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Sexual Orientation and Inequality

Sexual Orientation and Inequality

 

Read Lecture notes; read text Chapter 10, pgs. 273-295. Watch film and prepare for an online group discussion

 

Discussion

We of Silicon Valley, situated in the San Francisco Bay Area, are a diverse people. After you complete the text readings comment on what can you share from your personal experiences answering these ‘discussion starter’ prompts:

1. Do you think sexual orientation is a choice, or not? Explain your answer.
2. How did your middle school and high school friends talked about sexual orientation generally and homosexuality specifically.

How do you feel after you have posted your response, and read through your classmates’ responses. Consider how your observations are similar to or different from those of your peers. Respond to at least two classmates who had similar or different responses; explain why their posts resonate with you or why you feel differently.

From 1933 to 1945, Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime exterminated 6 million Jews in the Holocaust, but it also persecuted millions of other people, including gay men. Nazi officials alleged that these men harbored what they termed a “degeneracy” that threatened Germany’s “disciplined masculinity.” Calling gay men “antisocial parasites” and “enemies of the state,” the Nazi government arrested more than 100,000 men for violating a law against homosexuality, although it did not arrest lesbians because it valued their child-bearing capacity. At least 5,000 gay men were imprisoned, and many more were put in mental institutions. Several hundred other gay men were castrated, and up to 15,000 were placed in concentration camps, where most died from disease, starvation, or murder. As the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (2011)United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2011). Nazi persecution of homosexuals 1933–1945. Retrieved August 14, 2011, from https://essays.homeworkacetutors.com/write-my-essay/ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/hsx/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. summarizes these events, “Nazi Germany did not seek to kill all homosexuals. Nevertheless, the Nazi state, through active persecution, attempted to terrorize German homosexuals into sexual and social conformity, leaving thousands dead and shattering the lives of many more.”

This terrible history reminds us that sexual orientation has often resulted in inequality of many kinds, and, in the extreme case of the Nazis, inhumane treatment that included castration, imprisonment, and death. The news story that began this chapter makes clear that sexual orientation still results in violence, even if this violence falls short of what the Nazis did. Although the gay rights movement has achieved much success, sexual orientation continues to result in other types of inequality as well. This chapter examines the many forms of inequality linked to sexual orientation today. It begins with a conceptual discussion of sexual orientation before turning to its history, explanation, types of inequality, and other matters.

Assignment

 Public Attitudes

Although the public remains sharply divided on various LGBT issues and much of the public remains heterosexist, views about LGBT behavior and certain rights of the LGBT community have become markedly more positive in recent decades. This trend matches what we saw in earlier chapters regarding views concerning people of color and women. The United States has without question become less racist, less sexist, and less heterosexist since the 1970s.

Second, certain aspects of people’s sociodemographic backgrounds influence the extent to which they do, or do not, hold heterosexist attitudes. This conclusion is not surprising, as sociology has long since demonstrated that social backgrounds influence many types of attitudes and behaviors, but the influence we saw earlier of sociodemographic factors on heterosexism was striking nonetheless. These factors would no doubt also be relevant for understanding differences in views on other LGBT issues.

Write a 1.5 page paper about your position toward the LGBT community.  Include in your paper answers to these prompts:

1. Your own feelings, views, beliefs and attitude toward the LGBT community. You can recognize why you might hold these views based on your gender, age, education, and other aspects of your social background

 

2. Why do you think public opinion about LGBT behavior and issues has become more positive during the past few decades?

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