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SHAME & EMOTIONAL LIVES OF HOMOSEXUALS.   Term Paper ID:28707 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Discusses emotion of shame as a major factor due to social & familial issues; psychological distress & disorders.... More...

5 Pages / 1125 Words 7 sources, 13 Citations, APA Format $20.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Discusses emotion of shame as a major factor due to social & familial issues; psychological distress & disorders. Paper Introduction: It has often been argued that shame is a major factor in the emotional lives of homosexuals because of social and familial proscription of homosexuality, the prevalence of homophobic attitudes, and the tendency of homosexuals to internalize homophobia. There has also been intense speculation regarding the relationship between shame and disproportionately high levels of low self-esteem, depression, and even suicide among homosexuals. Research into the relationship between shame and the emotional lives of homosexuals and their incidence of psychological distress and disorders has only begun very recently. Yet preliminary findings confirm the importance of shame in these areas while intuitive connections between the emerging understanding of the long-neglected emotion of shame in the psychological literature and the nature of homosexuals' Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. There has also been intensespeculation regarding the relationship between shame and disproportionatelyhigh levels of low self-esteem, depression, and even suicide amonghomosexuals. Yet studies such asIsay's (1999) discussion of a number of clinical cases contribute to theunderstanding of the prevalence of shame in homosexuals and help toelucidate the ways in which, for male homosexuals, the traditionalmasculine ideal is forced on them or they force it on themselves. The other major factor is the possession of an unwanted identitywhich has been described as "the quintessential elicitor of intense shamereactions," a description that is confirmed in a number of studies(Ferguson, Eyre & Ashbaker, 2 , p. (1999). 679). Unwanted identities: A key variable in shame-anger links and gender differences in shame. Annual Review of Psychology, 665-683.Ferguson, T. Gender in homosexual boys: Some developmental and clinical considerations. 887). Thebases of this understanding are socially formed notions which theindividual applies to the self (correctly or incorrectly), thus it is alsoargued that unwanted identities (that are ascribed to and/or adopted by theindividual) are prime sources of intense shame. (1998). It has often been argued that shame is a major factor in theemotional lives of homosexuals because of social and familial proscriptionof homosexuality, the prevalence of homophobic attitudes, and the tendencyof homosexuals to internalize homophobia. Bybee. Measuring guilt in children: A rose by any other name still has thorns. (2 ). J., Eyre, H. This relationship between idea of self and shame makes it seemcorrect that social disapproval of homosexuality, homophobia, which refersto "irrationally negative attitudes toward homosexual people," andinternalized homophobia would produce frequent instances in whichhomosexuals would be troubled by intense shame over the failure of the selfto be what others believe it should or what the individuals themselvesbelieve it should (Lock & Kleis, 1998, p. found that males wereas likely as, and sometimes more likely than, females to experience intenseshame when undesirable identities were ascribed to them or their behaviorappeared to them to have gender-inappropriate qualities. Shame is defined as "adejection-based, passive, or helpless emotion aroused by self-relatedaversive events [in which] the ashamed person focuses more on devaluing orcondemning the entire self, experiences the self as fundamentally flawed,feels self-conscious about the visibility of one's actions, fears scorn,and thus avoids or hides from others" (Ferguson & Stegge 1998, p. A primer on homophobia for the child and adolescent psychiatrist. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 671-673. J. In Guilt and children, pp. 187). The correlation between the presence of suchidentities and shame reactions has been confirmed in many settingsemploying hypothetical scenarios in which the protagonist engages inrelationally aggressive or interpersonally disrespectful behaviors asinstruments for measuring shame. N. Shame and internalized homophobia in gay men. (1998). 2 ,quoted in Eisenberg, 1998, p. The predominantconcern of males studied was violation of an identity along traditionalmasculine lines and featuring traits such as "being agentic, physicallystrong, stoic, athletic, competent and individualistic" (Ferguson et al.,p. (1999). ReferencesAllen, D. 135). In the experience ofmany homosexuals this aspect of parental socialization coincides withparents need to socialize children to gender-appropriate behavior. J., and Oleson, T. In a recent study, for example, Allen and Oleson (1999) examined therelationship between internalized homophobia and shame for the first time.Previous studies had demonstrated a strong relationship between low self-esteem and internalized homophobia and the researchers elected to include ameasure of self-esteem as well. Ferguson et al. San Diego: Academic Publishers.Friedman, R. 33). Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 42, 133-144.Ferguson, T. Emotion, regulation, and moral development. Shame is described as one of the self-conscious emotions because itderives from the individual's understanding and appraisal of self. (1999). It has also been shown there is "a positive relation between thedevelopment of shame in children and parental anger, rejection, or the lackof appropriate discipline" (Eisenberg 2 , p. Hesuggested that gender-atypical traits are so prevalent that parentaladmonition or psychiatric intervention were merely productive of shame andrepression and that forcing individuals to replace them with "moretypically masculine traits may be deleterious to the child's development"(Isay, p. Research into the relationship between shame and theemotional lives of homosexuals and their incidence of psychologicaldistress and disorders has only begun very recently. Archives of General Psychiatry, 56, 887-891.Isay, R. Gender-discordant traits inhomosexual males often feature bonding with mothers which, in thepsychoanalytic literature, has been "misinterpreted as having been promptedby the mother's need" but which, in view of the high prevalence of suchcross-gender identification seems to be a developmental stage for malehomosexuals (Isay, p. The self is in conflict withthe prevailing notion of what a male or female self ought to be in theopinion of parents, peers, and other members of society and this producesshame, the emotion in which one sees one's self as fundamentally flawed andsees one's actions as highly visible and subject to scorn and well-earnedrejection. C. J., and Stegge, H. Homosexuality, psychopathology, and suicidality. In many such cases homosexual children are ashamed of theirdifferences even before it is clear to them what these differences are. Shame is also distinct from guilt,even though the two terms are often used as if they were interchangeable.The distinction is based on the degree to which the emotion involves theconception of the self. Yet preliminaryfindings confirm the importance of shame in these areas while intuitiveconnections between the emerging understanding of the long-neglectedemotion of shame in the psychological literature and the nature ofhomosexuals' experiences suggests that shame plays a significant role inthose dimensions of homosexual emotional life and psychological well-beingyet to be thoroughly investigated. 19-74. Shame is both strongly related to "a preoccupationwith others' opinions" and directly related to "discrepancies between one'sbeliefs about the self and beliefs about what the self ought to be or whatthe ideal self would be" (Eisenberg, 2 , p. 189). When they tested similar populations with scenarios that were morethreatening to male self-perceptions Ferguson et al. A. Their findings included a strong(statistically significant) positive correlation between internalizedhomophobia and shame and the expected "significant inverse relationshipbetween internalized homophobia and self-esteem" (p. Psychiatry, 62, 187-124.Lock, J., and Kleis, B. Research in these areashas not been extensive but the expanding understanding of shame and of thedevelopment of self in homosexuals suggests strongly that the connectionexists and points toward future areas for research. 671). Familial disapproval of homosexuality, peer rejection inchildhood and adolescence, and repression of gender-inappropriate youthfulbehavior are among the most prominent precursors of shame in homosexuals. These unwanted identitiesinclude self-attributed and externally ascribed characteristics thatcontradict the ideals of self that individuals have constructed or believethey should construct. Ed. 136). Journal of Homosexuality, 37(3), 33-43.Eisenberg, Nancy. found that although womenhave long been thought to be more shame-prone than men these traditionalfindings depended on the use of scenarios that were oriented toward femaleshame. AsFriedman notes, a homosexual child can be shamed, depressed, and alienatedbecause his/her desires are "in conflict with his/her conscience and thevalues of others long before the adolescent or preadolescent child becomessexually active with others" (1999, p. Isay (1999) discusses a number of male homosexual psychiatricpatients who exhibited extremely detached emotional styles which appearedto originate in self-described events involving the repression of gender-inappropriate behavior in early childhood. 667). Isay found that the anger and rejectionexpressed by parents in the attempt to alter such behaviors tended toproduce adult male homosexuals who had terrible difficulty with emotionalintimacy and were often liable to repress any display of emotion. Themajority of homosexuals are raised in "heterosexually oriented, traditionalfamilies, and many are exposed to parents, siblings, and others who areovertly homophobic" but direct study of the effects of this generalhomophobia is still lacking (Friedman, 1999, p. Shame experiences are generally reported as beingfar more intense, painful, and longer-termed than guilt which is relatedto a single behavior. 667). L., and Ashbaker, M. 889). Although theirsample was small (N=1 ) and only included homosexual males Allen's andOleson's results were highly suggestive insofar as they also foundsignificant correlations between a number of variables and shameexperiences. (2 ). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.