Facebook: “Phil N. Molé” – Thoughts on Homophobia

Phil N. Molé: “Given the continuing resistance to gay marriage, and frequent attacks on the rights and characters of bisexuals and homosexuals, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about homophobia lately. I’ve been thinking about the reasons for this intolerance, and why it remains so common.
Among secularists and atheists, it often seems to be thought that homophobia is simply a matter of religious faith. People are supposedly homophobic because their religion tells them any sexual preference other than heterosexuality is sinful, or because they have general repressed attitudes about sexuality that stem from religious belief. But while religion definitely contributes to and enforces homophobia, it can’t reasonably be considered the cause of homophobia. For one thing, plenty of non-religious people are very homophobic. For another, religions get their characters from the societies in which they’re found, so we have to look at the norms of those societies if we want to understand where homophobia comes from.
Homophobia is a consequence of heterosexism, which is the idea that heterosexuality is the normal or “default” sexual preference…”

Me: Excellent post, except for the hypermasculine stereotype. The majority of men are not hypermasculine and yet are sexist and/or homophobic to some degree.

@Adam: mainland Greece and in particular Athens had institutionalized pederasty (not homosexuality between equals) limited to male-male relationships with the exception of Sparta where women practiced pederasty as well. Ancient Greece had rules where the older male was to penetrate the younger one who was to take on the role of the ‘woman’. The younger males were 10+ years younger, often teens, who were inferior in social/political power. They were the ‘pupils’, soldiers, slaves, servants and entertainers. The pederasts belonged to the ruling class and took on the role of ‘mentors’ or owned the young outright because slavery was institutionalized as well in this so-called first democracy.

@Phil: yes and whatever form it takes it’s always hierarchical never free.

@Chris: totally agree with you, but I’d like to suggest that we all try to realize that men in general don’t benefit from the patriarchal social structure because it is designed to limit people by establishing hierarchies, among other reasons. Patriarchy is the rule of a tiny minority of aging and old males over everyone else. It gives many (independent of gender) the wrong impression that they are in charge when in truth they are in a position of strictly limited power that is set up to serve highly destructive, abusive, exploitative individuals. It would be very useful to people today as well as future generations if we learned to carefully differentiate between presentation or perception and fact. A male feminist, Jackson Katz, termed it ‘reverse reality’ which causes us to misinterpret seemingly unimportant things as well as critical issues.
Patriarchy is very tricky, a state of delusion, a trap people fall into more often than they realize. It rules the world and it is obvious today perhaps more than ever thanks to the ease and speed of information sharing that the world literally is a mess. I can’t imagine any sane person capable of logical reasoning to be happy about this.
The state of the world today is living proof that the patriarchal system is a complete and utter failure and if we continue supporting it whether through naïveté or ignorance by choice, we will actively allow this idiotic system to destroy life on earth.

@Chris & Sharon: I agree with both of you and to add to my previous comment…
Manipulation and division are central to patriarchy, in particular that of the genders (gender role enforcement).
Patriarchy/the current system dominating the world is us. We participate in it and we support it. At this time it is very easy to see the bigger picture and connect it to the bits of information like this wonderful post by Phil on homophobia as well the one about ‘preventing homosexuality in the womb’, the recent horror story about clitoral castrations at Cornell University, and the growing resistance against routine male circumcision.
One example of the oligarchs adhering to patriarchal ideology (violence, warfare, manipulation, exploitation, oppression, etc.) I discovered in the article The Really Creepy People Behind the Libertarian-Inspired Billionaire Sea Castles the other day.
It’s lengthy but absolutely worth reading. It shows the connections between government, world politics, the military industrial complex, the arms trade, organized crime, the financial industry, and the so-called elite.
The same people that rule our lives (seemingly indirectly) are the same ones who enjoy violence (sexualized or not) against and the oppression of those they make believe to be the weakest elements of society: women, children, LGBT people, etc.
The parallels between these characters today and the patriarchal invaders of so-called Old Europe who ultimately ended up occupying the entire planet are striking. Earlier ancient Greece was mentioned and to mind comes the image of a male bending over a sheep.
Today an increasing number of attorneys, people in law enforcement and others compare them with incarcerated psychopaths due to their lack of a conscience, among other characteristics.
The important thing is that people continue to inform themselves and remember that we live by what we thing we know about the world and ourselves. You must allow someone to dominate you. It’s a dynamic that requires at least two people.
If individuals are convinced that they are inferior in some aspect and that they have to follow the guidance of someone who is supposedly superior to them, then that is how the presumed inferior will act. We act based on what we think.
Even with the best intentions it is difficult to change someone’s mind actively and directly but pointing to information that affects the individual’s bottom line and information that reveals the attitudes of the ‘thief’ can inspire thinking that is based in fact and away from propaganda.
Basically to open someone’s mind is to give them information and let them figure it out for themselves which then initiates the process of self-empowerment, self-determination and independence of though and resulting action.
We all are the system and we all are responsible in establishing and maintaining democracy, human dignity, equality, empathy, peace, and all of our individual and collective happiness.

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