Social Deviance through Sexuality

Our readings this week were very insightful in regards to the study of homosexuality and its acceptance, or lack thereof, in early Latin America. I am of the opinion that, historically speaking of course, Western societies have grossly misinterpreted homosexuals and their practices. For instance, in innumerable cases of homosexual males being persecuted for their actions authorities conducting investigations of said actions attempted to determine whom in the relationship had acted as the male figure as well as who acted as the female. This was done so that the moral perpetrator behaving as the female may be more harshly punished, as they had knowingly committed the offense not only of homosexuality but crossing the gender lines as well, taking on the role of a woman. This naturally was also considered a grave breach of moral codes of conduct. Or, at the very least, this was unarguably an example of social deviance by way of gender bending.

Even today, in our much more progressive way of life in comparison to that of the early Latin Americans, the majority of people seem to be “put on edge” by those who cross our the metaphorical lines of our socially defined gender roles. An example, if a transvestite were to walk into your classroom and sit down then, I am guessing that, most if not all of the others in the class would at the very least notice their uncommon appearance. I am certainly not implying that such people who deviate from gender norms would be looked down upon by all, or even most of their peers. I am simply observing that on some levels what was true in the times we are studying holds true today as well. People from virtually all societies and backgrounds are somewhat “caught off guard” by those who cross gender boundaries. Although that makes perfect sense, for if we did not have these norms that they are violating then we would not even have gender. As we learned in the first days of our class, gender is an entirely social structure determined by what we come to expect of specific sexes. When morality comes into play, the reaction to these gender-bending actions can be extremely varied, and in many cases, dire effects can be the result depending of the setting of said actions.