Ocampo, Acosta, and the documentary “Canto del Colibrí” by Marcos Castro-Bojorquez, all humanize the experience of homosexuals and how their sexual non-conformity intersects with their family acceptance. As captured by the authors, homosexuals are vulnerable individuals who are forced to be someone else, or simply reject who they are all due to the fear of being rejected by their loved ones. As discussed by Ocampo, gay children of immigrants have a hard time coming out, due to the fear of losing the support from family. The hesitation behind coming out has to do with the negativity surrounding gay identity, and how that will affect the status and the reputation of their families. They are willing to sacrifice their own identities in order
Sandra Cisneros “Never Marry a Mexican” and Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao are stories that reflect on the cultures in which the characters grew up in. In Never Marry, Clemencia, the narrator, reflects on her past sexual relations as well as her childhood. She speaks of her parents’ marriage and then transitions into her relationship with college professor and his son. In Oscar Wao, Yunior, the narrator, gives a second-hand retelling of Oscar’s experiences in New Jersey growing up as well as in the Dominican Republic. A person’s identity is largely influenced by their culture, this is especially the case in Hispanic cultures. The social constraints that these cultures place on social class, sexuality, and gender norms can be very detrimental to a person’s self-esteem.
Rawi Hage’s novel, Cockroach, is filled with cold, irony, hate, love, homosexuality and violence. Judy Ruzylo’s documentary, “The Order of Things”, presents the testimonies of people who chose to make a gender change in their lives. These changes can affect them in both positive and negative ways. By analyzing Hage’s novel and Ruzylo’s documentary, one can find similarities between some characters. For instance, Farhoud, a friend of Hage’s protagonist, is homosexual. Furthermore, the documentary is based on gender change and sexual orientation of the interviewed men and women. Although Farhoud and the documentary interviewees might feel comfortable in their way-of-being, society will not accept them. People are afraid of change; it’s a human nature to want to remain in the comfort zone. Whenever someone sees an individual being different they will react negatively due to their confusion. Getting excluded of one’s own home and losing loved ones, not being respected and the use of violence, and the loss of identity are three of many consequences that follow the discrimination of these people in today’s public.
In the autobiography, Next Year in Cuba: A Cubano’s Coming-of-Age in America, Cuban American Gustavo Perez Firmat takes advantage of the upraising of sexuality as a social norm in the 90’s to accord sexuality as a prominent place in his autobiography. Throughout the text Figures of women are constantly used to illustrate the difficulty of a bicultural identity. Firmat compares American and Cuban women, which emphasize his struggle to define his identity.
the beginning the text has an exciting tone since the authors describe the overwhelming emotions of individuals as well as the celebrations that took place after the law allowing same sex marriage was approved. By starting the article in this manner the writers are trying to provoke feelings of excitement from their readers in order to make them think that this event is a positive aspect of our society. Also, by mentioning the gay movement’s multiple efforts over the past “forty-two years to ensure the marital as well as civil rights of homosexuals” (Virtanen, Hill, and Zraick 1), the writers motivate their audience to be sympathetic towards these individuals. Moreover, the authors try to make people become more suppo...
Sexual orientation and normatively defined genders (male and female) recently entered popular circulation as more acceptable. Less attention is drawn to their defining characteristics due to a lessening of interest in their potential to be considered atypical. This is exemplified by Bo’s seamless ability to exists as a bisexual without ever claiming the title of bisexual. Now, society takes an invested interest in sexuality that is perceived as nonstandard. Thus, as per Foucault’s theory, great attention is directed toward non-normative sexuality. That which dominates public conversation enters specific sex acts into discourse, creating new species based on these sex acts. While a succubus is not an actual human species determined by sex acts, new terms defining people based on their sexuality are entering popular dialogue, such as polyamory. Society’s obsession to link all aspects of existence to sexuality is not likely to diminish, so as time progresses, different aspects of sexuality, sex acts, gender, and sexual orientation will continue to enter the cultural lexicon as designations for a new classification of deviant sexual behavior. While this will perpetuate the fascination and oppression of and with sexual minorities, it will give people like Lost Girl’s Bo, a sense of identity. Giving a person a word or classification for their previously misunderstood behavior is a gift and a curse. The present is allowing someone the choice to come out of the closet, as that which is not categorized is unable to be understood or expressed in meaningful
The normalization of being a heterosexual presence would classify you as normal and you’d feel accepted by many different groups and communities by default. Certainly no one would deny that being true. What seems to be the issue is why is being heterosexual is the only type of normality society seems to accept. While reading Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands/ La Frontera, the author brought up her personal struggles with her sexuality within her culture and with society. As well as other difficulties when being a female and being lesbian (Anzaldúa and Saldívar-Hull, 41). The scope of this essay should cover the many different borders we face as humans when it comes to where we draw the line on sexuality.
The first people introduced are a couple, Agustin and Marcelo, that has been well established in Chicago, Illinois. Marcelo explained his struggle of being both gay and staying catholic because as a kid he prayed to god for a miracle to change him to be “normal”. Marcelo has accepted himself and continues to practice the religion even though Catholicism prohibits being gay. Another man named David described being teased in his school career for kissing another boy in the third grade because of his sexuality. He moved to New York City to get away from his childhood and to finally be happy in a place where he isn’t judged. This homophobia from young kids instigates violence in school that is learned from parents and from the community of others. The last person introduced in the film was a man who transitioned to be a woman that was rejected by her family and had to move out of her home for coming home with hair extensions. This form of violence caused Gabriela to abuse drugs and alcohol to deal with the pain of rejection. These three examples show how people have overcome the cultural normality, but have experienced all sorts of different
The influence of the family and the need to belong to one are extremely powerful forms of control. The deviance that many Latin families try to control is homosexuality as it conflicts with the one of the main concepts of Latin familism, which is to continue the family name and produce children. When it comes to the relationships between LBQ Latinas and their families, there are various degrees of acceptance and control they are subjected. Katie Acosta’s “How Could You Do This To Me?”: How Lesbian, Bisexual, and Queer Latinas Negotiate Sexual Identity with Their Families provides ‘three distinct interaction strategies that study participants report engaging in with their families of origin: (1) erasure of nonconformity, (2) sexual silencing, and (3) avoidance after disclosure’ (Acosta 64). Erasure control is the most direct form of control that the family has. Erasure of the nonconformity is used by the family by erasing and denying the queer identity, sometimes with ‘manipulation tactics’ (Acosta 64). Ways that the Latina women exert control over their LBQ identities are silencing it (and not coming out) and then avoiding their family after coming out. Despite nothing ever being spoken about homosexuality, ‘respondents believe everyone is silently aware of their same-sex relationships’. Familial control of sexuality is powerful, however, as sexuality is a core part of self it cannot completely be control or suppressed. Even though they must continue in secret, or move away, queer women continue to have same sex relationships though it is not always easy to do
The damselfly species is part of an insect group called Odonata. Odonata consists of dragonflies, which are the suborder Anisoptera, and damselflies, which are the suborder Zygoptera. The insect group Odonata is very small, probably containing only about 5,000 living species (Corbet, 1999).
The eternal endeavor of obtaining a realistic sense of selfhood is depicted for all struggling women of color in Gloria Anzaldua’s “Borderlands/La Frontera” (1987). Anzaldua illustrates the oppressing realities of her world – one that sets limitations for the minority. Albeit the obvious restraints against the white majority (the physical borderland between the U.S. and Mexico), there is a constant and overwhelming emotional battle against the psychological “borderlands” instilled in Anzaldua as she desperately seeks recognition as an openly queer Mestiza woman. With being a Mestiza comes a lot of cultural stereotypes that more than often try to define ones’ role in the world – especially if you are those whom have privilege above the “others”.
The act of "coming out" is a complex political tool. Its use is open to ambiguous possibilities, ranging from subverting social order to reinforcing those power structures. Of course, it is undoubtedly an empowering act for many non-heterosexual persons to identify themselves as such. Even if the categories of "heterosexual" and "homosexual" are entirely socially constructed (as Michel Foucault argues), that does not mean that they are not real categories of thought that shape the way we live our lives. Indeed, my computer is entirely constructed, but is still undeniably real. Since many non-heterosexual people do live their lives identifying differently from heterosexual people, they may find "homosexual" (or a similar label) an accurate description of their identities and daily lives, however socially contingent that description is. That said, I do not wish to make a judgement call on whether or not someone should or should not come out. Rather, I wish to examine the complicated space represented by "the closet" and the multifarious effects that "coming out" has on the larger social structure.
An issue that has, in recent years, begun to increase in 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 seems 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.
The LGBT community faces many disadvantages and struggles throughout their life. “People around the world face violence and inequality and sometimes torture, even execution because of who they love, how they look or who they are. Sexual orientation and gender identity are integral aspects of ourselves and should never be lead to discrimination or abuse (Human Rights Watch).” The LGBT community often faces discrimination in health, jobs, housing, domestic violence, abuses against children, and denial of family rights.
Imagine being a gay child born in a small town right in the middle of the Bible belt. How would you feel? The parent’s religion, values and surrounding norms will have a huge effect on whether the child will decide to cover or expose his True Self to society. Inherently socio-cultural factors in the environment will play a considerably influential role in life choices. As deducted in this example, one’s sociocultural environment is likely one of strict white Christian values, which will most likely force the individual to “cover” his True Self in order to become accepted in his community. In his work, “The New Civil Rights,” Kenji Yoshino incites individuals and society to show more of their True Selves. Socio-cultural factors enable people to cover their True Selves to be accepted by society. In order for people to feel free to express their True Selves, society must change the way it views authenticity.
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.