The following is an in-depth analysis of my personal socialization regarding a specific status of mine, being a gay man, and the many different agencies of socialization that have contributed to that process. This essay will be separated into four sections: early childhood, later childhood, teen years, and early adulthood.
Early Childhood My early childhood, I could easily consider these years some of the happiest in my life. I didn’t realize it, but during this time I was slowly becoming the person that I would be today. My family consists of four members, my mom, dad, sister, and myself. I am the youngest of the two children, occupying the role of a son and a brother, and three years separate my older sister and myself. My father is …show more content…
Finally, gay people seemed to come into existence and I actually learned what that meant. I specifically remember the term “gay” all of a sudden being said by my peers in school. It was used as a replacement for words like “dumb”, “stupid”, or “annoying”. I went to a private Christian school for ten years in total, pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, occupying the role of a student. All of the kids began to use the word, but I didn’t know what it meant, no one really seemed to know what it meant. At the same time, I began to be exposed to more ‘grown up’ media, especially with my older sister who watched shows such as America’s Next Top Model. The show featured a handful of gay men, although I still didn’t really know what ‘gay’ meant, I just viewed them as very flamboyant. I remember my dad seeing the show and commenting on the men, saying they were gross. I asked him why he said that, and he said “because they want to be women”. It didn’t make much sense to me so I didn’t think too much of it, and I didn’t realize at the time that those men liked other men. Also regarding the TV show; it featured, of course, many women modeling often in very little clothing. My family would joke and make comments to me, saying “don’t look”, because they figured I was attracted to them. I wasn’t. I didn’t dare tell them though, I just decided to play along and have my role performance match my …show more content…
Everyone was much more vocal about their “crushes” and everything to do with the subject. Of course, everyone who was in a relationship was a girl with a boy. I really had never had feelings for a girl, until everyone started being vocal about it. I developed some sort of a crush on a girl in my class, but I wouldn’t call it anything other than a friendly interest. I’m not sure if my feelings were influenced by my peers, and fear of negative sanctions if I didn’t share my crushes with people, but I did have some sort of feeling towards her. This would happen a few other times as well, I never dated any of them though. Through this time, however, I had no physical attraction to the girls, or any woman, but I did have attraction to men. As time went on, I finally learned what it meant to be gay, but with that I heard many different ideas about it. I hear that it was a sin, I heard that it wasn’t real, that it was a phase, and that it was wrong and disgusting. It was in a sense a folkway to be and act straight, because if you acted or dressed flamboyantly as a man, people would negatively sanction you. It was seen as strange and weird. In 2008, the California proposition to deny same-sex couples the right to marry known as “Prop 8” made its way into everyday conversation. Since I have lived in Orange County all my life, my parents voiced their support for the proposition. I was under the impression
Early Childhood My early childhood, I could easily consider these years some of the happiest in my life. I didn’t realize it, but during this time I was slowly becoming the person that I would be today. My family consists of four members, my mom, dad, sister, and myself. I am the youngest of the two children, occupying the role of a son and a brother, and three years separate my older sister and myself. My father is …show more content…
Finally, gay people seemed to come into existence and I actually learned what that meant. I specifically remember the term “gay” all of a sudden being said by my peers in school. It was used as a replacement for words like “dumb”, “stupid”, or “annoying”. I went to a private Christian school for ten years in total, pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, occupying the role of a student. All of the kids began to use the word, but I didn’t know what it meant, no one really seemed to know what it meant. At the same time, I began to be exposed to more ‘grown up’ media, especially with my older sister who watched shows such as America’s Next Top Model. The show featured a handful of gay men, although I still didn’t really know what ‘gay’ meant, I just viewed them as very flamboyant. I remember my dad seeing the show and commenting on the men, saying they were gross. I asked him why he said that, and he said “because they want to be women”. It didn’t make much sense to me so I didn’t think too much of it, and I didn’t realize at the time that those men liked other men. Also regarding the TV show; it featured, of course, many women modeling often in very little clothing. My family would joke and make comments to me, saying “don’t look”, because they figured I was attracted to them. I wasn’t. I didn’t dare tell them though, I just decided to play along and have my role performance match my …show more content…
Everyone was much more vocal about their “crushes” and everything to do with the subject. Of course, everyone who was in a relationship was a girl with a boy. I really had never had feelings for a girl, until everyone started being vocal about it. I developed some sort of a crush on a girl in my class, but I wouldn’t call it anything other than a friendly interest. I’m not sure if my feelings were influenced by my peers, and fear of negative sanctions if I didn’t share my crushes with people, but I did have some sort of feeling towards her. This would happen a few other times as well, I never dated any of them though. Through this time, however, I had no physical attraction to the girls, or any woman, but I did have attraction to men. As time went on, I finally learned what it meant to be gay, but with that I heard many different ideas about it. I hear that it was a sin, I heard that it wasn’t real, that it was a phase, and that it was wrong and disgusting. It was in a sense a folkway to be and act straight, because if you acted or dressed flamboyantly as a man, people would negatively sanction you. It was seen as strange and weird. In 2008, the California proposition to deny same-sex couples the right to marry known as “Prop 8” made its way into everyday conversation. Since I have lived in Orange County all my life, my parents voiced their support for the proposition. I was under the impression