Sexual Prejudice in the U.S.
National surveys on sexual prejudice of the Americans demonstrate different results and emphasize on distinct tendencies. This paper aims to compare and contrast two surveys regarding sexual prejudice in the U.S. The key aspects that shape prejudice in America mentioned in these surveys are homophobia, heterosexism, and different attitudes of heterosexual towards gay and lesbian rights.
Homophobia or the hostility towards homosexuality is one of the crucial prejudices of the Americans. In the article “Sexual Stigma and Sexual Prejudice in the United States: A Conceptual Framework” by Gregory Herek, the author discusses the appearance and meaning of the term ‘homophobia’ that emerged in 1970s. The professor states that homophobia is a kind of social stigma, which is a social value that is internalized by the society members and transformed into sexual prejudice.
Herek pays close attention to the notion of heterosexism, which is evident in different social practices and relationships. He says that heterosexism inherent to some of the Americans embraces social insignificance of non-heterosexual people, as non-heterosexuals become ‘invisible’ in the aspect of social value. Treating same-sex orientation as abnormal is also typical for the Americans, though, lately attitudes towards non-heterosexuals became less radical. Finally, homosexual behavior is considered as a deviancy and is morally condemned by heterosexual males.
Heterosexuals, especially young males treat gays worse than lesbians. Herek distinguishes this issue as one of the main features of sexual prejudice and confirms this idea in the survey “Sexual Prejudice and Gender: Do Heterosexuals’ Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Differ?”. The attitude of young heterosexuals towards gays and lesbians differs in intensity. Their opinions of lesbian “are highly susceptible to contextual cues”.
In conclusion, the surveys mentioned above highlight some key features of the nature of sexual prejudices and its manifestations. Both works were supported by empirical data and academic literature on gender issues. Herek emphasized the role of gay and lesbian movement in the improvement of attitudes towards gays, bisexuals, and lesbians.
About the author: Noah Hill is a master in English philology and literature at California University. Noah is currently working as one of the best writers at the high school research paper topics He also studies feminine psychology.
John Bealer @ on
Sounds great!
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Elizabeth Cooper @ on
Interesting surveys!
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Black Monk @ on — Edited @ on
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