Jimmy Swaggart's warning to gay men («If one ever looks at me like that, I'm gonna kill him and tell God he died») brings back to mind an old question, for which I have never really received a satisfying answer.
Why do men react so viscerally and so violently to the slightest sign of homosexual interest? As a woman, I sometimes get subtle (and not so subtle) invitations from lesbians, and each time after my polite «Thanks, but no thanks», we each go about our own business. The only times I show any sign of repulsion is when I'm hit on by drooling or inebriated men. So again, to all my male readers (if any), I'm asking: why such rage towards what should be logically considered a compliment ?
I know that men are very insecure about their maleness. I was explained once (by my two sons) that the worst thing for a guy is to be considered «gay». That's why they only whistle, holler or otherwise bother women when they're in groups, e.g. construction workers or street gangs. They have to prove their manliness to one another and the whistling and other antics are just theatrics only marginally directed at the passing women.
I understand such a mentality. What I don't undertand is why a simple «no» is not enough when you are propositioned by a gay man in the relative privacy of a public bathroom, for example. In other words, why do Mr. Swaggart and about 50% of the population feel so threatened by homosexuals that they are willing to commit murder just to assert their maleness?
Another mystery of the samsara...
2 comments:
i suggest seeing, or seeing again, the film "american beauty", which memorably foreshadowed rev. swaggert's murderous threat
i've actually met and talked with people (ok, one person) who admired swaggart - he's not a bad musical performer, in my opinion, but his preaching is brain poison
Re. American Beauty: Are you saying that most men have latent homosexual tendencies? Because most men do react violently to homosexual "threats". The inescapable conclusion then would be that men are naturally bisexual and only social pressures force them to deny, repress and try to eliminate these tendencies, if necessary by killing the culprits. After all, homosexuality or bisexuality are relatively frequent among animals and some types of fish are known to spontaneously change their sex if the survival of the species is at stake. My theory is that women are the standard sex, since all foetuses start as females and only a few become differentiated as males later on. So a man is actually a woman who has mutated by dropping the right bottom part of her X chromosomes to turn them into Y chromosomes. This would explain the fact that among human populations, men are naturally less numerous and less resistant than women in general. This is just my theory and I hope this will not degenerate into another "man vs. woman" discussion. As a Buddhist, I believe that I have been both male and female in my numerous incarnations and therefore I have no preference in defending or criticizing either sex. Being a woman in this life, I seem to have forgotten how a man thinks sometimes, that's why I'm asking.
Re. Swaggart's musical talent: Is he the one who composed and sang "Let the eagle soar"? Or was it Ashcroft? And by the way, did you know that Oral Roberts' son is named Anal (boo! old joke!).
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