Homosexuality from the Psychological and Christian Perspectives Essay

The rightness or wrongness of quirk has hanker been a subject for debate in both m ad-lib and kindly circles. Some withstand said that a individuals grammatical g curiosityer is their own choice and therefore should be respected. Some contend that queerness is brought on by factors both biological and surroundingsal and should therefore be understood. Staunch Christian believers on the other hand point extinct that when God created hu gays, He created only man and woman. Anything that goes against that is simply wrong and immoral.In the 19th century, crotchet was defined as wiz persons desire and interest for a nonher person of the same sex (Homo sexuality, 2004). Today, enchantment the definition is still applicable, homosexuality has also come to be viewed as wanting to be of the other gender different from peerlesss own biology. I cant help who I am. Is a persons homosexuality brought about as a count of choice, by birth, or is it something in a persons environment? There draw been theories advanced in the theater of operations of psychology that enjoin tribe are influenced by factors both external and internal.The late ordinal and early 20th centuries saw the source scientific studies into the origin of homosexuality (Vern & Vern, 1993). The first was Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825-1895). He was one of the first acknowledged researchers into homosexuality as well as one of the first people to publicly use up he was gay. In those days, he c everyed what we know now as homosexuality urning and stated that urnings should be considered simply as the third sex. Richard von Krafft-Ebbing (1840-1902) was one of the first to issue views on homosexuality as a perversion.Then again, all sexual acts under fooln without the purpose of reproduction, to him, were unnatural and perversions of the sexual instinct. (Vern & Vern, 1993) Several studies then showed that homosexuality, in particular among antherals, was a common if not natural occurrence. In the journal yearbook for the Sexual Intermediates, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, a leading proponent of the thought that homosexuality was connatural and therefore natural, states In the embryonic state, people are bisexual, barely in the course of their natural ripening, most lose their desire for members of the same sex.These people are the heterosexuals, who love members of the opposite sex. Another category consists of those individual(a)s whose sexual variety meat develop normally but in whom the desire for same-sex individuals in the timber center fails to recede. The results are men who love men and women who love women. (Sappho and Socrates, 1896) (Russell, 1995) The field of psychoanalysis also presented their views on the origin of homosexuality. In the early days, homosexuality, as well as other deviant societal behaviors were viewed as illnesses that were treatable by psychoanalysis.One explanation advanced was that of Freuds Oedipus Complex among males and penis en vy among the female homosexuals. Freud says that males with Oedipus complex, preferred their mother and hated their father. Perhaps this can be translated to males hating their maleness because they associate it with their fathers. Women on the other hand, realize a suppress desire for a penis in their psychosexual phallic and oral stages said Freud. (Webster, 2005, p. 324) Feminist critics of Freudian theory however said that Freuds thinking were too misogynist and distinctly anti-feminine.One pivotal development in psychiatric understanding of homosexuality was a study conducted by Irving Bieber (Dain et al. , 1962, p. 182). In a sample of 106 homosexual patients tempered by either him or other psychiatrists, he found that feminine and cross-gender behavior patterns ordinarily manifested themselves even before the age of puberty. It is from this study that it was determined that homosexuality primp in even before males were influenced by any hormonal surges and sexual awareness caused by puberty.These results however, have been interpreted and over-simplified by some quarter to mean that homosexuality must then be attributed to a male individuals traffichip with a strong, dominant mother and a weak or absent father. It was then proposed that homosexuality was not an illness, but rather a developmental problem brought about by conditions of family relations particularly the relationship between father and son. Homosexuality was then treated as the product of a fathers failure to stick by and impress the male gender identity on his son.Father take to mirror and affirm the male childs maleness. As Payne explains, The masculinity inside is called forth and blessed by the masculinity without ( 1985 13 ). This beautiful and inscrutable match is the union of an inner need and an outer reality. The boy seeks to take in what is exciting, fun, and energizing about his father. There is a freedom and might to outgrowing motherand this power is personified by t he father. If father is warm and receptive, the boy get out be encouraged to dis-identify from the feminine and enter into the masculine sphere.He depart then become masculine-identified and most probably heterosexual. If both parents encourage the boy this way, he will be well on his way to fulfilling his male gender identification and heterosexuality. (Baird & Baird, 1995, p. 52) The year 1973 saw a change in the way homosexuality was viewed (Vern & Vern, 1993). Due to a vote held within the American Psychological Association (APA), homosexuality ceased to be an illness and was subsequently dropped from the APA symptomatic and Statistical Manual. The debate on the origin of homosexuality is basically of a nature vs. urture perspective.Some have posited the idea that being gay is not a choice, one is skilful born(p) gay. Others have contended that homosexuality comes from failed or uneven relationships within the family. Which truly is which? Thinkers called essentialists hold forth the belief that mans make up is biological and genetic. Sexual orientation is just one of the things that genes, hormones and brain make up decide. People are born gay and thus, cannot change or escape from that. (LeVay, 1996). (Seutter & Rovers, 2004) At the opposite end of the argument are the constructionists. For them, nobody is born gay.Sexual orientation is determined and influenced by an individuals interaction and reinforced choices in the genial context particularly in the family setting. (Seutter & Rovers, 2004) Family seems to play a key intention in the determination of an individuals gender. Be it taken from a genetic contribution to setting the environment that conditions and orients an individual with society. Many psychologists check over that a persons relationship with people around ones self will have influences of varying degrees on the individuals choices and preferences.In fact several theories have been advanced with their bum on such familial contr ibutions. (Seutter & Rovers, 2004) Bowens Family-of-origin theory (1978) states that a persons self-image, behaviors, attitudes, beliefs and values are organise by experiences within ones family-of-origin. Differentiation or the need to preserve ones self in relationships as an individual as well as the level of intimacy reached is just one of the things that are developed in the family-of-origin. agency and power were the basis for Williamsons concept of Personal Authority (1991) In his concept, Williamson believed that an individuals person and feeling of personal was formed by leaving the parental home in the psychological if not physical sense. He further stated that only when an individual has individuated himself or set himself apart from the family and established his own identity can he reconnect voluntarily with his family. (Seutter & Rovers, 2004)Nowadays, gays and lesbians have become more empowered as unconnected to the years past when homosexuals lived in fear of bei ng discovered and quarantined from society or prohibited from living normally as they chose. In a journal article by Anthony R. DAugelli (2003) for the American daybook of Community Psychology, he shares Homosexuality was not removed from the psychiatric spoken communication in DSM until 1973, a year after I completed my doctoral training.During my clinical training, I wanted to discuss my feelings with someone, but the idea was marvelous and, I did not seek professional help because of fear that I would be removed from my program. (After all, who trains someone with a mental disorder to be a clinical psychologist? ) In addition, despite my sexual orientation, which was fairly hit to me at that point, I could not even bring myself to share this entropy even with the Army physicians during my physical examination after being drafted for proceeds during the Vietnam era.This simple truth would have removed me from induction, but I could not say the words. (DAugelli, 2003) What t he Church has to Say The growing numbers of out gays and lesbians have not escaped the notice of the Christian churches. Traditionally, churches of different religions have been unlike toward gays and lesbians. To them, there are only two genders man and woman. There have even been some instances where there were accounts of physical and verbal humiliation and ill-treatment gay worshippers suffered within the church, at time in the hands of a priest of Father confessor.