(ASSIGNMENT #6 – ESSAY)

It’s a common sense that almost every effeminate guy is gay. Ask anyone walking down the street in downtown, and you will most probably figure it out. Whether they are right or not we can’t say precisely and it’s not the aim of this essay, but the concept itself should be taken much more carefully than it usually is, whereas it’s possible to notice the batch of prejudice always coming with that sort of accusation. Otherwise, if you ask the alleged homosexual guy what he thinks about that prosecution, you could get a various set of reactions. He could feel offended as he could say he doesn’t care anymore, or he would even say he isn’t gay at all. Why does that happen? Why is being effeminate as ridiculously considered if it doesn’t tell anyone nothing exactly? And worse: why does effeminate-acting have to be something so bad?

Effemiphobia is something widely different from homophobia, though both are terrible types of prejudice. Effemiphobia is directed not only to gays, but to straight people, too. The ones who suffer this prejudice, beyond maybe being target of homophobia as well, are many times also criticized by those who are likewise homophobic victims: in other words, the gay men themselves. And this is definitely not a rare fact. Gay men are a massive part of the anti-effeminate-behavior army. What happens is that the whole prejudice before over all the gay people is finally starting to lessen. But an abstract image of a straight-behaving gay is being chosen as the unique one deserver of receiving respect.

The fight contrary to homophobia is still far from being finished, though some victories were conquered, yet it can easily be seen out there. Then why do gay people go on getting together against one another instead of to fight for equalty and for the many rights they still don’t have? Maybe because a great part of the gay community blames the effeminate gays for the prejudice they undergo, so they avoid being linked to them and, worse, discriminate them as well. Something else plainly noticeable is that so many people say they don’t feel atracted to feminine guys. It could be explained by the current stereotype of masculinity which remains since prehistorical times. Big and large men would be helpful for protecting home from wild beasts. And unfortunately, though there are millions of fabulous, funny and smart effeminate men around the world, that other requisite is still quite sought.

Moreover, effemiphobia should be banished for the many other problems feminine men have. Besides all the homophobic implications in their lives (difficulties such as finding out the sexuality, coming out to their families, as the difficulties to find a partner and to get out with him), they find it much more hard to get a job, they listen disturbing jokes many times a day, they hear people all around telling them they shouldn’t act (neither be) that way. No one but themselves can know how arduous it is. We could often catch ourselves thinking about it and finding this issue so very problematic that it must be solven, but by someone else. Only this is a problem which belongs to every one of us. There are humans suffering, and this is just because of the cruelty of few and the unawareness of many.

The existence of effemiphobia is a small part of a huge humanity’s disease: hatred. Nelson Mandela once stated, “Nobody was born hating anyone else for their skin color, for their roots neither for their religion. For hating, people need to learn. And if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love”. We must tell the people they are killing one another with guns most of times they don’t even know they’re carrying. A way of disseminating this knowledge is the academic work (there are still very few ones about this topic), which maybe is the main source of information there is – at least the reliable ones. The lore starts inside the universities for so it can go throughout the other medias. And then we can hope that someday, sooner every second, someone will look at something first, before starting to hate it.