Homosexual Identity Essay

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Homosexual Identity Homosexuality, whether human or non-human, has existed long before any sentient recognition of humanity’s existence. Since the existence of mammals, there has been homosexuality, as this is a trait displayed by various animals within the Mammalian animal grouping. Within humans, homosexuality has existed for a eons, but it is only since the late 19th and early 20th centuries that the identification of homosexuality as an identity became to emerge as a culture and social idea. This idea is most prevalently displayed within the writings of Michel Foucault, who contended that the notion of homosexuality did not exist before the 19th and 20th century. Foucault’s theory of social construction of sexual identity is not merely restricted to homosexuality, but it is within the discussion of homosexuality that it holds its greatest sway. Foucault underlines this belief by pointing out that sexuality in eras bygone was more judged by the sexual acts themselves, rather than the ‘orientation’ of the individual. Acts were judged as perverse based on the action or the individual; a separate subgroup of the ‘perverse’ did not exist as a category. Sodomy was seen as a personal vice, rather than a deep-seated identity or aspect of personality/identity. Sodomy was something one did, not something one was. Beforehand, identity did not play any form within the question of ‘homosexuality’ or homosexual behavior. The concept of sexual actions was seen as whole separate from the question of identity; sexuality did not play any fundamental view in the portrayal of an individual (at least in a modern differentiation between heterosexual and homosexual identity, sexual behavior was seen as a pretext for immorality if it did not follow previously prescribed Christian ideals). According to Foucalt, it was the belief that forms of sexuality were in detriment to human
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