Homophobia is directly related to both power and sexism. Sexism is the belief that men are superior to women, resulting in prejudice and discrimination towards women and femininity. Sexism systematically gives men more power than women.
This is a broad statement, so let's examine how sexism works. Consider two things that are sometimes joked about: men doing housework and women being advanced scientists. The idea of men doing housework is made fun of because housework is considered "women's work," or beneath men. In general, however, men are thought to be capable of doing housework (or capable of learning to do housework).
In contrast, women being advanced scientists is made fun of because of stereotypes that all women are unable to do advanced science. In general, women are (wrongly) thought to be incapable of being advanced scientists. While there are clear distinctions between advanced science and housework, jokes about these two things follow a clear pattern of sexism: tasks that women usually perform are seen as beneath men, and tasks that men usually perform are seen as above women.
One consequence of this system, besides devaluing women, is creating strict gender roles. Gender roles are the behaviors that society thinks are appropriate for men and women. What's wrong with strict gender roles? In the context of homophobia, strict gender roles devalue homosexuality and bisexuality by saying that it is only appropriate for a woman to be sexually or romantically involved with a man and for a man to be sexually or romantically involved with a woman. This leads to a culture that privileges heterosexuality over homosexuality, a system known as heterosexism.
Hi Mike,
ReplyDeleteSexism isn't specifically the belief that men are superior to women, but rather that one sex is superior to the other. When we think of racism for example, we do not exclude it to the belief that caucasians are superior to other races. There is more than one type of racism as we all know, just as there is with sexism.
I never quite thought of sexism contributing to homophobia, but as you show in your post it is a key factor in the issue. Sexism traps us in a very narrow minded view of what a man or woman should be. Homophobia is not just about the oppression of homosexuals, but of heterosexuals too. In order to solve the issue of homophobia then, the issue of sexism needs to be solved as well. Is it possible do you think, to redefine the centuries old roles of men and women?
Hey Mike- I appreciate the effort you put forth in tying the factors or homophobia into sexism. But I am slightly confused on the similarities they share? Although I understand the definition of sexism and homophobia, I cannot seem to connect them with the information your provided. Could you happily describe a similarity they share?
ReplyDeleteHi mike, as Selam said I am also very confused on how sexism relates to homophobia?
ReplyDeleteto me it seems that this post was cut in half, I feel that if you were to keep on writing that you would have had a better post in explaining the similarities of sexism and homophobia instead of just mentioning it briefly at the end. keep on writing! I'm interested to read more on your topic.