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insights to his characters. The fourth way is called past life. A person‟s past life
would be able to help readers to shape a person‟s characteristic. This would be done by the direct comment by the author, the person‟s thought, his conversation,
or through the medium of another person. The fifth way is called conversation with others. The author uses the conversation of other people and the things about
a character to know the characteristic of one character. The sixth way is called reactions. The author describes the p
erson‟s characteristic by letting the readers know how that person reacts to various situations and events. Reactions here mean
the way that person cries or laughs. The seventh way is called direct comment. The author can describe or comment on a person‟s character directly. The eighth
way is called thoughts. The author can give the readers a direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. The last way is called mannerism. The author can
tell the readers something about the person‟s characteristic by describing that person‟s mannerisms, habits, or idiosyncrasies.
4. Theories of Homosexuality
a. Definition of Homosexuality
Homosexuality and homosexual are two things which are closely related to each other. The definition of homosexuality can be drawn from the definition of
homosexual itself. According to Huffman et al, 1997 the term of homosexual is used to explain or to show a person whose primary sexual orientation is toward
members of the same sex p. 362. Whereas, a gay refers to a male homosexual and a lesbian refers to a female homosexual. So, a homosexuality can be defined
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as a condition in which a person‟s sexual attraction has a tendency toward members of his or her own sex. Further, VandenBos 2006 defines a
homosexuality as a sexual attraction or activity between members of the same sex p. 446. The term can also refer to such sexual orientation in both men and
women.
b. Causes of Homosexuality
No one chooses or plans to live as a homosexual since they were born. According to Coleman 1976, there are two factors that make someone becomes
a homosexual pp. 594-596. The explanation of both factors will be drawn below:
1 Constitutional Factors
Constitutional factors refer to factors that are related to biological aspects which can cause homosexuality to someone. The biological aspects tend to be
hereditary since people can see one‟ sexual orientation when he was a child. The biological factors play an important role to the developments of human growth.
Such factors are genetic, hormonal factor, and hermaphrodite. Genetic factor
refers to one‟s homosexuality that is caused by direct genetic inheritance. Psychologists say that homosexual has a constitutional basis
through direct genetic inheritance. In brief, it can be said that it is what you have got from parents.
Hormonal balance also can cause homosexuality. Researchers found that
homosexuality resulted from an abnormal androgen-estrogens ratio. However, it is not fairly certain
that each hormonal imbalance causes such a thing, because one‟s hormonal balance may shift from homosexual to heterosexual pattern without a
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change in hormonal balance. This hormonal balance has no causal significance to homosexuality since some non homosexuals also have the same hormonal
imbalance shown by homosexuals. Hermaphrodite
is a condition in which a person has two well-developed sexual organs. Such cases are rarely found and there is an anatomical basis for
ambiguous sexuality. The choices of which sex a person should be assigned to, lies heavily on the sex role established during his early development, particularly
the first three years.
2 Psychosocial Factors
These factors view the cause of homosexuality based on the concept of the gradual differentiation of sexual behaviour in different society. Psychosocial
factor s may derive from man‟ social interactions with other persons, love
relationship, and pressure from family or group. The factors are divided into four types as follows:
The first is early homosexual experiences and their positive reinforcement. This means
that someone‟s early homosexual experience before sexual behaviour is well differentiated into a heterosexual direction or pattern will influence the
develo pment of one‟s sexual behaviour, including it may cause homosexuality.
Then, if one finds his homosexual experience is pleasurable, he will continue his sexual relationship which will cause homosexuality.
The second is negative conditioning of heterosexual behaviour. This means that certain negative heterosexual behaviours can also cause
homosexuality. When a person has negative experiences with heterosexual
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behaviours, then he may change his sexual attraction toward the members of his or her own sex. For example, where the boy or girl is ridiculed, rebuffed, and
humiliated in his or her effort to approach members of the opposite sex, he or she may turn toward homosexuality as a safer source of affection and sexual outlet.
The third is being reared as a member of the opposite sex. The ways of bringing up children in a family can also cause homosexuality. For instance, a
mother who really wants a daughter and in fact has a boy, will rear the boy as if he were a girl. It is because of the mother‟s longing of having a daughter. The mother
will inculcate feminine attitudes and interest to her son. The boy must keep his hair long, or has to dress like a girl. Such treatments can change one‟ sexual
orientation and cause homosexuality. The fourth is family patterns. This factors views that a family interaction is
the most frequent characteristic of the background of the homosexuals. During the childhood, the boy or girl is very depending on their mother. Typically the
mothers are close-binding, controlling, and affectionate; the fathers are detached, rejecting, and often hostile. Neither parent fosters a masculine self-image or
identity. As children, the male homosexuals tend to describe themselves as shy, fearful of physical injury, and loners. Further, Bieber 1962 found some evidence
that men with overprotective, dominant mothers and passive or absent fathers were slightly more likely to be gay as cited in Huffman, 1997, p. 376.
In addition, Thomas 1990, in his book, The Encyclopedia of Human Development and Education: Theory, Research, and Studies
, divides three theories to explain the cause of homosexuality, namely biological,
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sociopsychological, and interactionist pp. 373-374. Biological theories assume that a person‟s homosexual traits are the result of some characteristics of the
physical organism, such as a person‟s ratio of male hormone androgen to female hormone estrogens. In other words, the balance or imbalance of hormones has
been caused by gene patterns inherited from parents. Sociopsychological
theories refer to the quality of an individual‟s relationship with other people during childhood and adolescence that determines
whether the person becomes homosexual or heterosexual or even asexual not interested at all in physical lovemaking. The last is interactionist theories which
draw upon both biological and sociopsychological factors in the belief that some combination of body chemistry and environmental factors accounts for the
development of homosexual behaviour.
c. Types of Homosexual
