Subject:
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Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 20 Sep 2004 04:33:55 GMT
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Viewed:
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883 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Kevin Wilson wrote:
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, John Neal wrote:
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What I’m pretty sure is that homosexuality is not normal-- that is,
normative. It is the exception, and not on par with heterosexuality, as
suggested by some. I don’t say this to be mean, merely as an observation of
the GP.
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“Normative: That which is not perceived or experienced by members of a
society as odd, peculiar, outlandish, or even as deserving of unusual
attention, because either: (a) it is culturally typical, conventional, and
encountered commonly in the societal mainstream; and /or (b) due to typical
cultural experiences, the phenomenon is well within the range of the
“expectable” or consistent with an aspired norm, even if the norm is rarely
actualized or attained”
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Scratch “normative”. “Norm” would have been a better choice.
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John, normative is entirely culturally based, and on a specific society’s
culture at that. By that definition, there have been throughout history, and
are today, societies and subcultures where being gay *is* normative, as well
as those where it is not.
As for normal, I wouldn’t dispute that there are a lot fewer homosexuals
around than there are heterosexuals, whatever set of numbers you work from.
That doesn’t make homosexuality not normal, any more than the fact that there
are very few natural redheads around makes them not normal.
If you define normal as being “like the majority of people” then no, gays are
not normal,
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Yes, that is how I was intending the word to be understood.
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nor are people with blue eyes, geniuses, adults who like to play
with LEGO, farmers, pilots, murderers, monks, and just about every other
category of people you like to name.
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Agreed. I didn’t mean to attach a pejorative meaning to “not normal”. I was
just reacting to something that was written earlier:
“I’ve grown much since then and I learned many things, including that being gay
is as normal as being hetero. Shove your intolerance where it belongs.”
The advice notwithstanding, I think it is incorrect to equate the two.
JOHN
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: New poll: sexuality and Lugnet
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| (...) "Normative: That which is not perceived or experienced by members of a society as odd, peculiar, outlandish, or even as deserving of unusual attention, because either: (a) it is culturally typical, conventional, and encountered commonly in the (...) (20 years ago, 20-Sep-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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