Evans, David ORCID: 0000-0001-6874-3845 (2001) The stigma of 'sexuality': concealability and course. In: Mason, Tom, Carlisle, Caroline, Watkins, Caroline and Whitehead, Elizabeth, (eds.) Stigma and Social Exclusion in Healthcare. Routledge, UK, pp. 104-117. ISBN 978-0415222006

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Abstract

“… and God said, ‘be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it’ ” (Genesis 1:28).

And thus it was that the stigma of sexuality was born.

From time immemorial, homo sapiens has tried to make sense of life and existence. Paglia (1990: 8) says that religion was created for just such a purpose. However, as far as sexuality is concerned, many religions incline towards a cultural enthronement of patriarchal, monogamous, procreative and familiacentric heterosexuality that proves hostile to difference (Ussher and Baker 1993; Foucault, 1984). Such differences incur the wrath of the institutions that have set themselves up as pillars of society, and its moral guardians.

These ‘pillars’ include religion, out of which came law, politics, and concepts of marriage and organised family. Other ‘pillars’ include established institutions of state: education, armed forces, and healthcare - particularly medicine and psychiatry. The popular and intentional promotion of these ‘pillars’ is interpreted through various forms of media, which tend to perpetuate publicly predominant views of sexuality. There is little more than titillation, suspicious curiosity, or even overt hatred, of all that is ‘other’.

Item Type:	Book Section
Additional Information:	Chapter 10.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Stigma; sexuality; pillars of society; homophobia; concealability and course; original sin; heterosexism; patriarchal heterosexuality; procreative imperative; homophobia; biphobia
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Health Sciences (HEA)
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2021 21:03
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/18333

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