What purpose is served by embracing an identity as a gay person?

[closeupready]

And I don't really mean coming out of the closet as such. I mean, in terms of this -

It's sometimes said among people in non-Western cultures that gays exist only in the West or America. Assuming these people who hold that perception are not just repeating what they've been taught, why do they say that? I mean, can it be true that in their own countries there really are no openly gay people? Do gays in other countries find socially acceptable ways to accommodate their homosexual needs without feeling alienated from their culture? Just about any man can tell you that though some people may be asexual, over 99% of men MUST have an outlet for their sexual energy.

Just wanted to raise that issue to see what people have to say. Hope that made sense. :D

[msongs]

1. in every human culture. period nt

[readmoreoften]

2. For an answer go to the IGLHRC

http://www.iglhrc.org/site/iglhrc/

[closeupready]

3. Thanks for the link. Very interesting site. Would like to contribute

to them, as it does work I value, and I've known gays from all over the world who successfully received asylum out of reasonable fear of persecution.

[readmoreoften]

5. Generally when you hear that gays "don't exist" in a country...

That means "we kill them to make sure it stays that way."

Now when people say that there were no "homosexuals" or "heterosexuals" until the late 19th century that's because it wasn't a medical/psychological category of being until then. It is important to remember though that until the Enlightenment, there wasn't any great obsession with taxonomies. Biology was just taking flight.

It's not that everyone was straight until the 19th century or that sex was considered just another 'behavior'--it's that gender itself was different. There were eunuchs as well as intersexual people were not surgically "corrected" at birth (there are 5 corrective vaginoplasties performed on AISD children every day) so male and female was more perceived as a continuum than two separate planets that shared nothing in common. Third genders were more common, or at least less pathologized, in antiquity. Gender was thought to cause sex, not the other way around. In other words, if a girl engaged in masculine habits, she might produce a penis. Medical cases of women spontaneously sprouting penises existed (of course, these girls were intersexed.)

Some context
http://www.docfilm.com/mexfilms/muxes/indexF.htm?muxes.htm&down
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia)

Also check out the books "The Spirit and the Flesh" as well as "Female Husbands and Boy Wives: African Homosexualities"

[canis_lupus]

4. The definition of 'gay' is sometimes fluid from culture to culture

The classic example is ancient Greece where older males were expected to take younger males under their wing for a period of time and woo them with gifts. The youth responded by offering the older male his body to use sexually. While the sexual behavior they engaged in would likely be labeled "gay" today, the Greeks had no concept of what we call "gay" today.

Or, for a more modern example, in some Latino cultures a man can engage in sex with another male and still be considered "straight" as long as he is only the insertive partner. To be the receptive partner is considered to be maricone. It may be the same behavior gay men engage in, but the culture does not perceive it that way.

To some extent, a portion of the population has always engaged in same-sex behavior, but it wasn't until the late 19th century when the labels of "heterosexual" and "homosexual" were developed that same-sex oriented people began to see their orientation as an identity and not just a behavior. The idea of a gay identity and gay community first caught on in the West and that is where the concept of "gay" is strongest. Other countries and cultures do not share the same view of identity.

[Zuiderelle]

6. Are you gay?

[closeupready]

9. Yes, thank God!

And I wouldn't have it any other way. :D

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. they mean we have a gay culture and other societies dont

eastern societies are typically collectivist and not individualistic. that means that people try not to stick out at all. having a gay identity would make you stick out and its far more avoided in the east than the west.

so gay people in the east are closeted and have dual lives typically.

i think as long as you fit in collectivistic cultures are great, there is far more of a social network and closer ties in families etc. however for those of labelled 'misfits' an individualistic culture, with all its problems, is a far better option

[Zuiderelle]

8. Very nicely said, priyanka!

:thumbsup: