Bisexuality, Eroticism, Homosexuality, All These Concepts Have

Bisexuality, eroticism, homosexuality, all these concepts have been explored time and time again by the like of Sigmund Freud and seen in movies like the Naked Civil Servant, Maurice, and the Crying Game. These movies helped show not just the lives of homosexuals and transsexuals, but also stigma and conflict often felt by people in a society that does not accept their sexuality. Whether it is by nature or a combination of nature or nurture, sexuality is what defines people.

Sexuality is something that should always be regarded as a significant part of a person's identity and life. It was Sigmund who stated bisexuality was rooted in inversion in 1962. Inversion was a term he used to refer to homosexuality. Freud believed bisexuality stemmed from unsettled struggles happening within one of his distinct psychosexual age-related stages triggering an unconventionality of the "normal" or average sexual instinct. Continuing with his theory, he added bisexuals reserved their respective gender's mental merits. What this means is, a bisexual female reserved female mental abilities.

Freud specified that while bisexuals kept their gender's mental qualities, they sought after people of the same-sex who possessed opposite sex mental. "In this instance, therefore, as in many others, the sexual object is not someone of the same sex but someone who combines the characters of both sexes; thus the sexual object is a kind of reflection of the subject's own bisexual nature" (Freud, 1962, p. 10). Freud also added any kind of childhood event could affect a person's psychosexual progression.

On page 95 of his book he gives instances of these kinds of experiences. For instance, in the case of a man, a memory from childhood such as a mother's affection or any affection from any woman within this time frame could contribute to the man's choice of attraction towards women. Freud also believed when adult males educated boys, this led to homosexuality or at least encouraged it to develop in male children.

He even points to aristocracy developing inversion as a result of having more male servants and less affection from their mothers. Absence or loss of a parent could also result in permanent inversion. With Quentin Crisp, he was not considered a bisexual nor was he a transsexual. He was a flamboyant homosexual who was considered a drag queen. He behaved femininely without changing his body. Dil however was a transsexual or transgendered man who became a woman.

He is technically a homosexual because he was born a man, but his behavior is akin to his mental need to be a woman rather than behave feminine like Quentin. Quentin in the end still wore suits from time to time and sounded like a man. Dil however took the whole persona of a woman and rejected the idea of being, sounding, or looking like a man. This is where eroticism comes into play. Quentin was not erotic in his feminine homosexuality, especially when it came to performing.

He behaved in this manner as a guy to entertain. Dil however behaved femininely to evoke attraction and allure for "she" wanted to have men interested in her. Eroticism arouses sexual desire in someone. It is meant to assist in potential engagement of sex. When it comes to personality, the moral conscious is the last part to form. The moral conscious may include feelings of guilt, the super ego, ego-syntonic homoeroticism, all which occur internally.

Ego-syntonic denotes characteristics of a person's beliefs, desires, approaches, and behavior that are sensed to be suitable and constant with the self-formation. When a person tends to exhibit ego-syntonic traits, this usually means that person has a personality disorder. Usually people who are homosexual in a society that makes homosexuality taboo, have conflicts between the ego and the longing. This battle is due in part to super ego causing the ego to be in conflict with the aspiration. Maurice and Clive show an excellent example of conflict.

Both individuals feel the need to resume normal, heterosexual lives. Clive goes as far as to abandon Maurice to be married to a woman. The stigmatization tends to occur on the outside and develop further inward as people sometimes do what they feel they must in order to avoid being judged or worse yet, punished. Most societies, even in modern day do not condone homosexuality, let alone transsexualism as is seen with Dil.

The Naked Civil Servant, is an autobiographical film of Quentin Crisp who by society's standards is an outcast. Even the homosexuals at the time disregarded him, especially ones belonging to the bourgeois society. They were in essence embarrassed by Quentin's stereotypical behavior and thus further stigmatized Crisp for being so effeminate. This however motivate Crisp to be even more rebellious making femininity more of a rebellious behavior vs. erotic behavior.

"Although his adventures take place at every level of the social ladder, he invariably returns to one of the two ghettos that pre-Stonewall society permitted the uncloseted gay, the lumpen underworld and the upper-class salon circuit of the bohemian-chic intelligentsia" (Waugh, 2000, p. 30). Crisp's homosexuality was defiant not erotic. As was shown in the scene with the portrait of the army psychiatrist who disintegrates before the undertaking of determining whether this effete fledgling man in his underclothing and nail polish is capable of serving for King and Country.

Another example is Crisp's "version of London gays' patriotic contribution to the war effort in the form of recreational facilities for the GIS" (Waugh, 2000, p. 31). The constant stigma felt from the people all around him propelled him to formulate a persona that would constantly contradict and bend what society accepted as normal, even for a gay man, much like how Maurice eventually did when he fell in love the second time after Clive with Alec. Crisp can be seen as behaving ego-syntonic whereas Clive was not.

In Maurice, Maurice falls in love with Clive. However the relationship remains fairly platonic as Clive is part of the upper class and much like the closeted gays from The Naked Civil Servant does not want to attract attention for fear of being imprisoned or removed from his privileged life. With Clive's widowed mother's insistence, Clive leaves Maurice.