Psychology of Homophobia/Sexual Prejudice

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...

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...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