Homosexuality in the World: Causes, Essence, and History
Events and people force everyone to make choices daily that determine their future path. A small set of choices is a societal preference.
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Choice is a small test. How a person behaves, how they choose to present themselves—the answers to these questions determine the path of civilization.
Homosexuality is one such question. The degree of humanity”s morality can be judged by the attention this topic attracts, the heated debates it provokes, and how people of non-standard sexual orientations are treated. As always, this becomes a test of maturity when society encounters something new and contrary to standard notions. Attitudes toward homosexuality have changed over time and remain controversial.
Homosexuality in Historical Perspective
Homosexuality in Historical Perspective
It was already known and widespread in ancient Rome. Perhaps the negative attitude toward homosexuality is connected with the emergence of Christianity. Gays and lesbians were persecuted and punished, including being burned at the stake. This continued until the 18th century.
Oddly enough, the first country to repeal its laws persecuting homosexuals was Andorra (1790). This followed shortly thereafter in France (1791), Prussia, and the Netherlands (1794 and 1811). In Russia at that time, they were stripped of all rights and exiled to Siberia for five years. The hardest thing for people with non-traditional sexual orientations was living in countries with totalitarian regimes. In these countries, homosexual relations were merely a pretext for persecution, as were other characteristics that deviated from the party”s guidelines. And it didn”t matter whether a person was a National Socialist or a Communist: the Party was always ready to help.
In the Soviet Union, a decree was issued in 1933 giving homosexuals five to eight years, which later became law. In Nazi Germany, homosexuals were treated even more harshly. They have been declared evil and their roots can be traced back to biology. Being German and a passive homosexual was considered a particularly serious crime, since it reduced the ability to produce more Aryans.
Punishment is prison and internment in concentration camps. Indeed, torture, inhumane medical experiments for “healing” and further persecution: if such people were imprisoned, they were released and immediately sent to concentration camps. Throughout Hitler”s reign, homosexuals were one of the most persecuted groups of citizens.
Homosexuality from a medical point of view
Previously, theologians and philosophers dealt with the issue of homosexuality. In the 19th and 20th centuries, doctors took up the cause.
Homosexuality from a Medical Perspective
Almost everyone agreed with this. Methods for treating this “disease” have also been proposed — hypnosis, castration, aversive therapy, even electric shock and brain surgery.
British doctor G. Ellis put forward the theory that homosexuality is a combination of congenital factors and upbringing. He then noted that such people can become excellent scientists and actors, but with a mixed weak character.
Sigmund Freud argued that people are born without a sexual orientation. Thus, homosexuality is the result of upbringing and social conditions. He did not consider it a disease and did not recommend treatment.
American doctor A. Kinsey said that mentally healthy people “suffer” from same-sex attraction. In 1953, he conducted a study showing that 37% of men surveyed had at least once had sexual relations with a person of the same sex.
Anthropologist K. Ford and psychologist F. Beach supplemented the research on this issue. In the 1940s and 1950s, they studied 76 world cultures and found that homosexual relationships occurred in 64% of societies. These discoveries led the medical community to accept homosexuality as normal.
At the end of the 20th century, scientific research was supplemented by new methods: mathematical statistics and blind methods. The first allowed to avoid accidents, the second — bias.
Evelyn Hooker, an American psychologist, used these innovations. In her study, men previously institutionalized, from prisons to mental hospitals, participated in studies where they were socially normal citizens. The results were studied by psychologists who were not informed about the subjects” sexual preferences. The conclusion is that homosexuals and heterosexuals are mentally the same.
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S o-Mutilated sexual minorities, that is, homosexuals, have recently been criticized and discussed at every stage, and all because The study puts an end to the debate about the normality of such people. Subsequent work confirmed these findings
However, scientists do not stop arguing about how homosexuality arises.
There are several theories:
1. hormonal disorders in the mother during pregnancy.
The disorder affects the brain, the area responsible for determining the sex of the child. This is a natural quality. In this case, however, there is no absolute guarantee that the child will be homosexual.
2. obscene behavior of adult teenagers.
If a young person under the age of 16 is sexually abused or influenced by an adult of the same sex, he is affirmed in the belief that what happened was not without reason. That’s why he is what he is—wrong. This can be seen as an acquired character trait.
When a boy is born, and his mother was expecting a girl, she begins to treat him inappropriately, and as a result, the boy develops feminine habits, behavior patterns and self-perception as the opposite sex.
Male dominance. For example, correctional institutions, military, orphanages.
5. constant disappointment in relationships with the opposite sex. However, from a scientific point of view, this theory has not been confirmed.
20th century researchers argued that there is no gene in the human body that causes homosexuality. But science does not stand still. Now we are talking about epigenetic marks (epimarks). They carry additional information. If genes are the “how,” then epibrands are the “when and where.” Therefore they were held responsible for homosexuality.
At the turn of the century, psychoanalysts and psychologists decided that homosexuality and mental health were completely unrelated and that it could not be called pathological. The problem of social adaptation is not something that will continue. The question of the origin of this phenomenon does not have a clear answer.
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Homosexuality is more than a medical problem
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Homosexuality is More Than a Medical Issue
By the end of the last century, in almost all countries homosexuals were no longer considered criminals. They took advantage of their freedom and entered the world stage, organizing ideologically based gay movements. Here are some of her guesses:
Homosexuality is not acquired, but is innate.
If the first statement is true, then it is impossible to cure a person. Therefore, any treatment should be prohibited.
- Homosexuals are victims and are persecuted everywhere.
- A gay couple has the right to raise a child, and his upbringing can be just as successful as in a regular family.
- Everything will be fine. But it’s one thing to defend your rights, and quite another to impose your vision of reality on the world and others. This is exactly what the so-called gay lobby does.
- The gay lobby is not the type of people who stand up for the opportunity to live the way they want. These are people who want others to live by the rules they set. This is a kind of specially funded political movement.
According to some psychologists, the basis of this movement is a person’s desire to be accepted, a kind of defense against attack.
Such people can be understood to a certain extent. Many people alive today remember the nightmare of what was called “gay therapy” in many countries in the 60s and 70s. Not everyone wants to talk about it. British actor Peter Price told the world the story of such treatment. He claims that he was unable to forget and forgive these people due to misunderstanding and rejection on the part of his relatives, as well as because of the physical and mental pain he experienced in the medical facility.
It”s no surprise that people now want to talk publicly about their problems and disagreements.
However, gay pride parades can go beyond the bounds of decency established by society and cause protests among the population of the country where the procession is taking place. Some human rights activists are calling for the eradication of traditions that discriminate against the very essence of the struggle of homosexuals for freedom and promote homophobia.
In our age, different countries treat homosexuality differently.
114 countries where it is legal.
78 countries where gay rights are limited.
- 5 countries where same-sex relationships are punishable by death.
- In the Russian Federation, non-traditional sexual orientation began to be punished in 1933. In 1993 alone, 121 well-known articles were repealed. However, a subsequent law was passed in 2013 banning the promotion of homosexuality and same-sex sexual relations in general.
- Overall, there is a general trend towards legalization and a change in attitudes towards homosexuals versus loyalty. This is expressed in the provision of official same-sex marriages. For the first time — in Denmark in 1989, when union registration was allowed, then in the Netherlands in 2001, where marriage was allowed. Currently, 28 countries recognize same-sex marriage. 16 countries have civil unions with legal restrictions, mostly affecting children.
- Some additions
However, conversations about homosexuality do not stop. And not in the most rosy light. For example:
Some Additions
Rejection of the rest of the population through homophobia is also problematic because it is associated with aggressive and antisocial behavior. It is aggravated by parades of homosexuals who broadcast otherness too cheerfully.
- Homophobia has also been linked to an increase in suicide attempts among teenagers and young adults.
- Research in France shows that homosexuals consume more alcohol and marijuana. American scientists echoed this, speaking about the spread of alcoholism among homosexuals.
- These are all alarming facts. But there are others. Tolerance obviously always leads to a solution to the problem. There are many positive examples in countries where homosexuality has been decriminalized. For example, the mayor of Houston and the prime minister of Iceland are very successful people who are open about their sexuality.
- All these facts indicate that interest in the problem of homosexuality does not subside. However, ultimately, each person decides for himself how he will treat people who are different from him. And in the future we want to embrace tolerance and loyalty, not aggression and intolerance.
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