A reply to goode on “the homosexual role”

Abstract

My initial article dealt with limitations of explaining homosexuality in terms of conventional conceptions of In this article I pointed out that homosexuality as a sexual orientation does not appear to lend itself easily to explanation in terms of conventional sociological concepts of Goode has pointed out appropriately that, apart from such conventional conceptualizations of role in which society does the socializing, there are also roles such as homosexuality, marijuana smoking, prostitution, child molesting, and juvenile delinquency which must be explained. While sociologists have tended to group in the single category deviant behavior such diverse activities as homosexuality, marijuana smoking, prostitution, and juvenile delinquency, the fact of the matter is that these various types of all have different dynamics and present different theoretical problems. While sociologists may assume that homosexuality has much in common with other types of deviant behavior, there are important differences which any serious discussion of homosexuality must include. At a certain level, role and labeling obviously become relevant for the study of homosexuality. I contend, however, that homosexuality as a sexual orientation, and in important behavioral and subcultural elements, does not lend itself easily to explanation in terms of deviant role.