ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the postulation that sexuality is not an isolated and clearly defined component limited to a reflection of sexual choice and straight-forward identities. Homophobia is fuelled by established moral traditions that abhor transgression and aim to secure the hierarchy of gender and sexual roles. It is easy to see how in this culturally adverse climate, alternative approaches to sexuality, even simply the choice not to marry, are discouraged through complex social mechanisms and when they float to the surface, making themselves apparent, they are greatly frowned upon. Ironically, an index for assessing the magnitude of sexual oppression in Cyprus is provided by the silence on the issue. Issues concerning sexual difference are largely absent from curriculum of public school education in the Cyprus Republic. Interestingly, the closest high school students get to being confronted with homosexuality is when studying the poetry of canonical poet Constantine Cavafy, whose poems are often explicit declarations of homoerotic desire, homosexual love.
