
About heterosexuality, homosexuality & bisexualityMeanings of "sexual orientation"
& "homosexuality" in legislation
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What exactly does the term "sexual orientation" mean?
There are two conflicting definitions in common usage:  |
State legislatures, gays, lesbians, mainline and liberal religious
groups, mental health practitioners, human sexuality researchers and
others generally define "sexual orientation" in terms of the sex of the
individual that an older teen or adult finds sexually, emotionally, and spiritually
attractive:
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A heterosexual is attracted to members of the opposite sex. |
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A homosexual is attracted to members of the same sex. |
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A bisexual is attracted to both men and women. |
Sexual orientation thus defines a person's feelings; it is considered
part of their personal makeup. It is something that a person discovers; it is
not chosen. Some mental health professionals have more precise definitions which
include the sex that an individual focuses their amorous thoughts, their erotic
desires, their sexual fantasies and their feelings. Sometimes asexuality is added as a fourth orientation; this covers
individuals who have no feelings of sexual attraction.
Everyone has a
sexual orientation. It exists whether a person is sexually active or celibate.
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Some religious and social conservatives define "sexual orientation"
much broader in terms of:
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The sex, and/or |
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The age, and/or |
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The species, and/or |
 |
The state |
of the individual that a person finds sexually, emotionally, and
spiritually attractive. They define sexual orientation as including one or
more of the following terms:
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A heterosexual is attracted to members of the opposite sex. |
 |
A homosexual is attracted to members of the same sex. |
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A bisexual is attracted to both males and females. |
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A pedophile is attracted to pre-pubescent children.
|
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A hebephile is attracted to young people about the age of
puberty. 6
|
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A ephebophile is attracted to post-pubertal adolescents (14 to 17
years of age). |
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A necrophile is attracted to dead bodies. |
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A zoophile (a.k.a. "zoo") is an individual, almost always male,
who in involved in bestiality or zoophilia: sexual
activities or fantasies involving non-humans. |
 |
Etc. |
Various religiously conservative groups have created unique definitions for
the term "sexual
orientation." Some include about 30 behaviors. More
info. They included a
variety of paraphilias. "Paraphilia" means "beyond love" in
Greek. The category includes dozen sexual desires and activities that
lie outside the cultural norm and only involve a minority of adults.
Examples are sadomasochism, exhibitionism, voyeurism, emetophilia,
klismaphilia, etc. See Jahsonic.com for definitions of these paraphilias. 1 Some quotations from religious an social conservatives who have
apparently taken this broad interpretation of sexual orientation:
 |
Judith Reisman, writing in the Fundamentalist Christian news
service WorldNetDaily in the year 2000 referred to "...federal
'sexual orientation' legislation protects all 'orientations' which
would include 'affectional' pedophiles, pederasts, sadists,
zoophiles, coprophiles, necrophiles, and the like."
2
|
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In their essay "Sexual Orientation: Fixed or Changeable?,
The Traditional Values Coalition writes:
"There are
literally dozens of groups of individuals who engage in bizarre
sexual behaviors and who have mental conditions known as paraphilias
or behaviors known as fetishes. These include Coprophagia....
Klismaphilia... Pederasty... Sadomasochism... Diaper fetishes...
Necrophilia... All of these behaviors could be considered to be
'sexual orientations' -- and many of the individuals who engage in
these behaviors are working to have their peculiar sexual behaviors
declared to be normal in psychiatry and in the culture at
large....Pedophilia and Sadomasochism are just two of many sexual
orientations that may eventually be normalized in our society."
3
|
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The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported
that:
"Cheryl Surber stood before the City Council and
passionately urged members to kill an effort to have sexual
orientation covered by the city's anti- discrimination ordinances.
Such an ordinance, Surber said, would force Fort Worth employers to
ask all employees, 'Are you a homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual,
asexual, transsexual, transvestite, pedophile, rapist or celibate'?"
4
|
 |
Scott Lively of NewsWithViews wrote:
"
'Sexual orientation' is a highly ambiguous term loaded with
hidden false assumptions. An 'orientation' describes the perspective
of a subject toward an object. A sexual orientation therefore
describes a person (subject) by the object toward which they are
sexually attracted: a homosexual is someone oriented toward someone
of the same sex, a bisexual toward both sexes, a pedophile toward
children, a sado-masochist toward giving or receiving pain, etc.. By
definition, there are an unlimited number of potential sexual
orientations."5
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There is no indication that persons outside of
fundamentalist and other evangelical faith groups accept these very broad
definitions of "sexual orientation."
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What do the terms "homosexuality" and "bisexuality" mean?Again, there are conflicting definitions in common usage:
 |
Gays, lesbians, mainline and liberal religious
groups, mental health practitioners, human sexuality researchers and
others generally define "homosexuality" as feelings of
sexual, emotional, and spiritual attraction to members of the same
sex. A bisexual is a person who is attracted to both men and women, although not necessarily to the same degree.
Everyone, whether heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual, can decide to be
celibate, or be sexually active. Homosexuality, bisexuality and
heterosexuality is part of what a person is.
|
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Religious and social conservatives generally define "homosexuality"
as a state of being sexually active with members of the same sex.
Homosexuality is what a person does. The term "bisexuality" is largely
ignored.
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This lack of agreement on the meanings of words makes dialogue and debate
very difficult.  |
A person who is sexually attracted to members of the same sex, but
who is not sexually active, is considered a homosexual by the first
definition, but not by the second.
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A person who is attracted to both men and women is considered a
bisexual by the first definition. If they confine their sexual activity
to members of the:
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opposite sex, they are considered a heterosexual by the second
definition. |
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same sex, they are considered a homosexual by the second
definition.
|
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A person who is attracted to members of the same sex, was once
sexually active and is now celibate is considered a homosexual by the
first definition but an ex-gay by the second.
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A person who is attracted to both men and women, and was sexually
active with members of the same sex in the past is considered a bisexual by the
first definition, but an ex-gay by the second.
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The confusion continues, and will not be resolved until everyone adopts a
single definition. |

References used to prepare this essay:
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"Paraphilia" at:
http://www.jahsonic.com/
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Judith Reisman, "A platform for pedophiles?," WorldNetDaily,
2000-OCT-30, at:
http://worldnetdaily.com/
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"Sexual Orientation: Fixed or Changeable?, The Traditional Values
Coalition, at:
http://traditionalvalues.org/
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Kristin N. Sullivan, "Gay Rights Effort May Be Tabled," Fort Worth
Star-Telegram, 1998-NOV-25, at:
http://www.sodomylaws.org/
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Scott Lively, "Deciphering 'Gay' Word-Speak and Language of Confusion," NewsWithViews, 2002-MAY-25, at:
http://www.newswithviews.com/
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The term "ephebophile" is often used as a synonym for "hebephile." That is, it
is defined more broadly to include victims aged from 14 to 17

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Copyright © 2004 to 2010 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2010-MAY-29
Author: B.A. Robinson 
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