Sunday, February 5, 2012

Freud, Plato and the Definition of Homosexuality

   Learning about Freud and his thoughts about homosexuality really amazed me because I always forget how the term "homosexuality" is fairly new to the English language. I am learning about Plato in one of my other classes and my professor emphasizes how homosexuality did not occur in ancient Greece because same-sex relations were seen as a privilege for male citizens. In "The Symposium", one of the play-writers, Aristophanes, discusses the Myth of the Circle People which tries to explain why people feel incomplete and are looking for his or her's significant other to feel "complete". The three kinds of circle people are male/male, female/female/, and male/female. Searching for your male counterpart, if you are a male,  is considered an honor while your female partner is only seen as a means of reproduction. Same sex relations in ancient Greece were not seen as perverse but they were preferred.
   It is interesting how over time the opposite attitude towards same sex relations has occurred. Although Freud believes that there is no cure for homosexuality and that it is only a problem to heterosexuals, people still feel strongly against it. If the notion of male/male relations had carried over to present times, the notion of the family unit would be completely distorted and change the mindsets of how men and women should act in relationships. Defining homosexuality as immoral is to justify monogamous heterosexual relationships that are rarely seen in nature.

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