The word homophilia, in a literal way can be defined as " love for equals "; in a social environment it refers to the inclination of certain individuals to relate to others who are very similar to them. Therefore, it could be said that it relies on the basic element of communication that supports the exchange of ideas that is frequently manifested between people defined as equals.
These similarities of which we speak refer to different attributes that these people may possess such as education, beliefs, social class, among others, that is to say that although on many occasions sexual connotations are attached to it, it does not always have to refer to this, due to it can be associated to a friendship that share different interests, inclinations, tendencies, etc. that is, people with a union based on shared interests.
For its part, homophilia harboring sexual connotations is used as an alternative word to homosexuality; A term that was used a lot in the 1950s and 1960s by the different homosexual organizations and publications; therefore, the groups existing in this period are known today as the homophile movement.
Then, in the late 1960s and early 70s, referring to this context, the word homophilia began to cease to be used thanks to the emergence of gay liberation movements, to be replaced by new terms such as gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual, however it should be noted that certain homophilic groups survived until 1980, 1990 and even until 2000.
It was Karl-Günther Heimsoth, a German psychoanalyst, astrologer, and author who coined the term homophily in his doctoral dissertation Hetero- und Homophilie in 1924, and it was since then that the concept began to be widely used in sociology and others. fields.
