Violent Homophobia in the U.S.

Paper Summary:

This paper reports on problems with violence against gays in the military and in everyday life, explaining that it is basically a "hate crime", but does not receive the same status in all areas of the country. The author points out that one of several reasons offered why a person might develop a belligerent attitude toward gay people is the Freudian notion that, since all children have repressed yet strong attractions to their "same-sex parent", later in life the male individual puts up a defense against that attraction in the form of hatred towards men who engage in homosexual activities. The paper explains that other reasons are that anti-gay persons are not likely to have had any personal contact with gays and that many gay "bashers" have grown up with parents and church influences that identify gays as mentally ill child molesters.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Literature Review

From the Paper:

"Van Der Meer describes most violent perpetrators in Western cultures as having had a "rite of passage" that takes three phases. The first, he doesn't "give a shit about anything," rejects parental leadership, and feels as if he is a "nobody"; the second phase is the "liminal period," the so-called "group solidarity" during which he is "forced to participate." The group may begin in a bar simply joking about gays, then actually see one, and while attacking a gay man, nobody in the group can back out lest he be rejected from the solidarity."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Advocate. (2005). Shaq helps raise awareness. Issue 949, p. 16-16. Retrieved from EBSCOhost # AN 18786248.
• Andry, Claire; Atwood, Jamie; Luther, Dorothy; & Stephens, Cameron. (2006) Anti-Gay. Violence. Information courtesy The University of California at Davis. Retrieved 24 Nov. 2006 from http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/phobdefn.html and http://cjwww.csustan.edu/hatecrimes/99/anti-gay/anti-gay%20web.html.
• Belkin, Aaron. (2005). Abandoning "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Will Decrease Ant-Gay Violence. U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings. 131(5), p. 177-177. Academic Search Premier
• Herek, Gregory M. (1998). Hating Gays: An Overview of Scientific Studies. Retrieved from http://www.beyondhomophobia.com
• The Aurora Center. (2005). Anti-Gay and Lesbian Violence. The University of Minnesota. Retrieved 23 Nov. 2006 from http://www1.umn.edu.

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