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Interesting.

C

catlover

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Henry E. Adams, Lester W. Wright' Jr., and Bethany A. Lohr conducted this research at the Psychology Department of the University of Georgia, where Dr. Adams is now professor emeritus.


Hostility and discrimination against homosexual individuals are well-established facts. On occasion, these negative attitudes lead to hostile verbal and physical acts against gay individuals with little apparent motivation except a strong dislike. In fact, more than 90% of gay men and lesbians report being targets of verbal abuse or threats, and more than one-third report being survivors of violence related to their homosexuality. Although negative attitudes and behaviors toward gay individuals have been assumed to be associated with rigid moralistic beliefs, sexual ignorance, and fear of homosexuality, the etiology of these attitudes and behaviors remains a puzzle. Weinberg ( 1972 ) labeled these attitudes and behaviors homophobia, which he defined as the dread of being in close quarters with homosexual men and women as well as irrational fear, hatred, and intolerance by heterosexual individuals of homosexual men and women. . . .
Although the causes of homophobia are unclear, several psychoanalytic explanations have emerged from the idea of homophobia as an anxiety-based phenomenon. One psychoanalytic explanation is that anxiety about the possibility of being or becoming a homosexual may be a major factor in homophobia. For example, de Kuyper (1993) has asserted that homophobia is the result of the remnants of homosexuality in the heterosexual resolution of the Oedipal conflict. Whereas these notions are vague, psychoanalytic theories usually postulate that homophobia is a result of repressed homosexual urges or a form of latent homosexuality. Latent homosexuality can be defined as homosexual arousal which the individual is either unaware of or dent. Psychoanalysts use the concept of repressed or latent homosexuality to explain the emotional malaise and irrational attitudes displayed by some individuals who feel guilty about their erotic interests and struggle to deny and repress homosexual impulses. In fact, West stated, 'when placed in a situation that threatens to excite their own unwanted homosexual thoughts, they overreact with panic or anger." Slaby ( 1994 ) contended that anxiety about homosexuality typically does not occur in individuals who are same-sex oriented, but it usually involves individuals who are ostensibly heterosexual and have difficulty integrating their homosexual feelings or activity. The relationship between homophobia and latent homosexuality has not been empirically investigated and is one of the purposes of the present study.

Specifically, the present study was designed to investigate whether homophobic men show more sexual arousal to homosexual cues than nonhomophobic men as suggested by psychoanalytic theory. . . .

The results of this study indicate that individuals who score in the homophobic range and admit negative affect toward homosexuality demonstrate significant sexual arousal to male homosexual erotic stimuli. These individuals were selected on the basis of their report of having only heterosexual arousal and experiences. Furthermore, their ratings of erection and arousal to homosexual stimuli were low and not significantly different from nonhomophobic men who demonstrated no significant increase in penile response to homosexual stimuli. These data are consistent with response discordance where verbal judgments are not consistent with physiological reactivity, as in the case of homophobic individuals viewing homosexual stimuli. Lang (1994 ) has noted that the most dramatic response discordance occurs with reports of feeling and physiologic responses. Another possible explanation is found in various psychoanalytic theories, which have generally explained homophobia as a threat to an individual's own homosexual impulses causing repression, denial, or reaction formation (or all three; West, 1977 ). Generally, these varied explanations conceive of homophobia as one type of latent homosexuality where persons either are unaware of or deny their homosexual urges. These data are consistent with these notions.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/assault/roots/freud.html
 
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KCKID

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I think they may have drawn the wrong conclusion.

Unfortunately, merely 'thinking' something counts for practically zilch in scientific research.

Could it not just as easily be that seeing these images made the blood pressure rise, or that seeing something offensive can trigger an expantion?

I guess anything is possible but I would imagine that what you theorize above would already have been given due consideration by the research team. Just think about it ...some 'anti-gay' people on this forum get almost hysterical (I won't mention names) whenever they attempt to discuss this issue. Doesn't that prompt just a little bit of suspicion in your mind as to where they might be coming from?

I believe that the possible conclusion derived from the study has a great deal of merit.

Inconclusive to say the least.

Of course. That's to be expected. Just as the issue of why are some people 'gay' is inconclusive.
 
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david_x

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Unfortunately, merely 'thinking' something counts for practically zilch in scientific research.

everything starts as an idea. :)

I guess anything is possible but I would imagine that what you theorize above would already have been given due consideration by the research team. Just think about it ...some 'anti-gay' people on this forum get almost hysterical (I won't mention names) whenever they attempt to discuss this issue. Doesn't that prompt just a little bit of suspicion in your mind as to where they might be coming from?

I believe that the possible conclusion derived from the study has a great deal of merit.

The research team is human and thus intitled to rash mistakes and judgement.

I would like to know how you judge hysteria in type. :)

Of course. That's to be expected. Just as the issue of why are some people 'gay' is inconclusive.

I'm not sure that's inconclusive to everyone. I for on know where my ssa thoughts came from.
 
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KCKID

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everything starts as an idea. :)
Okay, I'll buy that.
The research team is human and thus intitled to rash mistakes and judgement.
But, as you say, the research is inconclusive so I don't think rash mistakes and judgments come into it.
I would like to know how you judge hysteria in type. :)
"Hysteria' might be a bit over the top. I'll repace it with what I see as 'irrational agitation' over the issue of homosexuality. This can be determined quite easily by the attitude of the poster, the font-size (as in 'yelling'), and so on.
DO YOU GET MY DRIFT? :)
I'm not sure that's inconclusive to everyone. I for one know where my ssa thoughts came from.
Do you consider yourself as being 'gay'? I assumed from your posts that you were not.

Hey, I'm wrong again!
 
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david_x

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But, as you say, the research is inconclusive so I don't think rash mistakes and judgments come into it.

I meant that the research was inconclusive because of the rash mistakes and judgement. (not just them perhaps, but whatever.)

"Hysteria' might be a bit over the top. I'll repace it with what I see as 'irrational agitation' over the issue of homosexuality. This can be determined quite easily by the attitude of the poster, the font-size (as in 'yelling'), and so on.
DO YOU GET MY DRIFT? :)

LOL ok. moving on. (get it? sarcasm:))

Do you consider yourself as being 'gay'?

No. But i believe that my opinions on the matter will only cause unneccesary devision among a divided people. (I want to be the salt of the earth, not the salt on the wound. :))
 
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