Posted by medlib on August 3, 2001, at 12:14:48
In reply to Roots of Homophobia, seems Freud was right, posted by stjames on August 3, 2001, at 0:53:24
Hi James--
My first reaction was, Oh, my--yet another study docummenting the obvious; how do they get funding?" I thought that Freud's conclusions on this topic were a given--at least among the educated. The others wouldn't have heard of Freud anyway.
When I was growing up, race and religion were the preferred targets. (Southerners were equal opportunity bigots.) Then I learned in school that every society, past and present, has had someone to hate. Since that is so clearly illogical, I concluded that human beings must have an autosomal dominant gene which codes for such discriminatory stupidity. So, when Freud's concepts were presented in psych class, some of them were easy to accept--at least they had *some* logic to them, however perverse.
Over the years I've observed that the most effective way to diminish dysfunctional behavior long-term is to render it socially embarrassing. Smoking, drunk driving, and openly expressed bigotry are examples. Which is why it's so ironic that your study report is hidden behind password protection; what better instrument could there be to raise public embarrassment over gay bashing? More headway could be made were it on the cover of Newsweek.
At one time I hoped that violence against individuals would become socially unacceptable, too--but that was my Star-Trek-optimist stage. You were fortunate to have logistical support nearby when you were attacked. One would hope that any adult would come to the aid of *anyone* being victimized. But until that science fiction becomes reality, or unless you now travel only with a posse, perhaps *you'd* better carry a bat.
Take good care---medlib
P.S. Loved your "ankle-biter" image on PBA--'specially since I envisioned the same thing while reading the current PB page. Mine was a fox terrrier.
poster:medlib
thread:8617
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010731/msgs/8649.html