Pride Month: Why Are They Constantly In Our Face?
Dear readers, how often have you felt compelled to boast or brag about your sex life? How often have you felt the need to express tremendous pride about what you do in bed? And how often have you felt the need to display your sexual proclivities to strangers? On the internet? On TV?… Not often, I imagine. Then why, oh why, do people of the LGBTQIA+ persuasion feel compelled to do so?
In psychology the term “defense mechanism” is used to indicate unconscious psychological responses that protect people from feelings of anxiety, threats to self-esteem, and things that they don’t want to think about or deal with. (source: https://www.simplypsychology.org/defense-mechanisms.html).
One of the major psychological defense mechanisms is “projection.” The term was first proposed by psychologist Anna Freud and was said to apply when an individual attributes his/her unwanted thoughts, feelings and motives to another person or thing.
Another psychological defense mechanism, also proposed by Anna Freud, is “reaction formation.” A simple definition of this term is “believing the opposite of what’s true.” Conscious behaviors are adopted to overcompensate for the anxiety a person feels regarding their socially unacceptable unconscious thoughts or emotions. Usually, a reaction formation is marked by exaggerated behavior, such as showiness and compulsiveness.
A combination of projection and reaction formation explains, I believe, much of the trenchant need for display so obvious among LGBTQIA+ individuals. While I don’t think this applies to every “alternative lifestyle” participant, I suspect that a lot of what we see from LGBTQIA+ is a reaction, on some level, to feelings of shame.
Projection, as applies here, is simply the transfer of feelings of self loathing onto society as a whole. Instead of feeling “I’m ashamed of myself” the individual says “society shames ME.” Reaction formation, in this context, “believing the opposite,” explains the constant need for display. Instead of “I’m ashamed of myself” they say “I’m PROUD of myself.” “I’m SO proud of myself, in fact, that I’ll parade around town in drag or in outlandish outfits, using exaggerated mannerisms, and carrying banners and signs, in front of any and all observers.”
Now, these feelings of shame may, to some degree, stem from society’s tacit disapproval of alternate life styles, but American Society has been, by and large, and for at least a half century, so non judgmental regarding sexual orientation, I don’t think this is a major factor. Such feelings are, in my estimation, likely to be ENDOGENOUS, perhaps the result of biological evolution’s 500 million year history, and human evolution’s 200 thousand year history, of promoting and prioritizing sexual reproduction. And, feelings of shame may, in some instances, be unconsciously perpetuated by the individual him or her self, because they may be an integral part of the THRILL that, for some, energizes deviant sex.
So, what to make of all this? My personal view regarding alternative sexuality is: whatever form of intimacy two consenting adults prefer to have in the privacy of their bedrooms is NONE OF MY BUSINESS. I would ask the LGBTQIA+ enthusiasts to please KEEP IT THAT WAY.
I agree. What you do in private is private. They are pushing this to cover something,