Discussions: “No Homo”
April 15th, 2009
Everything is cool if you say, “no homo,” right?
I think the creators of the following video (probably without knowing it) have presented a prime jump-off point for a discussion on black homophobia and ways it affects male-male relationships, male-female relationships, black male masculinity and identity.
Obviously, the clip is meant to be funny. And it is! LOL
Watch the video and then post your thoughts in the comments section.
(WARNING: Contains adult language, which means its NSFW, “not safe for work”)
April 16th, 2009 at 7:14 am
I’ll start it off, since its likely no one wants to touch this topic with a ten foot pole. (And this doesn’t surprise me.)
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Black homophobia. Why label it black? Well, I think dealing with homophobia in a general sense is much too broad of a topic.
To get to the point, it’s rather unfortunate that education around the biology of sex and sexuality has been kept out of the classroom. The problem here: adults (parents) who are unqualified and uninterested in giving young people pragmatic information about sex and sexuality. Good information can lead to healthy development of sexual identities, safer sex lives/behavior and an anticonformist attitude toward extreme ideals about gender roles. In the black community (i.e. the church), the blatant rejection of sexual variance (to them, deviance) as reality, and human nature, is about as damaging to a young black male’s sexual development as instructing him to view women as semen receptacles.
What am I saying?
I’m saying actively (or passively) teaching young black men to fear even the slightest homosexual feeling as a shameful and unacceptable occurrence, and more importantly, fearing the perception by others that he is a homosexual because of said feelings, is the catalyst for developing unhealthy sexual attitudes. Human sexuality is much more complicated than that.
The solution: education, education and more education. Also modeling ethical, compassionate and tolerant social behavior (a form of education).
You’ll be hearing much more from me on this topic in the years to come. Wondering where I’m “gleaning” my information? I was a psychology/human sexuality studies minor in college. I was one class short of officially declaring the minor. Journalism and disseminating what I know through it is more important to me than the designation. Plus it saved me $$$. LOL -ALM