Homosexuality and Cultural Diversification.doc

homosexuality and cultural diversificationabstracthomo*uality, being a representative phenomenon related to subculture, is on its way arousing a number of disputes in society, which is becoming more unveiled daily in china, thus influential impact and challenge is confronting the society of this country, a nation that always puts the emphasis on its traditional ideals. nowadays the homo*uality is more straightforward discussed, studied, and confronted in china, owing to the confusion and absorption of oriental and occidental culture.as a cross-cultural social phenomenon, homo*uality subsists in disparate regions such as european nations, asian and african nations, and so on. consequently it is easy to comprehend that cultural diversification is the driving power of homo*ualitys spreading around the world. this conclusion is also adapted to the circumstance in china, a nation that is stepping into a cultural diversification society. with the absorption of other nations cultures, a more beneficial environment will be left for the development of homo*uality in china.the relationship between cultural diversification and homo*uality can be defined as below: cultural diversification operates the propelling motivation more than the decisive element of the developing of homo*uality; on the other hand, homo*uality turns out to be one of the manifestations of the cultural diversification.key wordshomo*uality；influence；cultural diversification摘要作为一种具有代表性的亚文化特殊现象，同性恋现象已经在社会上引起了广泛的争论，在中国，有关同性恋的讨论愈加公开，这给比较注重传统观念的中国社会带来了巨大的冲击和挑战。随着中西方文化的交流和融合，现今中国社会已经能够更从容坦诚的直面，讨论，研究此问题。同性恋是一种跨文化的社会现象，存在于不同地区，诸如欧洲，亚洲和非洲各国等等，所以不难理解，文化的多元性是同性恋在全世界普遍，泛化的驱动因素。在中国同样如此，在中国社会逐渐跨入文化多元化的今天，我们汲取其它民族的文化思想，那么，中国同性恋的发展会有一番广阔的天地。文化多元性和同性恋的关系可以这样定义：文化多元性不仅仅是同性恋发展的决定性因素，还是其发展的推动力量，另一方面，同性恋也是文化的多元性的一种体现。introductionhomo*uality, being a typical outcome of cultural diversification, has been bringing scorching controversy all over the world. late these few years, this venerable subculture phenomenon is gradually becoming more unveiled and opened, as the argumentation relating to homo*uality is reaching a higher point daily in china, with the appeal asking for the rights of queers emerging. impacting influence, together with serious challenges thus is confronting the whole society of china, a country that has always been throwing her emphasis on its traditional values. somehow this situation seems to be inevitable as the cultural diversification is occurring among different nationalities.as it is seen, the western world accepts homo*uality as a natural part of human existence, with more tolerance and sensethe treatment that queers in china have not been conferred before the arrival of cultural diversification.cultural diversification comes with the steps of global multi-polarization, which is a phenomenon that “conducive to the establishment of a new international political, economic, and culture order, world peace and stability” (li ji, 1998)in this dissertation, issues concerning with homo*uality are to be defined and explained scientifically, hereafter, homo*uality in china, including its actuality, social status, would be expatiated simultaneously; other issues, for instance, homo*uality in the western world, culture multi-polarization and its characteristics, the relationship between the development of homo*uality in china and culture multi-polarization are to be discussed in succession, for the purpose of picturing legibly what has to be demonstrated about homo*uality and cultural diversification. i. introduction to homo*ualityaccording to the definition, causes, and categories of homo, a brief introduction to homo*uality can be made as follows.a. definitionthe term homo*uality was coined in the late 19th century by a german psychologist, karoly maria benkert. although the term is new, discussions about *uality in general and same-* attraction in particular, have occasioned philosophical discussion ranging from platos symposium to contemporary queer theory. it is a manifesto of *ual and emotional desire toward a member of ones own * or the erotic activity with a member of the same gender, to comprehend more objectively about homo*uality, two points should be laid attention to. the first is that it refers to one kind of relationship, second, it is a sense of love always chosen to describe hetero*uality existing between a man and a woman. (john f. harvey, 2003)there is no agreement among the scientific community, religious groups or homo*ual people themselves as to the definition of homo*uality. lawrence j. hatterer, author of changing homo*uality in the male, has given this definition: “one who is motivated, in adult life, by a definite preferential erotic attraction to members of the same * and who usually, but not necessarily, engages in overt *ual relations with them.” weve found this to be a good working definition, though a full explanation of the condition of homo*uality goes much deeper.b. causes of homo*ualityhomoerotism is brought about by a multitude of root causes which are constituted of congenital and environmental causation.congenital causation indicates the causes that were inbred such as gender incretion variation and potentially heritable characteristics. however, environmental causation seems to be much more complicated: a disrupted family life in early years, a lack of unconditional love on the part of either parent, a failure to identify with the same-* parent, leading to fears of the opposite *, incest, or molestation, dominant mothers and weak fathers, demonic oppression. later, these problems can result in a search for love and acceptance, envy of the same or the opposite *, a life controlled by various fears and feelings of isolation. (li yinhe, 1998) all of these may play a part in causing homo*uality, but no individual factor alone can cause it. along with outside factors in a persons life, his own personal choices have played a key role in forming and shaping his homo*ual identity, though few will admit this. (li yinhe, 1998)c. categories of homo*ualityon basis of gender, female human who act homo*uality are called “lesbian”, while the male group is provided with the expression “gay”, which is originally created to describe beauty and joy. through considerations of purposes and approach of homo*uality act, there is unitary homo*uality, indicating those who are prone to maintain a steady-going homo*ual partnership with their companions for a certain long time, and then there is spiritual homo*uality, in which both participants keep the appetency of *ual activity whereas they may refrain from idiographic behavior, due to fears or strong religious convictions.ii. homo*uality in chinaa. history of developmentconsiderately searching, scientists find amount of evidence relating to homoerotism in the long-flowing history of china, formal or not, bringing us to the fact that the phenomenon had been planted in this society since the society was planted.in the archaian china, beyond expectation, homo*uality was accepted by the community with a mercifully peaceable attitudeperhaps the reason lies in that there was religious power that bounded the society little and that exoteric emperors and patricians all boasted idiosyncratic interests towards homo*uality then.there had existed this kind of culture in china for a time of thousands of years, with the thread that could easily be found in the tales of “long yang”, “duan xiu”, and “xie tong”, which were then recorded in the history annals. in qing dynasty, according to zhang beichuan, professor of qintao medical institute, homoerotism was prevailed in some areas of china such as fujian province, where, in 1991, a couple of male homo*uality companions celebrated their wedding ceremony in public.however, it does not seem that the situation would develop in the way it had been inas a matter of fact, homoerotism had been in such complex, untoward circumstances since modern china. not until late 80s last century did homo*uality become a focus that caught intense public attention, with substantive scholars of iatrology, sociology and ethnics who commenced a further research; simultaneously, it seems that the mainstream culture, including official attitude towards its subordinate, gradually ignores its elegance sanctity, encouraging varied homo*ual activities arising from underground and unveiling their mystery.to sum up, the developing history of homoerotism in china could be described as delineation called parabola, reaching its high tide in the ancient times, falling down to its low tide as time goes by, retouching a higher point in modern times.b. social statusbeing in such sensitive position, it is not so hard to figure out in what social stratum may the queers laysituation dose not seem to be so charitable to them, though living in the so-called civilized community. homoerotism is considered to be evil and, a kind of criminal behavior, which contradicts with the direction of divinity. furthermore, owing to the bondage of feudalistic ideology in china, homo*uality is prone to be criticized and animadverted. instead of being respected, homoerotism is far from being admitted by communities, especially before the establishment of new china, notwithstanding that the circumstances have been in a loosing style since then. in the view of most citizens of china, homo*uality may equal to the filthy words such as stigmatic and hideousadjectives that are created to describe all the ugliness in the world, which seems unfair for this phenomenon belonging to subculture. under the oppressive pressure coming from the society, this group of specialty has to lead their painful life gingerly underground, no self-esteem, no understandingly paid attention to, and no common rights enjoyed by ordinary citizens.yet, unfairness and discrimination still turns out to be the main theme of the social status of gays and lesbians, with no formal law documents promulgated officially. it looks as if queers have never possessed, nor realized, their position in the mainstream community as they always assemble in private places. xu tianming, syndic of sac, holds his view that this group of people, are actually of little solicitude of commonality and government“they are under the situation where there is no concern. clubs and bars of queers scatter around large cities like beijing, shanghai and guangzhou, which have not yet been paid attention to, nor forbidden, on account to the obscure comportment of governmentsilence is what they manage to retain, on the whole.though without harsh strike and persecution in history, mr.xu pointed out, queers in china could hardly gain the recognition of public opinion, lying in the way of their admitting their homo*ual identities dauntlessly.“comrades”, an appellation of homoerotism groups in china, could be the attestation illuminating their veracious social statusthey are struggling in their way opposite to ethic and morality ideology remained in the bondage of 5000 years feudalist system, seeking for the light of dawn, the sign that they could ultimately have themselves liberated.c. ideas and attitudesup until present moment in china, attitudes towards homo*uality may be divided into three aspects: recognition, opposition and neutrality, though most would have their viewpoints of opposition.homoerotism, in dissenters eyes, goes against the basic regulation of human evolution and the natural function; it is an exhibition of retrogress, not mention that this activity plays an active role in stimulating the spreading of aids.some add that homo*uality proves the source of criminal commitments, combats with morality system of the society at the same time, with an eye to its inactive influence to connection between family and marriage. nevertheless, those are not among the standpoints of the proponents whose tolerance supports their looking on this kind of marginal culture with a dissimilar aspect. they consider that the only distinctness between homo*uality and hetero*uality rests with the participants choice of *ual partners, which only depends on ones liberty. since the two both satisfy the flowing of emotional affection and the * appealing, it is of no excuse to dogmatically estimate that hetero*uality is morally equitable while homo*uality not.as to the neutral part, the phenomenon is far from their consideration, videlicet, they do not weigh homoerotism as significant as to challenge the balance of the society, nor deviate normal routine of their lives.attitudes have changed radically in the past hundred and fifty years, swinging from casual acceptance to antagonism to guarded acceptance again. the chinese psychiatrists association removed homo*uality from the list of mental illnesses in april 2001. however, as scriptwriter and teacher cui zien, one of the few openly gay intellectuals in todays china points out, in his country, it is still seen as a psychological disorder. in the west, its frowned on to criticize homo*uals and even more to make them feel different, says cui zien, contrasting it with chinese society which, is changing, but therell always be people wholl feel disgust.the dispute, to a certainty, would keep moving on as it will inevitably take an intricate long process for any scientific frame of reference to gain recognition from the masses. in this process lives vehement debate, together with the shifting course between agreement and disagreement, which, are prerequisite instead of accidental. as research drawing on homoerotism goes a way further, it would be rational that the public perception gets more sensible and scientific, a beautiful symbol of the consummating of the morality system of our society. thus, it is just a matter of time for homo*uality to find its reasonable station in the world finally.iii. influence of western culturea. homo*uality in the western world unlike its plight in china, homo*uality is gradually becoming a phenomenon which the western world accepts as a natural part of human existence.in recent years, people who support homo*ual rights have worked and demonstrated to increase those rights. in the united states, the watershed event for homo*ual activism was the stonewall riot, which protested a police raid on a gay bar in new york city in 1969. it was the first public protest by homo*uals against harassment by police. since then, homo*ual communities in the united states have organized to work for gay rights. such groups include the national gay and lesbian task force, a civil rights organization that promotes equality and freedom from prejudice and discrimination for gays and lesbians; lambda legal defense and education fund, which provides legal representation for gays and lesbians; and the human rights campaign fund, which lobbies state and national legislators. in canada, equality for gays and lesbians everywhere (egale) has worked to secure equal rights for gays and lesbians and to influence federal legislation on gay rights. canadian gay rights groups helped bring about the amendment in 1996 of the canadian human rights act to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on *ual orientation. other countries that have specifically outlawed discrimination against homo*uals and bi*uals include the netherlands, norway, sweden, south africa, australia, and new zealand. (john f. harvey，1997)in the 1990s and 2000s homo*ual rights groups addressed a number of other issues, including the rights of gay and lesbian families. in 2001 the netherlands became the first country to legalize same-* marriages, giving same-* couples the same rights that hetero*ual couples have in areas such as inheritance, taxes, divorce, and pension benefits. belgium legalized same-* marriages in 2003. spain and canada followed suit in 2005. canada became the fourth nation to legalize same-* marriage and the first outside of europe. several other european countries recognize homo*ual unions, although these unions are generally called civil unions or registered partnerships rather than marriages. the united kingdom, for example, permitted civil partnerships beginning in december 2005. the same month the constitutional court of south africa struck down the countrys marriage act as unconstitutional because it did not permit same-* marriage. the court stayed its ruling for one year to allow parliament to amend the act, but it stipulated that the ruling would go into effect regardless by december 2006. in december 2006 south africa became the fifth country to legalize gay marriage. (li yinhe, 1998)in the united states, 39 states have passed laws forbidding same-* marriages and denying recognition of same-* marriages obtained elsewhere. in 2004, 13 statesmost of which already prohibited such marriages by lawenacted constitutional amendments banning same-* marriages, join four other states that had previously done so. gay couples can legally marry in only one state in the united states, the state of massachusetts. three statesconnecticut, new jersey, and vermontpermit civil unions, which extend the same legal rights of marriage to same-* couples that hetero*ual couples have under state law. vermont legalized civil unions in 2000, connecticut did so in 2005, and new jersey in 2006. in addition california state law extends full marriage rights to domestic partnerships. ( fitzgibbons，1999)a growing number of local governments and private corporations have implemented domestic partnership laws or policies that extend some of the legal benefits of marriage to same-* couples. generally, however, homo*ual couples in long-term relationships do not have the same legal protection as people