Several changes in sexual standards have happened since the beginning of the American industrial revolution. Towards the last phase of the 20th century, the United States started witnessing the creation of various social movements. One of these movements was the queer – LGBTQ rights, which has greatly helped bring out enormous changes in social perceptions regarding the issue of sexual orientation. In recent times, many people have developed fear about marriage because of religious indoctrination and tradition (Risman & Rutter, 2015). Many attitudes and identities have since been developed towards sexuality.
“Black attitudes toward LGBT community studied” is an article written by Bob Roehr which tends to discuss various aspects of sexuality. Roehr (2018) describes sexual orientation in many ways, including homosexuality, heterosexuality, pansexuality, polysexuality, bisexuality, and asexuality. The findings were conducted through polling the data regarding the subject of African American attitudes towards LGBT in the community. The results of the study were published on May 29, 2008, as a news article in the Pride Source magazine.
The publication provides a comprehensive elaboration of the discrimination of the LGBTQ community. While maintaining a calm, yet assertive tone, the article’s author intends to provide detailed information regarding African-American beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes towards heterosexuality and marriage equality. The facts have been presented systematically, with all details and findings clearly noted. Religion amongst the black community in America has greatly contributed to how they perceive sexuality.
Personally, these issues have neither affected my life nor the lives of the people I know, but I have always read about the stigmatization which the LGBTQ community faces. Furthermore, the media has always avoided the topic of sexuality leaving it to religious organizations, while silently preferring heterosexuality. According to Risman and Rutter (2015), the distribution of social classes in negative events adversely impacts children and their families. Therefore, with the current wave of liberalism, it is unnecessary to discriminate against an individual based on their sexuality.
The United States is one of the societies which interpret sexual activity and sexuality differently since it is a hetero-normative country. This implies that it supports heterosexuality as a norm. Lesbians, gays, and bisexual persons normally encounter harassment, stigma, violence, and discrimination based on their sexual orientations, and as a result of the homophobia, which has been institutionalized. It is even worse in the black-dominated communities where church leaders openly oppose homosexuality and other vices in society. Thus, most African American homosexuals experience stigma and hatred within their communities.
Persons who do not identify themselves as heterosexual may, at times, undergo different encounters of accepting and even discovering their main sexual orientations. This is because it is not a norm, and society, at large, does not accept it. The media has played a major role in promoting stigma against homosexuals. For instance, in television interviews, homosexuals will have to handle biased questions like how and when they realized they were gay, but the heterosexuals will not be asked such questions. Moreover, magazines have portrayed the LGBTQ community as an alien group within society. Besides, in many other parts of the world, mass media in music, movies, television, and magazines continues to relay what is regarded as normal or right sexuality. For example, Gruberg, et al. (2020) discuss the discrimination, which LGTBQ individuals face in their personal and public lives. Therefore, although America prides itself as a free nation, its media has not shown fairness to gays, lesbians, and bisexuals.
Media has an enormous potential in shaping people’s opinions concerning many aspects. For example, the mass media targets everything from body products to image used for enhancing sex appeal. For a long time, media has served to promote several social scripts concerning sexual roles and sexual relationships of both men and women. Many of these have been proven to possess both problematic and empowering effects on developing sexual attitudes and identities. Thus, the media has served its role in shaping one’s understanding of the family and sexuality in general.
References
Gruberg, S., Mahowald, L., & Halpin, J. (2020). The state of the LGBTQ community in 2020. Web.
Risman, B. J., & Rutter, V. (2015). Families as they really are. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Roehr, B. (2018). Black attitudes toward the LGBT community studied. Web.