. There are also many limitations which stop us from finding a ‘gay gene’, many of these limitations are due to ethics. [Words: 2888]
Davis, S. F., & Palladino, J. J. (2003). Psychology. (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
"Trouble brews over gay issue: province of Central Africa 'could' split." Anglican Journal Oct. 2007: 8. Academic OneFile. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
It is therefore important to highlight the difference between the Fa’afafine and the western concept of homosexuals. In other parts of the world,
The first possible cause of homosexuality is genetic factors. Homosexuality is a trait from birth (Buchanan, 2000). Studies found that identical twins share many common traits. A study found that identical twins normally share homosexual behavior if one of them is homosexual. This proved that genes are likely to cause homosexuality. In addition, according to (Santinover, 2002), homosexuality is a heritable behavior. Based on heritability studies, almost any human trait is heritable including the homosexual behavior. He stated that behavioral genes are found in specific chromosome. Thus, the behavior is obviously heritable. Moreover, Italian University of Padova (2004) believes that homosexual trait is passed from mother to male offspring by natural ...
In history, mainstream Abrahamic religions have had a negative relationship with LGBT persons. Beginning during the Hebrew exodus of Egypt, the purity codes documented in the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Leviticus explicitly stated a slew of rigid rules that attempted to keep a new Israelite nation “clean”. As William Countryman argues in the article “Dirt, Greed, & Sex”, the bible sets a precedent for what is “clean” and pure as well as what is “dirty”. In this sense, dirty means where something doesn’t belong, or is out of place. The ancient Israelite text as well as some New Testament verses have been used by many contemporary Christian denominations to condemn LGBT persons to hell and to provide “moral reasoning” for supporting legislation that makes LGBT people second class citizens. Missionaries during the imperialist period of European history have also used these verses to spread hate around the globe, and many of these anti-homosexuality sodomy laws that were backed by christian colonial monarchies are still on the books in former colonies in Africa, Asia and Oceania. The spread of Islam, a religion that also considers the Hebrew texts to be holy scripture, has also had the same effect on the Swahili Coast, Horn of Africa, Persia, and Southeast Asia. These religious texts have been the basis for anti-LGBT laws across the world, and as Abrahamic religions spread, the tolerance for LGBT people in other societies declined.
From the moment people born, there are certain basic functions that will be with them throughout their lives. The abilities to eat, breathe, sleep, or to have the capacity to learn are a natural occurrence for most people. There are, however, traits that are specific to each individual. They are traits that set them apart from everyone else. The traits such as eye color, ones dominate hand, or susceptibility to a specific disease are a few traits that aren’t easily changed. However, there are some that are controversially questioned as to whether or not one is born with the trait or if it is a learned behavior. One of the biggest of these controversies is the question of whether sexual orientation is a choice or something that is beyond the individual’s influence. Although the evidence is commonly disregarded because of personal beliefs or opinions, sexual orientation is not a choice.
Wade, C., & Tavris, C. (2012). Invitation to psychology (Fifth ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
South Africa has one of the most complex and diverse histories regarding LGBT rights. The legal and social status of LGBT people has been greatly influenced by the effects of apartheid and the human rights movement. South Africa's post-apartheid constitution was the first (and only) in Africa to legalize same-sex marriage (“Activists Fear”). Nevertheless, LGBT South Africans continue to face significant challenges, including social status, homophobic violence (particularly corrective rape), and very high rates of HIV/AIDS infection due to the homophobic violence previously mentioned. The LGBT community faces numerous obstacles although they are making many breakthroughs.
With two distinct discourses offering different interpretations and possibilities of self-representations it becomes a chaotic experience for those individuals who can’t perceive themselves to fit any category mentioned. Due to the pervasiveness and visibility of Gays in Ermelo, they create spaces in which it is accepted to discuss these topics. At the same time, they try to belong to their greater community. Problems arise when their self-identifications is not authenticated as “African” and thought as to be of western origin. Thus, the creation of identities that embody both modern interpretations of gay identity and traditional concepts of femininity are accepted because there is a feeling of belonging in both contexts. The global discourse of being several forms of homosexuality privileged over other forms is contested in Ermelo yet merged with local context providing new ways for gays to survive their hostile environments and experience new ways of integrating to their local and global stance without dissociating from their
The sexual orientation of a person has been a critical debate over the past several centuries. For several...