Homosexual: Difference between revisions

Your '''sexual orientation''' describes whether you're attracted to the same gender as yourself, the opposite gender, both, or [[Asexuality|neither]]. It's important to note that '''gender''' (whether you personally identify as a man, woman, or neither) is not the same as your '''sex''' (whether your body is male or female). It's possible, for instance, to be an exclusively straight male but also swing over to the feminine side of the spectrum; [[Eddie Izzard]], who claims to be this sort of person, has described himself as a "male lesbian". For the ladies, you have characters like Shannon Beiste from ''[[Glee]]'', a rough and burly female football coach who has no sexual interest in other women. Neither have any desire to [[Transsexualism|change their sex]], it's just their personality. Furthermore, transsexuality has nothing to do with homosexuality. A female-to-male transsexual who dates women is not a lesbian, for example, but a straight man, and is just as likely to be gay (attracted to other men) or bi.

The problem is that, in Western culture (and media) especially, gay people are often stereotyped as wanting to be the opposite sex, since many act in ways contrary to their gender. In other words, sexual orientation and assigned gender are treated as though they are ''not'' separate issues, despite [[Too Dumb to Live|half a second's thought]] indicating that of course they are. This is why the [[Butch Lesbian]] and [[Camp Gay]] stereotypes are so prevalent, though (for men) the [[Manly Gay]] stereotype is slowly starting to make headway, especially as it (partially) redeems gayness in public eyes by adhering to masculinity, a quality that is much prized in most cultures. This is also why transsexuality gets bundled up in this issue, despite being loosely relate at best: the media like to stereotype it as being some sort of "ultra-gay" condition.