Homosexuality: Historical and Scientific Perspectives

In ancient times several cultures actively engaged in homosexual behavior. The first recorded homosexual couple in history is Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum, who were an Egyptian male couple, who lived around 2400 B.C.E. Homosexuality was also common the Aztecs, Mayans and other Latin American cultures. The Asian cultures have ancient writings that describe same sex marriages and love. In ancient times several cultures actively engaged in homosexual behavior. In Greece, for instance, it was common for older men to take younger male adolescents as sexual partners. This was even reflected on the art of Greek vases. The Romans described effeminate gay men who would look in certain neighborhoods for partners. Later, in the fifteenth century, after Christianity had spread the views of male-male relationships had become looked down upon greatly, although the activity was still widespread. In the city of Florence for example sodomy was so common and so disturbed the city's governors that they created a special office to investigate private accusations of sodomy. Although, few were actually convicted of the crime they were forced to pay a fine for their actions.

Part of the condemnation was largely brought on by the bible which stated it was clearly a sin to lie with a man as one would lie with a women and it was considered an abomination which was punishable by death. In fact there were other sexual acts considered by Christianity that were also sinful. This attitude spread throughout most of Western Europe by the Middle Ages when it had established penalties for sexual acts that were not for procreation. These affected our modern day legal system with its views against male-male and female-female sex.

Science has also looked into homosexual behavior. For example research done by Bailey (2003), has shown that there is a genetic link between homosexual orientations. In one study it was found that homosexual orientation was found in common with 52% of these twins. Researchers have also found that there is a genetic link between gay males and the matrilineal side of the family. That is, in families of gay males there was found prevalence of gay males on the mother's sides. This was not found on the paternal sides of the family and suggests that there is a link between homosexuality and the X chromosome which men receive from their mother. Another study done in 1991 by Simon LeVay found that there is a difference between the brains of homosexual and heterosexual men. He found during his study that the hypothalamus of the gay men was less than half of the size of heterosexual men. It is not clear whether this has anything to with sexual preference or identity. Scientists have not yet reached a consensus as to why people develop different sexual orientation from one another.

Historical perspectives on homosexuality have been very impacting on modern day homosexuals. The general attitude of homosexuality is seen as being very abnormal from a religious standpoint and has been the cause of most of the negative attitude related to homosexuality. This attitude affects their self image, self concept, and the way they see themselves in the world.

Today homosexuals have a challenge. They have to come to terms with their own identity in coming out to themselves, but also to their families where they are most often faced with criticism and a lack of acceptance as opposed to understanding and acceptance. Many have a very hard time in the beginning of simply realizing and accepting their orientation. According to W. & L. Diamond the complete development of their sexual identity comes in four stages, being attracted to members of the same sex, labeling themselves as gay or lesbian, engaging in sexual contact with same sex partners, and coming out to others as a homosexual.

Going through this process can take an entire lifetime and it may cause serious conflicts with social attitudes, fears, isolation, and conflicts within them arising from social, family and religious beliefs about being gay. This may cause some to only tell very close friends in whom they can confide in and not tell family members. A person who has identified themselves as homosexual has a lot of pressure in coming out to the world. They risk many things such as social standing, job loss, and perhaps a loss of friends. Adjusting to life as being gay may not change much, their interests and careers that they choose for instance, are likely to remain the same as anyone else's.

Sources:

Rathus, S.A., Nevid, J.S., and Fichner-Rathus, L. (2005). Human sexuality in a world of diversity.(6^th ed.) Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Dowson, op.cit., pp.96ff.

Homosexuality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality#cite_note-jongo-129

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