[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Homosexuality (from the main list)

[Neil Ward]

I wrote:

<<It will always be an issue until people stop assuming heterosexuality as a
default.>>

Michela commented:
<<<
Huh.  Real life experince has been teaching me lately that the default
assumption has become homosexuality as the default, especially when it's two
young males or two young females out together in public or when it's a guy
with some femine characteristics.  Examples...
- My best friend was walking out of Tattered Covers in Denver one day with
one of her friends.  <snip>
- The default assumption is that most males on HGTV who are interior
decoraters are gay...<snip>
- 1/4 of to 1/2 of the [Survivor] cast was suspected of being gay by the
fans... <snip>
- Rumors start that some one in Hollywood that some leading male actor is
gay.<snip>
>>>

I do take your point, Michela.  However, the difference in the above
examples is context, which provides more information (even if the
conclusions are in error).  In the first example, two girls are seen
together walking out of a bookshop; in the second, men are seen in a
profession that appears to attract gay men; in the third and fourth, we see
the celebrity gossip machine in motion.  Incredibly slight evidence, you
might say, but providing a different context nonetheless.

I wasn't saying that everyone has the default assumption that people are
heterosexual, but indicating that this assumption by many is part of the
reason homosexuality remains an issue.  Of course people take cues from the
context of a situation, and that context can affect a 'default' assumption.
If I were in  gay club, for example, I wouldn't assume that most of the men
and women around me were straight; I'd assume the opposite.  That's the
nature of a default: it is assumed in the absence of any information that
tells you otherwise.

****
Michela also presented some evidence that challenged the Kinsey figures:

<<<
<snipped cited details>  There are several other examples I could pull out
but that given, I think the 10% number is seriously flawed and the real
answer is probably no more then 2 or 3% of the population is homosexual.
>>>

I agree that Kinsey appears to have overestimated, as that fits with later
research I've seen.  I think the figure is perhaps closer to 4% for men and
2% for women.  Speaking from personal experience and things I've read
(dangerously vague citations, I know), women seem to regard sexual
orientation much more loosely and more openly than men, and are perhaps more
inclined to define themselves as bisexual or bicurious than lesbian.  I know
quite a few lesbians who were married to men before settling on a lesbian
'identity', but I can't recall many men who've done the equivalent (again,
this could be the tendency of men to be more closed about their sexual
identity).  I know one man who told the nation he was gay in the 70s and who
now has a wife and two kids... his views on sexual orientation issues, not
to mention the tabloid press, are very interesting... but I digress.

In London, I've heard, and it seems to me to be the case, that the
lesbian/gay population is larger than elsewhere, as gay people naturally
flock to big cities with a cosmpolitan mix of people.  I've lost count of
the number of gay people of other nationalities I've met in London; they
seem to come here because they can lead a much less restrictive life than
they can in their own country, if only by putting some distance between them
and their parents.

I won't comment further on the likelihood of LGBT characters in HP, other
than to agree with the point that JKR seems to be addressing prejudice by
analogy, and to repeat my assertion that she is not obliged to write
anything she didn't intend to write, not matter how cool it might be.

Neil (who will shut up about this now...)
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