Homosexuality as a violation of gender-role norms. Causes of homosexuality. In society, homosexuality is viewed as the ultimate violation of gender norms. For example, one of the generally accepted stereotypes regarding homosexual relationships is that one partner plays the traditional male role, and the other - the female one. But research indicates that in most gay and lesbian couples, both partners earn money and share household chores equally. There is a heavy price to pay for violating social norms. For homosexuals, this can take the form of physical violence, discrimination in employment, the breakdown of personal relationships, derogatory nicknames and ridicule. In the RSFSR, criminal liability for sodomy was in force from 1934 to 1993. Homosexuality was removed from the list of mental disorders in 1974. American Psychiatric Association. Psychologists now believe that when homosexuals experience mental health problems, it is often due to the hidden existence they are forced to lead due to social disapproval. Research shows that when a person who recognizes himself as gay understands the conflict he finds himself in with the ideals of society, he most often experiences disappointment, anxiety, irritation, and anger. Knowing that homosexuality is unacceptable puts such a person in front of a very difficult choice: to admit to people his otherness or to hide it. Confession can lead to stress, tension in relationships with loved ones, a break with them, loss of work, separation from children. Concealing one's own homosexuality involves no less effort and stress. An atmosphere of secrecy makes you feel dishonest, and the need to hide your sexual orientation prevents you from building trusting personal relationships with people. The potential danger of public bullying is the most important condition for whether a gay person will “come out” to other people or live a secret life. And this is the main factor that encourages gays to go into hiding. Being homosexual in a radically heterosexual society is so difficult that, in response to the claim that homosexuality is their own choice, some gays argue that they would never become homosexual if they really had the opportunity to choose: it is too difficult in a society that does not support them. People often view any deviation from the gender role as homosexuality. How does homosexuality arise? Who is susceptible to it? From a psychological point of view, family relationships can contribute to the formation of homosexuality. Psychologists have found that men with severe homosexuality have a hostile father in the family who has not established a trusting, supportive relationship with his son and a suppressive mother who behaves seductively, involving her son in excessive intimacy. If there is a loving, adequate father, then it is possible to prevent the development of homosexuality in his son. If family relationships are seriously disturbed and the parents do not have a satisfactory relationship with each other, but focus all their attention on their son’s homosexuality, then in this case both parents influence the psychosexual development of the boy. Overt homosexuality develops if it finds support and reinforcement from the conscious and unconscious processes of the parents. Example from practice: Andrey, a homosexual who would like to become heterosexual, tries to date women, but intimacy does not work out. Andrey had problems in his past associated with both parents. His father was a weak, passive person, worked with teenagers, took groups of boys on hikes, taught them the rules of survival in extreme situations. But for Andrey he was inaccessible, not».