The homosexual role
Rejoinder to Omark & Whitam
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10210753 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Erich Goode (0000-0001-8966-7853, State University of New York, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1981 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 76-83 |
| Publication date | 1981-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Sex Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-4499 • E-ISSN: 1559-8519 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00224498109551100 |
| OpenAlex | W2066085053 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 10 |
Omark's comments are fairly speciElc, and I f1nd myself substantially in agreement with them. Whitam, however, raises a number of crucial and ramifying issues which would require a book-length discussion to untangle, and perhaps a lifetime of research to settle. In this reply I can only touch on a few of these issues, and then only supeffilcially. First, as to political implications: Arhitam is correct in pointing out that ideology and social science are often intertwined. One usually wants ones political views borne out by one's empirical Elndings and, further that one's studies produce results favorable to those views. And, as Whitam says, the real world doesn't always cooperate. As a dyed-in-the-wool liberal (or worse) and civil libertarian, I have sometimes found my ideology affronted by the findings of my own studies. In the 1960s, I wanted to find that marijuana use was unrelated to the use of more dangerous drugs; instead, I found exactly the opposite (Goode, 1969). In the study by Troiden and myself, we wanted to find that sexual contact with a large number of partners (promiscuity) was unrelated to a range of undesirable, deviant accompaniments; instead, we found a strong connection between them (Goode & Troiden, 1980). In both cases, I was forced to face the facts gracefully. However, I do believe that Whitam is mistaken in his view that accepting lability in sexual orientation will strengthen the anti-gay argument that homosexuals are a threat because they can influence young boys (and girls) to turn queer which would meanor so this reasoning goes that homosexuals should not be allowed to be school teachers. Whitam's argument is too rationalistic; ideology does not work in so straightforward a fashion. Instead, it comes in packages; certain beliefs are held together not by logic, but by cultural packaging and (excuse the expression) labeling. Today, the congenital argument is labeled reactionary and anti-gay, regardless of whether this is actually true in each
Argument (complex analysis · Biology and political orientation · Criminology · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Promiscuity · Psychoanalysis · Sexual orientation · Sociology · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Psychology · Social and Cultural Studies · Social Psychology
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |