Are we Accepting of both Adam and Eve and Adam and Steve?

In Australia we have many minority groups, based on religion, ethnicity, race or gender. These groups are characterised as minorities as they are groups that have less control and power over there lives then those in a dominant or majority group. This leads directly to these groups being stereotyped. A Stereotype is a generalised (sometimes accurate but often over generalised) belief about a group of people (Myers, 2004). A minority group that over many decades has been negatively stereotyped are homosexuals. 'Homosexual' is simply an adjective meaning 'the same sex' 'Homo' is not from the Latin for 'man. It's from the Greek for 'same.' In many regards attitudes towards homosexuals have changed, although not to the point that homosexuals are of equal standing with heterosexuals. Homosexuals, especially men are stereotyped on many different levels, these include that all male homosexuals are “not normal”, paedophiles and that they are all effeminate.

Stereotypes exist because they allow humans to take mental shortcuts and conserve mental energy and effort. Over the centuries in all cultures, groups have displayed a tendency to discriminate against groups that are different to their own. Humans are believed to have an innate tendency to stereotype others. Stereotypes and prejudice often exist due to learning through socialisation (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008). Once people learn these stereotypes, they stick to these beliefs and are not willing to change their beliefs about a minority group. This socialisation process can be due to media, parenting or schooling.


One major stereotype is that male homosexuals are men wanting to be, or be like women. This is in most cases a mistaken identity. This stereotype draws on the stereotypical images of what it is to be a man in our society. A man is seen to be the ‘typical Aussie’, a man who is masculine and tough. Gay men on the other hand are ‘not real men’ and are stereotyped by being feminine in their manner and gestures. It is, therefore, a compounded stereotype. It operates at two levels: a stereotype about gender roles, and a stereotype about people who are perceived as not conforming to those roles. Another stereotype is that homosexual men are sinister and corruptive. This is usually expressed in terms of homosexual men being a danger to children. People believe that on this premise, male homosexuals should be excluded from areas in life that bring them into contact with children. It is frequently assumed that homosexuals are child molesters.
These stereotypes can be backed up by the contact hypothesis (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008). The contact hypothesis occurs when a person comes into contact with a very feminine outgoing homosexual, this means that their stereotype of a homosexual being like this is confirmed. Every time a person hears that a homosexual is a paedophile, there stereotype is confirmed about all homosexuals being deviant. This is called the confirmation bias.

The media coverage of events such as the Woods Royal Commission in NSW (http://www.aic.gov.au/policing/wood.html) serves to reinforce this stereotype. Much media coverage concentrates its attention on male paedophilia involving boys, this means that not only are homosexual men stereotyped to be molesters, the truth, that the majority of paedophile activity involves heterosexual abuse of girls is largely ignored. Many media outlets have been cited in largely manipulating the belief that there is a connection between homosexuality and paedophilia. The current focus on homosexual paedophilia is considered both misleading and negligent, considering that the majority of child abuse occurs in the family home. A common misconception is that most paedophiles are homosexual. Paedophiles are in fact, not easily recognised because of their diverse representation among all occupational, socio-economic and sexual preference groups within the community (James 1996).
In some sections of society both homosexuality and paedophilia are considered deviant, therefore they are often equated, this leads to people believing that being ‘double deviant’ is worse than ‘single deviant’.

This stereotype is maintained in the highest order in Australia, the law. For example in the Queensland Anti-Discrimination act, (http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LEGISLTN/ACTS/1991/91AC085.pdf) it states that “it is not unlawful to discriminate on the basis of lawful sexual activity” when the work involves the care or instruction of minors, or “when the discrimination is reasonably necessary to protect… wellbeing of minors”. This section maintains and reinforces the stereotype that male homosexuals are dangerous when working with children and minors. Therefore, just being a homosexual can stop a person from working with children in any sense.

Sexuality, in particular male homosexuality, is an issue that many people have deeply held beliefs about. Some believe that from a religious sense, homosexuality is wrong; others believe that tolerating homosexuality undermines family values and beliefs. Another belief that maintains the negative stereotype of homosexuals is that HIV and AIDS are “gay diseases” meaning that homosexuals compromise the health of the rest of the community.

The Stereotype of male homosexuals being “wrong or not normal” was originally formed in the religious sense. Those who are deeply religious regard homosexuality as being a sin, and although attitudes in Australia are changing, the religious view holds firm on the belief that homosexuality is wrong. In Australian societies Christian churches have traditionally expressed hostility to many expressions of sexuality. There is a long history of the church attempting to regulate and control sexuality, they used fear, shame, guilt and when all else failed, the law. Conservative religious people believe in the saying that “God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve”.

The negative stereotype of male homosexuals has come a long way since the days of “gay bashing” but there is still a long way to go. In Australia being homosexual used to be against the law. All states and territories have now de criminalized the act of being gay. Tasmania was the last of the states and territories to change its law, this happened a decade ago, in 1997. In most states anti-discrimination laws protect homosexuals from being discriminated in areas such as employment and housing. This does not change the negative stereotypes though.
Replacing people’s schemas about male homosexuals can positively influence the stereotype of homosexuals. To change the stereotype of homosexuals, we need to contradict the wrong ideas people have about them. This can be achieved through mediums such as the media promoting homosexual public figures as positive role models eg, gay football players, actors, and politicians. They can be portrayed positively for their skills and not their sexual orientation. Some religions have made positive steps in accepting homosexuals into their faith and adapted their doctrine to include those in this minority group. This needs to continue in our society, in order to make homosexuals of equal standing. In order to stop the stereotyping of male homosexuals being paedophiles, the media needs to correctly display data and stories on paedophilia.


Conclusion

Male homosexuals are often portrayed as not being ‘real men’ and in some cases deviants. These stereotypes are maintained due to socialisation. In Australia there are a lot of stigmas associated with being homosexual. Although Australia has come a long way in reducing the stereotypes of male homosexuals, a lot more can be done and achieved through the media and beliefs of general society. In order to balance out the effects of stereotyping, efforts must be maintained to make homosexuals equal to all other people in Australian society.

Concept Map See
http://sarahmaggssocial.blogspot.com/2007/09/concept-map-homosexual-stereotypes.html

References

Baumeister, R. F., & Bushman, B. J. (2008). Social psychology and human nature (1st ed.). Belmont, California: Tomson Wadsworth

Bessant,J, Watts, R(2002) Sociology Australia, Allen and Unwin Crows Nest NSW

Bosson, J. K., Prewitt-Freilino, J. L. & Taylor, J. N. (2005). Role ridgity: A problem of identity misclassification? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, (4) 525-565

James, M(1996), Paedophilia in Trends and Issues, Crime and Criminal Justice no 57, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra.

Myers, D (2004), Psychology, 7th ed, Worth Publishers, Belmont, California.


Queensland Anti- Discrimination Law

http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LEGISLTN/ACTS/1991/91AC085.pdf


Royal Woods Commission

http://www.aic.gov.au/policing/wood.html

http://www.anzacatt.org.au/prod/parlment/publications.nsf/0/35B46C6265B17B28CA256ECF0007B113

http://www5.health.nsw.gov.au/pubs/a/ar9697/a1800.html


What is Homosexual

http://www.onemansweb.org/jan/studies/sexes/s04.html


Appendix

Theory:

There were vast amounts of literature on the topic of homosexuality. I think stereotyping is an easy theory to grasp, and many theories can be easily applied to stereotyping homosexuals, including contact theory and confirmation bias.

Research:

This part of the blog was the most time consuming, although there is a lot of research done, there is not a lot of relevant Australian material. Once again finding scholarly articles was difficult and it seemed easier to use people’s opinions then actual studies. The main problem was that most of the research was based on male homosexuality so although I was going to concentrate on homosexuality as a whole, I ended up focussing solely on male homosexuals. I think this is where I could have done better, I needed to find more research surrounding to stereotypes of homosexuals instead of just using examples off the Internet.

Written Expression:

I found it extremely hard to structure this assignment the way I wanted to, although the question was split into different sections I couldn’t use these as sub headings because it didn’t suit the flow of my essay. There was so much information to include in not a lot of words, in saying this I think I succeeded in making the essay flow and making it reasonably easy to read. I found it quite hard to reach to readability scale of 12 on MS Word. In order to eventually achieve this I split up my essay into smaller paragraphs, improved the font and made my font size larger so that reading could be done with ease. To complete the essay in APA style was quite easy to achieve as we have been doing this since first year, the easiest part was the referencing. The concept map helped in sorting out my ideas and displaying them in a unique way.

Online Engagement:

I would have to say this is my major downfall, I have never been very technical or organised, and so I’m afraid my online engagement failed because of this. I was one of the first to set up my blog but was unsure what to do after that! I did make one late posting just to throw ideas around about what my essay topic would be; I received a very informative reply. In future for the next blog I will aim to become more active in my postings.

On the whole I think that I have done reasonably well in attempting something that I have never done before! The essay part of the assignment was my strongest point, as I am quite used to completing these. My total downfall was my lack of online engagement. To improve in future I will research further into my topic and aim to become more insightful into the subject of social psychology.