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SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS ON THE MENTAL HEALTH OF HOMOSEXUALS“Black” and people who are “White” (Lancaster& Leonardo, 1997).Due to the fact that people are stronglydefined by their sexuality in modernWesternized society, individuals are encouragedto view themselves, and thus to behave in termsof their sexual orientation (Caplan, 1997). InWestern society, heterosexuality, that is sexualattraction to the opposite sex, is the norm, andindividuals whom do not conform to thisideology experience prejudice, as “nonconformityto the norms of heterosexualitythreatens the dominant ideology’s view of sexas ‘innate’ and ‘natural’” (Caplan, 1997, p. 37).Male homosexuality is thought to underminemale domination and superiority, while femalehomosexuality is thought to defy cultural normsof the traditionally submissive women.Theoretically, sex differences are consideredbiologically differentiable, and society has thustried to categorize gender and sexuality in thesame way. This can be viewed as a universaltendency among humans. To facilitateunderstanding, humans map their perceptionsinto theoretical cognitive categories (Caplan,1997). Non-conformance to normative sexualorientation categories and gender roles arediscouraged, while sex-change operations aregenerally not discouraged because it removessexual abnormalities and allows one to easily fitinto the social categories culture has assigned(Caplan, 1997).What is masculine and what is feminine?These terms are merely social constructs that aredeveloped and maintained within a specificculture. In Western society, a primary aspect ofone’s identity is gender (Bonvillain, 1998), thisis why gender roles are learned and reinforced ata young age. Socialization teaches childrenappropriate behaviour specific to their gender.Especially in modern Westernized culture, thesecategories are mutually exclusive to sex, andleave little to no room for modification orindividuality. The English language, whichincludes only two genders, she and he, furtherreinforces a gender dichotomy, as does manyother languages. Individuals therefore acquiresocial identities, insinuating that society has asubstantial impact on one’s behaviour andexpectations of that behaviour within a culture.Different cultures have differentdefinitions and beliefs about gender andsexuality (or lack thereof), so for the purpose ofthis analysis, homosexuality will be examined interms of modern Western society which hasalso been defined to participants prior toconducting the experiments that willsubsequently be discussed. That is,homosexuality is defined as the consistency ofbeing sexually attracted to individuals of thesame sex or consistently engaging in sexualintercourse with members of the same sex(Lancaster and Leonardo, 1997). For most ofthese studies, bisexual individuals, “those whomdirect sexual desires toward members of bothsexes” (Lancaster and Leonardo, 1997, p. 52),were excluded because the degree to which theywould experience homosexual societalstigmatization is unknown. Furthermore, thereare also discrepancies when taking intoconsideration the gender with which anindividual identifies, especially when examiningcultures with more than one gender.To begin the discussion of societalstigmatization and its effect on mental health,internalized homo-negativity will first beanalyzed.Homo-negativity StudyIn a study conducted by Rosser et al.(2008), results showed that internalized homonegativityplays a key role in the mental healthof homosexuals. In this study, internalizedhomo-negativity is defined as “a basic mistrustfor one’s sexual and interpersonal identity”(Stein & Cohen, 1984, p. 182). Although thestudy showed that identification of beinghomosexual does illustrate acceptance fromsociety, it does not dissolve heterosexism, thatis, “external societal discrimination favouringheterosexuals” (Neisen, 1993, p. 5). In fact,Neison argues that these individuals may bemore susceptible to mental health abnormalities,and that homo-negativity and culturalvictimization may be in concordance with theeffects of sexual and physical abuse.