In connection with the transformation of gender identity and sexual orientation, this non-binarity reveals the topic of democratization of personal life, which allowed to properly examine a person’s sexuality. There are deep sources of tension in contemporary gender relationships. It is important to focus on the successful role of autonomy in harmonizing gender relations, which contributes to the realization of one’s preferences and implies egalitarian conditions of relations with others.
At the same time, the project of the self should be designed in such a way as to allow self-reliance with respect to the past of the other, which would contribute to the harmonization of future gender relations. Thus, the presented self-reliance admits respect for the capabilities of other significant ones. An autonomous individual, thus treating others, realizes that the development of the potentialities of another is not a threat to him. Autonomy helps ensure the personal boundaries that are necessary for successful relationship management. These boundaries are crossed when one person uses another as a means of old psychological dispositions or where mutual coercion and co-dependence are built.
The basic importance of democracy of gender relations is the prohibition of all violence and insults of the physical, emotional, and verbal. It is stated that the most likely reason for one homosexuality is not social nurture, but nature (Bailey et al. 87). The guiding principle is the explicit respect for the independent views and personality traits of the other. Another condition for the harmonization of gender relations is the openness of the individual in relation to another.
The latter acts as a means of communication than emotional relaxation and is a limiting factor in democratically ordered interaction. The concept of the intimacy of relations is introduced, which is a cluster of prerogatives and responsibilities. Moreover, democracy in intimate relations, in the sense that is understood and interpreted in modern society, is an essential component in parent-child relationships.
In a world of increasing sexual equality, gender identity, and sexual orientation undergo fundamental transformations, manifested in changes in worldview and behavior. One’s sexuality is mostly linked with the social attitude and not with gender, race, or educational background (Schnabel 14).
A hunger for knowledge, action, and emotion appears. The desire for harmony and comfort is replaced by a thirst for adventure, profit, success, the desire to try all conditions, maximizing the radius of the circle of sensations. Emotional closure leads to despotic intimacy, and thus, social changes that affect gender identity are revolutionary in nature and have deep roots. Stereotypes regarding one’s sexual orientation are most common among a vast number of cultures (Mize and Manago 458). One of the solutions to contemporary problems of gender exclusion is gender dialogue, which can pave the way to mutual understanding.
Sexual Identity
The presence of two dichotomous sexual identities is relevant in the culture and intensively cultivated by it, since it helps to maintain the ideology of sexism and rigid gender segregation with its stereotypes of masculinity and femininity, which are cracking at the seams under the pressure of women’s emancipation. The presence of a homosexual identity, especially a male one, expands modern gender roles, which makes many heterosexual men more and more restrict their pattern of behavior. It is important to emphasize the strong influence of homophobia on the implementation of male gender norms.
It is stated that gender essentialism is highly static, but the complete gender fluidity might also require boundaries interlinked with biological aspects (Heaps and Ormerod 346). It is embedded that men should not express a feeling of tenderness, especially towards each other, or yearn for each other’s company as openly as women do.
It is expected that men will not see the beauty in the physical forms of other men and generally can afford not to monitor their appearance, while women can openly express admiration for other women and should strive to be sexually attractive. This is the result of continuous stigmatization, which can be eliminated with gender and sexual identity exploration tools (Christensen). Perhaps this is why many heterosexual men have historically expressed aggression towards gays or shun their society, as they begin to feel themselves in the unusual role of a sexual object based on their expectations, even if there is no real sexual interest in them.
Homophobia as an affirmation of identity for a negative attitude towards it is often a concentration of masculinity and heterosexuality is one of the easiest ways of affirming one’s masculinity with heterosexual men. In the most problematic cases, this can also be a way of denying their homosexual feelings, unable to accept their feelings, they project internal aggression on others, by a great effort preserving the spontaneously acquired heterosexual identity, which does not allow to achieve the integrity of the personality. This can be fueled by the lack of proper representation of gay men, where it mostly comes from Western media (Dhoest 412).
Moreover, many of the participants do this not so much because they really feel hatred and want to inflict physical or moral harm on homosexuals, but because other members of the heterosexual group should accept them and not raise suspicion about their own sexual orientation.
Works Cited
Bailey, J. Michael, et al. “Sexual Orientation, Controversy, and Science.” Psychological Science in the Public Interest, vol. 17, no. 2, 2016, pp. 45-101.
Christensen, M. Candace, et al. “Photovoice as a Multilevel Tool for Gender and Sexual Identity Exploration.” Families in Society, 2020.
Dhoest, Alexander. “Media, Visibility and Sexual Identity among Gay Men with a Migration Background.” Sexualities, vol. 19, no. 4, 2016, pp. 412-431.
Heaps, Jonathan, and Neil Ormerod. “Statistically Ordered: Gender, Sexual Identity, and the Metaphysics of ‘Normal.’” Theological Studies, vol. 80, no. 2, 2019, pp. 346-369.
Mize, Trenton D., and Bianca Manago. “The Stereotype Content of Sexual Orientation.” Social Currents, vol. 5, no. 5, 2018, pp. 458-478.
Schnabel, Landon. “Sexual Orientation and Social Attitudes.” Socius, vol. 8, 2018, pp. 1-18.