Homophobia Result of Repressed Homosexual Urges

I have always believed that the extreme homophobes of the Christian Right who are a wee bit too hysterical about gays and gay sex in reality have some issues of their own in terms of their sexuality. I mean, think of shrill homophobes like Robert Knight (at left with whom I've had e-mail debates), Scott Lively, Tony Perkins, Peter LaBarbera, James Dobson - they are far, far too hysterical when the issue is homosexuality and out and proud gays. Now a new study appears to confirm what I - and I suspect many others have long sensed - these guys are self-hating closet queens and the seemingly undue hysteria stems from their repression of their own homosexual urges. Here are some highlights from SelfHelp Magazine:

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Psychoanalytic theory holds that homophobia - the fear, anxiety, anger, discomfort and aversion that some heterosexual people hold for gay individuals - is the result of repressed homosexual urges that the person is either unaware or denies. A study provides empirical evidence that is consistent with that theory.

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Researchers at the University of Georgia conducted an experiment involving 35 homophobic men and 29 non-homophobic men as measured by the Index of Homophobia scale. All the participants selected for the study described themselves as exclusively heterosexual both in terms of sexual arousal and experience.

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Each participant was exposed to sexually explicit erotic materials consisting of heterosexual, male homosexual and lesbian videotapes. Their degree of sexual arousal was measured by penile plethysmography, which precisely measures and records male erections. Men in both groups were aroused by about the same degree by a video depicting heterosexual sexual behavior and by a video showing two women engaged in sexual behavior. The only significant difference in degree of arousal between the two groups occurred when they viewed a video depicting male homosexual sex: "The homophobic men showed a significant increase in penile circumference to the male homosexual video, but the non-homophobic men did not."

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The psychoanalytic theory about homophobic men being tooted in repressed homesexuality has been around for decades. It will be fascinating to see how this research develops.

Reference: "Is Homophobia Associated With Homosexual Arousal?" by Henry E. Adams, Ph.D., Lester W. Wright, Jr., Ph.D. & Bethany A. Lohr, in Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 105, No. 3, pp 440-445.