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Homosexuality And Deviance

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Homosexuality Homosexuality, liking the same sex, has existed throughout human history. In today’s society heterosexuality, liking the opposite sex, is considered the “norm”. On the other hand, homosexuality is considered deviant or unnatural. So why do some believe that homosexuality is deviant? Who decides what is considered deviant? Functionalists, conflict theorist, and interactionist all have different views and focus on different parts of society and its people. What is deviance? Deviance is a behavior, trait, or belief that departs from a norm and generates a negative reaction in a particular group (Ferris and Stein 151). It is considered a social construct. Many groups or cultures have different views on what is considered deviant. …show more content…

A functionalist approach on deviance is that it clarifies moral boundaries and promotes social cohesion (Ferris and Stein 158). Basically, functionalism is all about social stability. They view marriage and family as a big part of society and the only way to continue society. Marriage is between a man and a woman in their eyes. Since sexual reproduction is the only way continue life, in the eyes of a functionalist, homosexuality is deviant. A man and a man cannot create life together and neither can a woman and a woman. It does not fit into their ideal world. The ideal traditional nuclear family is made of a man, a woman, and children. Functionalists worry that if homosexuality became a norm, then the continuation of our species would be threatened. This is an argument used in many cases that are against gay rights and gay marriage. Some societies may even punish one for being homosexual because it violates their social norms. While gay rights have improved over the years and people are more accepting than they use to be, we still have countries like Saudi Arabia and other middle eastern countries along with Nigeria and a few other African countries that execute people for just loving someone of the …show more content…

Symbolic Interactionism sees interaction and meaning as central to society and assumes that meanings are not inherent but are created through interaction (Ferris and Stein 27). Interactionists focus on the meanings associated with sexual orientation. They also focus on discussions mostly to do with sex within the gay community. An example being that gay men are talked up and seen as hypersexual which is considered deviant. Another thing they may focus on are the insults that are used against LGBT citizens on a daily basis. Things like queen, queer, fag, faggot, fairy, and dyke are all far too commonly used to insult and talk down to homosexuals. These words are very dehumanizing and has negative effects on people. I can relate to this as I spent a majority of my teen years hating myself for something that I can not even control. For growing up around so much negativity towards homosexuals and being told it is wrong and deviant. I began resenting myself at the age of 12 and still to this day I struggle sometimes with who I am. Just because of other people’s negative

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For example episode 11 when a guy named Jason Robert physically attacks a girl named Megan in front of an audience , he behavior is considered deviance because he harms another person. Attacking another person and stalking is prime example that he is different from most people. Another example is episode season 15 episode 10 when detective Benson attacked and kidnapped by a murder. This broke into her apartment and held her captive for four days where he would tie her up and make her watch as he did unspeakable things to another. His behavior would be considered as deviance because what he does is unsocial and it violates what is considered normal in today’s society.

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Deviance can be defined as behavior that violates social expectations and norms. Deviance can be something small like dressing like a hippy or in gothic clothing, or something big like robbing a bank. Each society has laws and rules to keep one from committing deviant acts. Colin Kaepernick is going against NFL policies, going against his duty as an American citizen, and finally, he is disrespecting the men and women who fought and died for this country. I believe Colin Kaepernick is being deviant when kneeling to the flag.

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Deviance Sociologists general defines deviance as “an action that is perceived as violating a society’s or groups cultural norm”. Deviance can be perceived in many different ways. Vegetarians and Muslims are both groups that do not consume meat. Although these groups are not breaking the law. Their behavior is different than what is accepted to be normal.

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After reading these articles I garnered a greater insight on what deviance is and how it is formed. According to the Outsiders reading, deviance is essentially a label that is put on a person of whom commits an act or exhibits behaviors that stray from what is normal or expected. These people are therefore also labeled as “outsiders”. Outsiders in that they are seen as those who are to be placed outside of a certain group do to their deviant behaviors. There exist many views of deviance.

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Deviance is categorized as a violation of cultural norms. In order for one to express deviance, they must act out against societal norms which are known as expectations and rules that "lead the way" for how an individual should act. Therefore, its much easier to depict from there that mostly one's society is what ultimately differentiates what the rules and expectations are as well as what it needed to break those rules that they have somewhat instilled and ingrained into our daily lives. To add, due to society and different eras of socialization deviant behavior evolves over time.

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Deviance has many functions in society. Although deviance violates social norms, without it, we would not have rules, so it helps form, guide, and shape society’s norms and goals. Social norms are different from culture to culture. Norms that may be acceptable in one culture may be frowned upon in another. Emile Durkheim quotes that “deviance and deviant behavior is an integral part of all healthy societies (Adler, 2014, p74).”

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C.J. Pascoe, in her book Dude, You’re a Fag, argues that heterosexuality and dominant masculinity are inextricably linked. In order for boys to assert their masculinity, they must comply with the social processes that Pascoe calls “compulsive heterosexuality.” Compulsive heterosexuality builds on the concept of compulsory heterosexuality, a theory coined by researcher Adrienne Rich which refers to heterosexuality as political institution that enforces heterosexuality on women as a means of ensuring male dominance through “physical, economic, and emotional access” (86), and constructs alternative sexualities as “the other.” Compulsive heterosexuality encompases a myriad of sexualilzed gender performances and rituals, not merely to affirm one’s

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According to Hunt and Colandar (2011), a word deviant refers to when an individual’s actions contradict with society’s norms. For instance, majority peoples followed norms because society expect individual to behave in morally tolerate with each other. Those failing to conform the norms noted as deviant. In a social context, the task of the society is to blind the action of the social community together. Once failing to act them to the society’s reaction that seem as deviant.

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Although the term deviance usually carried a negative characteristic in first impression trough out history, afterward the term positive deviance was also introduced and analyzed. To begin with according to (“positive deviance.org”2015), “Positive Deviance is established on the inspection that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their colleagues, while having access to the same resources and facing similar or even worse challenges”. “Positive deviance somehow exceeds social expectations. Moreover positive deviance can also be defined as individual or acts of individuals in a society that are superior because they super pass

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As defined by Edwin Lemert, primary deviance, “ is polygenic, arising out of a variety of social, cultural, and psychological factors” (Lemert 1951). This is the type of deviance that occurs initially and does not necessarily have a deep impact on an individual’s life. Lemert could argue that everyone has performed acts of primacy deviance but this primary deviance does not associate completely with the deviant label. Those who commit acts of primary deviance often do not know that they are going against the norm or it is out of their usual character to act in a deviant manner. For example, a 4.0 student who decides to steal a small snack from a gas station is classified under primary deviance because it is an initial isolated incident.

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To most ears, it probably sounds inoffensive. A little outdated and clinical, perhaps, but harmless enough: homosexual. But that five-syllable word has never been more loaded, more deliberately used and, to the ears of many gays and lesbians, more permissiveness. Homosexual’ is the ring of ‘colored’ now, in the way your grandmother might have used that term, except that it hasn’t been recover in the same way. Consider the following phrases: homosexual community, homosexual activist, homosexual marriage.

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Homosexuality was once considered sacred in ancient Rome, albeit being treated poorly since the middle ages. Like this, homosexuality has been suppressed for a long time and thenceforth, the public opinion towards it has been on a downward road until recent years when LGBT groups started stepping up front and coming out along with the increasing controversy towards their rights. The subject of homosexuality has always been polemical. Every once in a while a news article would come up saying something like "Manny Pacquiao provokes storm by calling gay people ‘worse than animals’" or "Sam Smith Talks Coming Out As Gay".

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