As a society, we feed off each other to know what the appropriate response to something might be. As children, we first watch our mother's reaction after falling; If she's calm, I should be too. We also look at each other to know what the definition of things should be. In the 1950s it was generally obscene for a woman on television to show her navel, whereas today we show our bare breasts on prime time programs. This follows the sociological theory of symbolic interactionism, according to which society and individual social interaction provide subjective meaning to deviant behavior. Many social definitions change for the better, however some change for the worse. Such an example was once considered normal, without second thoughts, but is now seen as a real social problem that negatively affects certain groups. This is the topic of homosexuality, a topic that has been the subject of accepting and discriminating cultures for thousands of years. In the past, the general attitude towards homosexual and bisexual individuals was common acceptance and normality. Homosexuality in native Africa was quite widespread, although it was often repressed by Roman Catholic explorers who encountered these behaviors. Anthropologists Stephen Murray and Will Roscoe reported that “women in Lesotho are engaged in socially sanctioned long-term relationships with each other called motsoalle” (Murray & Roscoe, 1998). In the early Americas, a frequent belief was that all people were “double souls” and were very capable of falling openly in love with any gender. Homosexual and transgender individuals were also common among other pre-conquest Latin American civilizations, such as the Aztecs, Mayans, Quechuas, Zapotecs, and Tupinambá... middle of paper... State. (2008). [Web photo]. Retrieved from http://www.domawatch.org/stateissues/index.htmlSantorum, R. (2012, January 13). We hold these truths. Retrieved from http://www.ricksantorum.com/we-hold-these-truthsMarriage Rights and Benefits. In (2011). NOLO: Law for All Retrieved from http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/marriage-rights-benefits-30190.htmlBlack, T. J. (2010). When is it best to file a joint tax return. The Nest, excerpted from http://budgeting.thenest.com/better-file-joint-income-tax-returns-3363.html(2011). Working salary to salary. (2011). [Web graphics]. Retrieved from http://www.mdmproofing.com/iym/weblog/files/2011_paycheck.pdfBihari, M. (2010). Cost of health insurance. InAbout.com New York, NY: New York Times Publishing. Retrieved from http://healthinsurance.about.com/od/healthinsurancebasics/a/cost_of_health_insurance.htm