Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Heterosexism: A Psychological Disorder In today’s society, it is common practice to make use of derogative slang when concerning the homosexual community. Slang terms such as “fag” and “homo” are often used to refer to odd or effeminate people. In fact, in a culture where racial slurs and bigotry are shunned, these indicators of prejudice are consistently used in mainstream media. The explanation for the permissibility of this stigmatization can be found in the fundamentals of psychology. The predisposition to heterosexuality is defined in psychological terms as homophobia. Within the past several decades, studies have been conducted that have resulted in a thorough definition of the irrational fear, possible causes, and, inevitably, potential methods for treating the phobia. First, it is important to address the escalation of this prejudice and at what point it deems the classification of a psychological disorder in the form of a phobia. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) , a phobia is a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that constitutes dysfunction within an individual, and causes present distress. Therefore, if a person only