Friday, January 14, 2011

How Homophobia Hurts Everyone

Heterosexism can be defined as "oppression directed against all females, lesbians, gay males, bisexuals, transgender people, and intersexuals." (371)This pretty much means anyone that is not a straight man can be victim to heterosexism. In "How Homophobia Hurts Everyone" Blumenfeld mentions how everyone no matter what their gender, or sexual orientation can be affected by heterosexism. Blumenfeld grew up as a gay male who was tormented by his peers and called "fag" or "sissy" on a daily basis. (377)When he began to loose his eyesight his sister came to help him recover. He reconnected with his sister on his rehabilitation process and learned that him being gay also had an impact on her. They were able to rebuild their relationship but it is interesting to see that EVERYONE truly is affected and hurt by heterosexism.

1 comment:

  1. You said that hetero-sexism means that anyone who is not a straight man can be a victim to it, but what about straight women. I imagine that there might be women who are afraid of people who choose to change the norm and like the people with their same gender or even be bisexual.

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