Downing: The Myth Of Homosexuality

In the passage, Downing explains how same-sex has been labeled in society. She starts off by talking about the definition of homosexuality. She tells us that women who love women and men who love men were put under the same label of homosexuality. The term “homosexual” was introduced in English less than a hundred years ago. She defines this term as a hybrid from Greek-Latin neologism and calls homosexuality a myth that was created by clinical psychology. The word homosexual was coined in 1869 by a German physician, it was brought into popular usage in 1880 and introduced into English in 1892. The term heterosexual was also used eight years later.
Moreover, by the nineteenth century the term “sexual inversion” was in use. The meaning of this
This forced women to choose between their love for women or normality. The last thing Downing talks about is of the term “Gay.” She says that over time men disliked the word homosexual and preferred the word gay. She mentions that Judy Grahn relates the word gay to the earth goddess of ancient Greece, named Gaia.
In conclusion, I think that people should not care about labels and focus more on themselves. At the end of the passage Downing says that the “myth of homosexuality” is deeper, complex, and profound. We need to be free of prejudice when talking about these type of topics so we don’t hurt or offend someone. The “myth of homosexuality” is just a way of putting labels on people and creating more group that identify other people who do not fit into the ideal norm.
Questions:
1. Do you think labels like homosexual, heterosexual, or gay matter in today’s society as much as they did in the past?
2. Do you think that people who are homosexuals, lesbians or gay are different to people who are heterosexuals?
3. Are people judgmental over the “myth of