She Bothered Me With Science (Beep Boop Beep)

Study: Gay men more likely to be right-handed

The link goes to an Edge Boston article describing a recent Canadian study on sexuality and manual dexterity. Specifically, the researchers found that gay men had higher rates of both left-handedness and extreme right-handedness. The implications of the study would potentially corroborate theories of homosexuality being related to developmental stressors during pregnancy. Having few or no older brothers also moderates the relationship between homosexuality and both left- and extreme right-handedness. All in all, it helps give more credence to the innateness of homosexuality.

So why include this in a portfolio about homophobia and heterosexism? For one, it seems like we as a culture should be questioning why we need scientific studies to prove that homosexuality is biologically determined. What would it mean if it wasn’t linked to genes or developmental stressors? What are the messages inherent in the cultural circulation of these research studies? Clearly, we (meaning Western culture) to be some sort of explanation as to why people would be gay, and the discursive value that our culture places on science and medicine illustrates the need for an official sanction for such deviant behavior.

I’m giving my very personal opinion, and although I value these scientific studies and find them interesting, I think that there is an assumption of biological essentialism. That is, this research maintains the notion that sexuality is inexorably linked to biology. And, undoubtedly, this is true to a considerable degree when looking at hormones, reproduction, et cetera. Yet, I think so much of our sexuality is socially constructed that focusing so intently on biology only serves to overlook these social meanings. For example, would these findings on handedness and homosexuality be applicable to other cultures or historical time periods? Homosexuality is a relatively recent and Western-centric identity, so I question just how applicable these findings are outside of the population studies. Not that it was the intent of the researchers to have universally applicable results, but I think that is how sexuality is often viewed; as unchanging no matter what the context.

So back to those pesky issues in the byline of the blog. Certainly, results like those of this study can help engender a greater acceptance of homosexuality by proving it does have a biological basis and is not merely some regrettable choice ten-ish percent of the population decided to make. Nonetheless, by giving so much clout to science and medicine on issues of homosexuality, we are basically reinforcing the normative status of heterosexuality. The converse of questioning the scientific basis for homosexuality is that the basis for heterosexuality goes unquestioned and accepted as normal. It’s kind of like disguising heterosexism in a white lab coat.

Backward Christian Soldiers

Miller Jr., R. L. (2007). Legacy denied: African american gay men, AIDS, and the black church. Social Work, 52(1), 51-61.

I’ve linked to the full article via ProQuest, so you need some sort of authorization to hack through that little bit of academic red tape.

Miller, Jr. gathered qualitative data from ten participants on their experiences with being gay, HIV-positive, and involved in primarily African American churches. The general pattern that emerged from the participant’s narratives was that they feel a conundrum since they receive spiritual support and education while simultaneously experiencing ostracism from the congregation because of their orientation and HIV status. It’s refreshing for me to read the study since I think that so much worthwhile data can be gathered from these kinds of qualitative interviewing, and I think it’s important for the visibility of these issues in the larger academic community. Additionally, I find it remarkable that these men, despite all of their examples of homophobia in their congregations, remained in their churches for as long as they did. It’s difficult for me to understand, I suppose, because I do not come from that kind of spiritual community. My first reaction is over-simplistic: Why don’t they just leave if they don’t want to be proselytized to about their sexuality? Clearly, these men were not attending out of some perfunctory response for their community; they really enjoy the spiritual guidance.

What was most jarring for me reading the article was the discrimination received due to the AIDS crisis. One participant discusses how, following the death of his partner due to AIDS-related illness, the preacher in his congregation told everyone that the partner’s soul is lost and that he is in hell. I just find that sort of behavior appalling, particularly because it carries a religious sanction and it’s coming from a person who is supposed to provide support and guidance. I worry that I have such a strong, condemnatory reaction toward that kind of speech because it’s a cultural, religious, and racial context that I have absolutely no personal overlap with. I feel like it’s not really my place to shake my head at this form of homophobia, but as a gay person I’m completely offended and outraged.

At the same time, I can hear Keith Boykin’s words running through my head about the assumptions many people make about African Americans regarding homophobia. Now I bristle every time I hear a queer person or ally tsk-tsk about the rampant homophobia in the black religious community. There seem to be issues specific to African Americans regarding ideas of liberation and masculinity that often stand in opposition to gay or HIV-positive identities, but to say that blacks as a whole are more homophobic is ridiculous, I think. And it’s never explicitly stated whom they are allegedly more homophobic than. More homophobic than…whites? Than other, more accepting people of color? It’s so frustrating how these issues of homophobia often boil down to these judgments of who is the most or least homophobic.

Christianity is a messy issue for me to think about, so I often don’t. I’ve often thought in my interactions with Christian gay men that I have absolutely nothing in common with this person. I guess it speaks to the enormous blanket that the LGBT label puts on the community since listening to someone speak of their devout Christian beliefs is often like hearing an unfamiliar language. I still have a lot of work to do regarding my presumptions and discomfort about religion, and I think most of it comes from my sexuality. It’s one of my more overt areas of prejudice. I’m certainly becoming more conscious of it in the context of studying isms.

Varsity Blues

Osborne, D. & Wagner, III, W. E. (2007). Exploring the relationship between homophobia and participation in core sports among high school students. Sociological Perspectives, 50(4), 597-613.

The link goes to the article, via ProQuest, so you need to be logged in to view it.

Osborne and Wagner, in brief, interviewed 1470 public high school students in Philadelphia. The interview consisted of questions asking about their involvement in extracurricular activites, both athletic and nonathletic, and their feelings about gay people and discrimination against them. As the researchers predicted, male students who participated in athletic activities were three times more likely to demonstrate homophobic beliefs than those who were not. Additionally, female students involved in nonathletic activities were half as likely to demonstrate homophobia than those who were not. Male students were also more likely to have homophobic beliefs than female students overall.

It’s difficult for me not to have a “duh” reaction to these findings because they unerringly confirm my assumptions of homophobia among high school athletes. Speaking personally, I went to high school not terribly long ago and, though I wasn’t the victim of any extreme homophobia, I know that the male sports team, and particularly the varsity football team, was known for it’s absurd culture of hyper-masculinity. I also had the joy of four years of mandated physical education classes (thanks, Pennsylvania!), so I have some idea of what kind of talk happens in high school locker rooms despite my noninvolvement in high school athletics. It’s nothing surprising, just your typical derogatory comments.

I guess the study raises the question for me of, why is it assumed that this is part of high school athletic culture? Does assuming it will be there make it easier to ignore or accept it? Homophobia among high school students typically happens between individually, but does it also occur at the institutional level among schools who do not have policies against these sorts of actions? I would say so. I would say it happened at the level of the faculty, at least, at my school since many teacher would outright ignore or offer an indulgent “Now, guys…” in nauseating efforts to ingratiate themselves with the popular students.

I also have a reaction of just what are the effects of this homophobia. If homophobia is more likely to be found among the athletic boys, then, and this is just me making an unfounded conjecture, it’s probably likely to exist disproportionately among the more popular students. And, typically, popular students tend to be those that come from wealthier families; hence, they have greater resources in place to further their education or acquire more influential jobs. Then aren’t we, as a culture, really allowing the students who have the most tangible resources and likely potential enter the world with the greatest amount of homophobia? I realize I probably just made no less than a dozen errors in logic and I have no research to back me up, but it’s disheartening nonetheless for me to think about.

So, now determined to end on an optimistic note on this Friday, at least these teenagers are still teenagers and there is plenty of time for programming interventions to help mitigate this homophobia. Moreover, I’ve neglected to discuss the other major finding of the study that girls in nonathletic activities displayed less homophobia. I think that I can sleep a little better knowing that the students in the yearbook and science club are less homophobic.