| 单词 | homosexuality | |||
| 释义 | homosexualityho·mo·sex·u·al·i·tyH0260200 (hō′mə-sĕk′sho͞o-ăl′ĭ-tē, -mō-)homosexuality(ˌhəʊməʊˌsɛksjʊˈælɪtɪ; ˌhɒm-)ho•mo•sex•u•al•i•ty(ˌhoʊ məˌsɛk ʃuˈæl ɪ ti)n. Homosexuality2. homosexual activity. — homoerotic, adj.
homosexual(homəˈsekʃuəl) , (houmo-) adjective, nounhomosexualityhomosexuality,a term created by 19th cent. theorists to describe a sexual and emotional interest in members of one's own sex. Today a person is often said to have a homosexual or a heterosexual orientation, a description intended to defuse some of the long-standing sentiment among many Westerners that homosexuality is immoral or pathological. Homosexual practices are not afforded any special moral or psychological significance in many other cultures. A survey of 190 societies around the world (1951) reported that homosexual practices were considered acceptable behavior in approximately 70% of them.The description of homosexuality as an orientation also suggests, as some contemporary theorists have argued, that the boundaries between "homosexual" and "heterosexual" are not necessarily rigid. Some studies have indicated that most individuals have some erotic interest in both sexes, whether overt or not. The open expression of interest in both sexes is known as bisexuality. Transsexuals are distinguished from homosexuals by the feeling that they are really members of the opposite sex. Male and female homosexuals are now commonly known as gays and lesbians, respectively. Theories of HomosexualityPsychiatric theories of homosexuality have included the following: that homosexuality is a regression to the earliest (oral) stage of development; that most families of homosexuals are characterized by an overprotective mother and an absent father; or that homosexuals fear engulfment by a dominant mother in the pre-Oedipal phase. Some authorities have suggested that homosexuality may be an expression of nonsexual problems, such as fear of adult responsibility, or may be triggered by various experiences, such as having sexual relationships with members of one's own sex at an early age that prove to be very satisfying. Arguments regarding the roots of lesbianism include disappointing heterosexual love experience, a father who displays distaste for men who express interest in his daughter, and memories of abusive relationships with men. Many of these theories have been discredited in recent years, particularly by those who cite biological causation. Some researchers have contended that a disruption in the hormonal processes of the mother while she is pregnant may be one explanation. Simon Levay, a neurobiologist at the Salk Institute, has suggested that homosexuality may be related to brain functioning, as part of the hypothalamus in homosexual men is about a quarter to half the size it is in heterosexual men. Subsequent studies have shown that homosexual men react to certain substances believed to be human pheromonespheromones, Other recent studies, while not directly supporting biological explanations for homosexuality, suggest that it may be a predisposition that can be detected at an early age among children who do not appear to have traditional gender identification. Whether it can be easily detected or not, most theorists agree that homosexual orientation tends to arise at an early age. Substantially fewer studies of homosexuality have been performed among lesbians, perhaps because of the greater stigma which is often attached to male homosexuality in many Western cultures. The American Psychiatric Association no longer considers homosexuality a disorder, unless sexual orientation becomes an object of distress for the individual. In such cases, the individual—referred to by psychologists as ego-dystonic—may choose to seek psychiatric treatment. Also, beginning in the late 20th cent., biologists more openly examined and discussed the occurrence of homosexual behaviors among animals, which has been documented in several hundred species. Such behaviors, which may include courtship, sexual contact, bond formation, and the rearing of young, are found both in wild and captive animals. Many gay-rights activists have criticized the various theories which try to "explain" homosexuality, particularly those that treat it as an illness in need of treatment. The Gay-Rights MovementIn the United States today, the law's approach to homosexual acts has varied from state to state: In most states, unharmful private sexual acts of any kind between consenting adults were by the late 20th cent. considered to be outside the province of legal authority. The Supreme Court upheld state laws prohibiting homosexual conduct in 1986, and gay activists subsequently focused their efforts on overturning antisodomy laws in those states that retained them; in most, the laws applied also to heterosexuals but were seen as likely to be used chiefly against homosexuals. By 2003, when the Supreme Court reversed its 1986 decision and voided all antisodomy laws, 13 states still had such laws. In recent years, gays and lesbians have struggled to gain rights accorded other Americans as well as public acceptance, but the Judaeo-Christian tradition's condemnation of homosexuality as immoral has made such goals as acceptance of same-sex marriagemarriage, The outbreak in the early 1980s of AIDSAIDS See also gay-rights movementgay-rights movement, BibliographySee K. J. Dover, Greek Homosexuality (1978); L. Nungesser, Homosexual Acts, Actors and Identities (1983); B. Cant and S. Hemmings, Radical Records: Personal Perspectives on Lesbian and Gay History (1988); D. Greenberg, The Construction of Homosexuality (1988); R. Troiden, Gay and Lesbian Identity (1988); D. Halperin, 100 Years of Homosexuality (1989); J. Boswell, Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe (1994); D. Hamer and P. Copeland, The Science of Desire (1994); A. Sullivan, Virtually Normal (1995); J. Loughery, The Other Side of Silence (1998); B. Bagemihl, Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity (1999); L. Crompton, Homosexuality and Civilization (2003); G. Robb, Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century (2004). homosexualitythe desire for sexual relationships with persons of the same biological sex. Usually, however, the term is used to describe social relationships between men, while LESBIANISM is used to denote such relationships between women.A distinction needs to be made between homosexual behaviour, found in most known societies, and homosexuality as a particular role around which individuals construct identities, and communities or subcultures are formed. Weeks (1977) points out that the term ‘homosexual’was first introduced into the English language in the 19th-century and that it was during this period that the social and historical factors involved in the development of homosexuality as a specific role occurred. The criminalization of male homosexuality in England and Wales in 1885 was an important part of this process. Moreover, the medical and psychiatric professions pathologized homosexuality, establishing it as a sickness open to their ‘expert’ intervention, and thus successfully medicalizing an area of social DEVIANCE. Homosexuality remained on the World Health Organization's list of pathologies until the 1970s. According to Mort (1980), the legal reforms in England and Wales (1967) acted as an important catalyst for the emergence and radicalization of ‘gay politics’. Alongside FEMINISM, gay liberation movements challenged the essentialism of 19th-century sexology, and the medicalization of homosexuality, stressing the political and social dimensions of sexuality. Counter-ideologies were developed to challenge the stigmatization, discrimination and oppression encountered by lesbians and gay men. The term ‘gay’ was adopted, particularly by homosexual men, to challenge the negative labels attached to homosexuality by mainstream culture. Within the newly emergent and visible lesbian and gay subcultures, human sexuality has come to be seen as a combination of social forces, personal choice and sexual politics. The emphasis on choice was particularly evident in political lesbianism, which stressed woman identification as a political strategy against patriarchal relations. The implicit desexualization of lesbianism found in political lesbianism has highlighted divisions of an ideological nature within the lesbian community, and criticisms of sexist practices within gay male culture by lesbian feminists have given rise to the demand that the oppression of lesbians be theorized differently from that of gay men. Kitzinger (1987) has challenged both the essentialist arguments and those which regard homosexuality as a matter of individual preference or political choice. In doing so, she has placed a renewed emphasis on social constructionism. Whilst the 1960s and 70s may be regarded as a period of relative radicalism in Western societies for both lesbians and gay men, the socioeconomic conditions of the 1980s have engendered a moral backlash, exemplified by the growth of the New Right. and a series of MORAL PANICS over AIDS, lesbian motherhood and positive images of homosexuality. Sec also COMING OUT, PINK ECONOMY. Homosexualitya sexual perversion consisting in an unnatural attraction toward individuals of the same sex. It is encountered among individuals of both sexes. Criminal law in the USSR, the socialist countries, and some bourgeois states has established a penalty for homosexuality (sodomy). homosexuality[¦hō·mə‚sek·shə′wal·əd·ē]HomosexualityAlbertineHomosexuality(dreams)homosexualityhomosexuality[ho″mo-sek″shoo-al´ĭ-te]ho·mo·sex·u·al·i·ty(hō'mō-seks'yū-al'i-tē),homosexualitySexology Sexual attraction or erotosexual pairing with a partner of the same genital morphology. See AIDS, Circumstantial homosexuality, HIV, Latent homosexuality. Cf Lesbianism, Sexual deviancy.ho·mo·sex·u·al·i·ty(hō'mō-sek'shū-al'i-tē)homosexualitySexual preference for a person of the same anatomical sex. The term derives from the Greek homos , the same (not from the Latin homo , a man) and is applicable correctly to women as well as to men. In 1991, differences in the size of a hypothalamic nucleus between heterosexual and homosexual men were reported; and in 1993 it was reported that a region of the long arm of the X chromosome was associated with male homosexuality. It is still not universally accepted, however, that homosexuality is genetically induced.Patient discussion about homosexualityQ. Is this a malady if i am homosexual? because i feel sometimes very unhappy and outside the society... Some people would say - "oh yes", other could say: "i don't know, but i think this is not so common or normal", "homosexual? even the rats don't do it in the laboratories", "they should be exterminated", and so on. In fact we hear probably more bad stuff, than something else. My brother is homosexual and was very long depressive, because he could not tell it to our parents. Perhaps he is still depressive - a little bit from time to time. He lives with his partner.I do not pretend to have the key about it, nor the why nor the "how it comes". I share here with you what I have been taught some years ago. I can live with that. It makes for me sense. I know that many of you will not agree with it, but as long we have not a better explanation... Q. HOW DO I KNOW IF IM BISEXUAL? I WAS WITH HER ONLY ONCE...THOSE DA CONSIDER ME BISEXUAL? homosexuality
Synonyms for homosexuality
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