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| Yes | 36% | 285 votes | Total: 788 votes | |
| No | 64% | 503 votes |
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Add to Favorites'Male' attitudes are society's attitudes. Men set the standards, make the determination, and women either comply or gain one or another label.
In Jamaica, the overwhelming majority of lesbians recite abuse, whether at the hands of their father or other male relative, or of a boyfriend, or boyfriends. Many were heterosexuals, bearing children, being the average woman, but due to abuse they have turned to other women for their affection.
By opting out of the 'standard' relationship of man/woman they escape abuse at male hands. Domestic violence is extremely widespread and the sexual abuse of children, whether direct incest or of a child they stand in the stead of parent to. This is because the usual 'bonding' of parent and child is often absent as if the father.
Many men 'breed' women, who give birth to children they may or may not claim, may be forced to support, and do not view as their child. If in a household environment, the daughter is seen as another female body. Hence many men engage in sex with their daughters, (biological or social) and thus women are often inculcated with a view of themselves as sexual objects.
Lesbianism breaks the cycle as the woman will not be in a household with a male, nor will she involve herself with men who may abuse her. Women are safer. One can rely on a woman more than on a man.
Although homosexuality is frowned on by Jamaican society, and buggery is illegal, as our basic law is taken from England during the time of Queen Victoria, the fact she deemed that women did not engage in same sex relationships does not make lesbianism subject to the same sanctions as male homosexuality. In fact, as the usual household in Jamaica is a woman and her children with the addition of another female relative, two lesbians set up households and are rarely suspected of being lesbians, especially when most often either one or both has given birth to a child or children.
The view of woman as object, the view of women as property, the belief that women don't need the job or that they should find a man to support her, leads to situations in which she will find herself in the company of women. The absent father, the visiting boyfriend, all lead her to make her closest bonds with other women. In some cases, the boundary between friend and lover becomes blurred, and if there is a lesbian in the group, often the group begins to move in that direction not as first choice in relationships but as the only viable alternative to being alone.
Learn more about this author, Jaye Green.
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No
The fact that anyone thinks women or men choose to be homosexual is ludicrous. As a female who has questioned her own sexuality I know what it is like to struggle with not being accepted or even understanding who you are as a person. I am obviously one who thinks you are born with a certain orientation and it is not a lifestyle one chooses. Also on that, I have many lesbian friends. I do not think they would choose to be shunned by their own families and communities. If anyone knew ahead of time what they would face a homosexual in today's society I am fairly positive no one would choose to be one.
On that note, a lesbian is a lesbian not because they do not like males but because they like females. It is not a person's dislike in one sex that makes them like the other, it is just the positive feelings towards one. Notice, I said sex not gender. The sex of a person is their physicality and what they were born as. Gender is how you choose to live, male or female, whether you have the parts or not. This is also separate from being transgendered, where a person transitions from one sex to the other. A person's sex is determined at birth, but gender is decided at a very young age whether it follows the biological sex or not.
Along with that, pronouns are a huge thing. Gender determines what pronouns are used. If someone is female in gender she is a she, and if a person is male in gender, he is a he. Regardless of sex, gender is what matters and what needs to be respected. On that note, lesbians can be attracted to males (gender) even if they are females sexually. This is showing that lesbians can be attracted to the male gender but the female sex, thus the male attitude does not deter the female from males.
With that cleared up, here is an example of a female who is attracted to a female who follows the male gender. My closest friend is attracted to a female (biologically) who is male in gender. She is attracted to him as a male, but she is a lesbian. Think about that for a second. The female anatomy is what is attractive even if that is something someone following the male gender is not necessarily comfortable having. The male attitude is not a deterrent in any way. That is the main point.
Without the tangent on definitions, it is easy enough to say that lesbians and gays are not the way they are by choice. They are born the way they are, and many try to fight it but simply can not. Also, the male attitude is not what turns women off to men, it is the fact that they like women. Like a heterosexual person, it is not the dislike of the same sex that turns you on the the opposite but the positives in the opposite sex that turn you on to them. I guess this is an optimistic point of view on the topic, but the positives in others is what we as humans are drawn to.
Learn more about this author, Taylor Hodge.
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