There was North American data suggesting that there was a correlation between anti-gay attitudes and germophobia and disgust, but now there is new information from a broader range. The person tweeting out the news, Lyman Stone, does acknowledge that the polled sample is still university students, even if it is cross-cultural. So that is a possible weakness.
I have quoted Stone before about covid issues. He identifies in this discussion that it is not germ phobia, but pro-fecundity that seems to be the driving force underneath, with the disgust being a correlate from the same source, not a cause in itself. He is a statistician completing his PhD studying fecundity. The discussion is not that long, but there are a few places you might have to double back to make sure you understand what is being claimed.
It'll be interesting to see if his career survives this.
ReplyDeleteFor several generations we've been taught Malthusian "anti-fecundity", and I suspect a side-effect of a consumer oriented society is less of an emphasis on children (Kids need a lot of stuff, but multi-child families can economize. Adults buy more and more expensive stuff. ==> concentrate sales pitches on adult stuff. The desires so cultivated are less kid-friendly. I wrote on this some years ago, but google doesn't want to remember my posts.)
It's natural law, strictly speaking. Thomas Aquinas would be right at home with these findings.
ReplyDeleteI have taught Sunday School for many years. A few years ago I had a girl, about 11 or 12 years old, who had been extremely sheltered by her parents: Christian school, only PG movies (not even PG-13), total control over what she read, etc, etc.
ReplyDeleteOne day in class she blurts out, "I keep hearing all this gay stuff, and I don't have any idea what it's about. 'That's gay, he's gay, you're so gay.' What are they talking about?"
I was trying think of a way to express it discreetly, when another girl beat me to it and said, "Oh, that's when boys only like other boys."
She got completely quiet, which was not like her, and you could almost hear the gears going round in her head, trying to process what that must mean. After a minute or so, she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, gross!" Except that it came out as "Oh, ga-ROOOSSS," with an air of total disgust. She obviously didn't know all the details involved, but she knew that she just intrinsically did not like that idea.
The fact that someone who knew nothing about this issue responded instinctively like that suggested to me that there is something innate in human nature that just does not respond positively to homosexuality. Well, at least in the nature of most humans. I have my own ideas about that, but that's another subject.
Old fashioned gays are probably amused now. The trans faction has made 'mere' homosexuality seem quite normal.
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