Sociology term paper

Today, the concept of homosexuality still evokes numerous discussions among specialists. In such a situation, the concept of homosexuality raises a number of controversies within the gay and lesbian movement concerning their self identification and understanding of homosexuality. In spite of the progress of the gay and lesbian movement and the development of theoretical researches in the field of gender and homosexuality, the modern society still confronts homosexuality as a challenge to social and cultural norms, which undermines the understanding of the essence of homosexuality and self-identification of representatives of homosexual community.

In this respect, it should be said that, in recent years, the queer theory has started to progress and it has gained a number of supporters. At the same time, the queer theory has changed consistently the traditional view on homosexuality and gays and lesbians not only form the heterosexual part of the society but also within the homosexual community. In fact, today, the term “queer” is often used as “an umbrella term for a coalition of a culturally marginal sexual self-orientation” and alternative this term is used to “describe a nascent theoretical model which has developed out of more traditional lesbian and gay studies”.

In such a way, today, the concept of queer has been extended substantially and its implications have become more diverse compared to what they used to be in the past. At the same time, such a change in the concept of queer mirror the current problems and contradictions within the lesbian and gay movement and difficulties concerning the interpretation of the concept of gender. Basically, there are no strict limitations concerning the definition of the term queer. As a rule, the term “queer” describes those gestures or analytical models which dramatize incoherencies in the allegedly stable relations between chromosomal sex, gender, and sexual desire”.

However, today, it is hardly possible to speak about any stability in the definition of the concept of gender as well as queer. The fact of the appearance of a new interpretation of this term clearly indicates to numerous problems which accompany the definition of the concept of gender and homosexuality, in particular. In this respect, representatives of the homosexual community face numerous problems with their self-identification. In fact, this problem is, to a significant extent, determined by the rejection of the traditional concept of gender by the homosexual community and attempts to introduce a new concept of gender which would reflect multiple manifestations of different genders. In such a situation, representatives of the homosexual community face the problem of self-identification because they do not meet the traditional definition of gender, which implies only two genders, while new concepts of gender evoke a strong opposition within the society. As a result, the concept of homosexuality keeps evolving and the emergence of the new definition of the term queer along with the emergence of the queer theory clearly indicates to the current problems in regard to the definition of gender and concept of homosexuality.

Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that the queer theory which has emerged in recent years mirrors the current trends in the lesbian and gay movement and reveals existing controversies in regard to the concept of gender and homosexuality. In such a way, it is obvious that representatives of the homosexual community still face problems with self-identification.



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