Fetishes (and attraction, in general)

Never! Nor have I ever seen a burned-out alcoholic cop redeem himself by getting the bad guy and saving the city, despite the rest of the police trying to stop him. Yet that scenario is played out over and over in the media.

 

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Because you are a prime example of someone who doesn't accept people as they are - "gay, nerdy, quiet, bookworms, whatever".

 

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Interesting claim.

 

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"Factors influencing high drug abuse among gay population:

Gay and transgender people report higher rates of substance use than others due to three main factors.

First, many gay and transgender people live with a high level of stress that comes from social prejudice and discriminatory laws in areas of daily life such as employment, relationship recognition, and health care.

Second, a lack of cultural competency in the health care system discourages gay and transgender people from seeking treatment for substance abuse, and—if they do seek help—often leads to inappropriate or irrelevant services.

Finally, targeted marketing efforts by alcohol and tobacco companies exploit the con- nection many gay and transgender people have to bars and clubs as safe spaces for socializing and increase easy access to tobacco products and alcohol. Below, we look at each of these factors in turn.

Minority stress

Minority stress—the negative effects associated with the adverse social conditions experienced by individuals of a marginalized social group—is something gay and transgender people have to deal with every day. This stress is triggered by general social prejudice against being gay or transgender, as well as discriminatory laws and policies.

Antigay and antitransgender social prejudice stems from the belief that being gay or transgender is somehow wrong or bad. It can be expressed in subtle ways (for example, a receptionist at a pediatrician’s office asking a lesbian couple which of the pair is their child’s “real” parent), or it can be expressed in verbal and physical violence (two men holding hands getting taunted with antigay epithets or a transgender person getting jumped by a group of strangers).

Karen and Marcye Nicholson-McFadden of New Jersey understand this prejudice all too well. They are the parents of two children and have a civil union because same-sex marriage is not legal in their state. Whenever they visit the doctor or go to their children’s school, they are treated differently because they have to deal with people who don’t know what a civil union is, and they have to explain their family to the staff. Karen and Marcye regularly cross out items on government, school, and doctors’ forms to reflect their family structure. For example, a family headed by two moms often has to cross out “name of father” on forms.

Or take the 2010 case of a 14-year-old student at Nassau BOCES Career Preparatory High School in Hicksville, New York, was assaulted by four of his classmates who perceived him to be gay. The student was stomped and kicked by his classmates as they spewed antigay epithets at him on his bus ride home from school. The very next day the student was once again the subject of abuse as two of his classmates from the day before made antigay remarks toward him and slapped him across the face and head. His classmates were later arrested and charged with assault and harassment for their actions.

This kind of prejudice can force some gay and transgender people to avoid social settings or neighborhoods that might put them in harm’s way. The end result is higher levels of anxiety and fear of being attacked when doing something as simple as walking down the street. And this can lead them to use substances to ease this anxiety.

Discriminatory laws and practices are another source of minority stress that negatively impacts the gay and transgender population and can lead to drug and alcohol use. In particular, discrimination in employment, housing, relationship recognition, and health care are major areas of concern.

Discrimination in employment

It is currently legal in 29 states for gay and transgender individuals to be denied employment, fired, or discriminated against just because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. A recent article by the Center for American Progress reported that 43 percent of gay and 90 percent of transgender people have experienced discrimination and harassment on the job.

Workplace discrimination poses a real and immediate threat to the economic security of gay and transgender workers by leading to job instability, which affects a person’s ability to earn a steady income and have access to employer-provided health insurance. These issues not only impact the person who has been discriminated against but also threaten the well-being of other people (a partner, spouse, or children) who are financially dependent on that person.

Discrimination in housing

Having access to safe and stable housing is key to well-being. Fifty-six percent of gay individuals and 70 percent of transgender individuals, however, report experiencing some form of discrimination in housing based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Being denied stable and affordable housing makes it much more difficult to maintain employment, access health care, and maintain a safe and stable family structure.

Discrimination in relationship recognition

The debate over marriage for gay couples has been a nationwide news story for nearly two decades now, with frequent and prominent stories in the press that elevate and perpetuate antigay stereotypes and sentiments. Hearing these attacks on a regular basis increases antigay social prejudice and its negative impact on gay people.

Further, only eight states and the District of Columbia allow marriage for gay couples, which means that most families headed by same-sex couples are currently barred from accessing the many public policies and programs that are designed to bolster a family’s economic security (child care tax credits, Social Security survivor benefits, employer-sponsored health insurance in many cases, and the ability to sponsor a partner for citizenship).

Discrimination in health care

A lack of access to affordable and culturally competent health care also contributes to gay and transgender minority stress. Gay and lesbian adults are roughly twice as likely as the general population to be without health insurance coverage, and rates of uninsurance are even higher for transgender and bisexual individuals.

Because our nation lacks a public health insurance system and individual coverage is currently prohibitively expensive, most insured people access coverage through their employers or their spouse’s employer. Unfortunately, widespread workplace discrimination prevents many gay and transgender people from having consistent access to health insurance through their employers. Furthermore, many workplaces do not provide health insurance benefits to same-sex domestic partners. When they do, the cost is higher for these couples, since they have to pay taxes on the insurance benefit, a cost that different-sex married couples do not incur.

Moreover, most private and public plans including Medicare, many state Medicaid programs, and plans sold through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program specifically target transgender people with exclusions that deny coverage for transition-related care. Such exclusions are frequently expanded in practice to deny even basic health care services to transgender people.

Finally, as we discuss in more detail below, many health care providers are not trained to serve gay or transgender patients, which negatively impacts quality of care. These and other forms of discrimination work together to make life for gay and transgender people more expensive, complicated, and difficult. The end result is additional emotional stress and pressure for many people who are gay or transgender.

Cultural competency

Gay and transgender individuals may be hesitant to utilize health care services that can help them overcome substance abuse because they are aware of the likelihood of meeting health care professionals who are unaware of their specific needs or are outright hostile toward them. As a result, gay and transgender individuals may delay substance-abuse treatment or choose not to disclose their sexual or gender minority status, which not only hinders recovery but also undermines their overall health.



Many tobacco-cessation programs are not welcoming of gay and transgender people, for example. A number of these programs do not provide any outward indications that they are inclusive of gay and transgender people and their unique needs, thereby isolating some gay and transgender people who are already apprehensive because of previous experiences they have had accessing care. Given that many gay and transgender people smoke because of stress factors related to their sexual orientation or gender identity, they might not feel comfortable enrolling in these programs or, if they do enroll, the programs might not address the root causes of their addiction.

Socialization and marketing

Bars, clubs, and restaurants have traditionally been places where gay and transgender people can socialize and feel safe. In many of these venues, smoking and drinking remain popular. As a result, higher rates of smoking, drinking, and sometimes drug use occur in these environments.

Tobacco and alcohol companies have exploited gay and transgender social networks to aggressively market their products for decades. In the early 1990s tobacco companies surveyed gay men for branding choices, which resulted in a new program called Subculture Urban Marketing, or SCUM, which targeted minority gay men in San Francisco.

According to a fact sheet by the American Cancer Society, tobacco companies also appeal to the gay and transgender population through direct advertising in national gay and transgender magazines; indirect mainstream magazines with a high number of gay and transgender readers, at times with same-sex undertones; and sponsorships of events or organizations that support gay and transgender issues.

The fact sheet also states, “The [tobacco] industry focuses advertising and sponsorships on themes important to the [gay and transgender] community: liberation, individual- ism, social success, and acceptance.” Such targeted marketing campaigns exacerbate the higher rates of substance use in the gay and transgender population."---http://www.americanprogress.org/iss...on-experiences-higher-rates-of-substance-use/

 

When have children ever seen "education as a desirable endeavor"?

 

When, to them, the good outweighs the bad. That judgment is based on many things - what they learn from their parents, what they learn from the media, what they hear from other kids. Sadly, some kids do get a lot of their worldview from the media - and nowadays that worldview includes the loner-dropout as hero.

 

The meme of the loner-dropout as hero has existed for a long time. In cinema history, it goes back at least to the genre of Spaghetti Westerns.


Individualism as such has a much longer history, and especially in American culture, it is highly valued.


From Wiki:

Individualist anarchism of different kinds have a few things in common. These are:

1. The concentration on the individual and his/her will in preference to any construction such as morality, ideology, social custom, religion, metaphysics, ideas or the will of others.[9][10]

2. The rejection of or reservations about the idea of revolution, seeing it as a time of mass uprising which could bring about new hierarchies. Instead they favor more evolutionary methods of bringing about anarchy through alternative experiences and experiments and education which could be brought about today.[11][12] This is also because it is not seen as desirable for individuals to wait for revolution to start experiencing alternative experiences outside what is offered in the current social system.[13]

3. The view that relationships with other persons or things can be in one's own interest only and can be as transitory and without compromises as desired since in individualist anarchism sacrifice is usually rejected. In this way, Max Stirner recommended associations of egoists.[14][15] Individual experience and exploration therefore is emphasized.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individualist_anarchism


In general, in American culture, the individual is the hero - whether he is on the whole compliant with social norms, or not. Bottomline, the focus is on the individual.

 

I have only anecdotal information - I've heard that traditionally in India, small children of 5 years or so were taught to work and to value work. The cultural value was to get small children to work, not to play. In such a cultural climate, it's normal for children to grow up to be ambitious workers.
Then there's also the traditional Japanese, Chinese and other Far-East cultural practices of getting very small children interested in work.

Of course, a tiger-mom approach in modern Western society seems likely to be criticized and to fail.