In “Homophobia is killing us”, Aguinaldo advocated for a stronger look at heterosexism as a more direct cause to gay men’s health (Aguinaldo, 2008). In the context of 2008, the paper was an excellent call. However, for a long run and more importantly, for more direct impacts to gay men’s health, will the attack on heterosexism be more efficient than helping gay men coping with their homophobia?
Tackling heterosexism can be considered as a socio-cultural approach since “the implication of heterosexism is that non-heterosexuality automatically becomes open to question and subsequently the object of various forms of prejudice and discrimination” (Dermer et. al., 2010, p. 3). One example is embedding LGBTQ contents in highly public projects to boost common awareness and promote inclusion. More specifically, Case recommended “infusing relevant transgender content into lectures and reading materials” (Case et. al, 2009, p. 1). Some schools even have checklists to help ensuring prejudice and discrimination against LGBTQ students are reduced to a minimum (Champaign Schools, 2013).
The difficulty with tackling heterosexism is at least due to numerous social levels and century-old cultural beliefs. Some bias may grow from family and/or close attachments (Zaikman et al., 2016) where public rules and regulations such as the above-mentioned check-list cannot reach. It becomes even more challenging in dealing with century-old beliefs. One example is the case of Hinduism (Human Rights Campaign, 2018). Being the third largest religion in the world, Hinduism strongly believes in reincarnation - souls can travel to other new bodies upon the passing of previous bodies. Considering the fact that the arrival of human intelligence is yet be fully explainable by current sciences, it is understandable that the "soul theory" makes sense to many people. The body - in such case - is crucial as the host of the soul thus the importance of procreation. Hinduism, therefore, does not endorse homosexualism.
Helping people with homophobia could be a more realistic approach since the problem set is better defined than that of heterosexism, the targets (patients) are much smaller in number and the tasks fit the descriptions of clinical psychology more. The key is about developing positive self-identity which is much better done via internal strengths which psychology professionals can help with. However, it can be a challenge if a person is also facing other challenges such as lacks of nutrition, under-developed healthcare, abusive governments, and so on as in the case of life in Afghanistan and Pakistan (D’Avanzo, 2007).
Finally, there are huge differences between domestic and abroad on common issues regarding women as well as LGBTQ. Other than social factors, there could be crucial cultural factors involving religions and time-honored practices. There are also political, economic, and legislative factors. Let us not forget that in some regions of the world, it is possible that being gay is illegal. Therefore, it should be our goal to always approach a problem starting with a bigger picture. It is important to be able to locate resources with accurate information. It is also helpful to know that there are multiple ways to approach a problem.
References
Aguinaldo, J.P. (2008). The social construction of gay oppression as a determinant of gay men’s health: ‘Homophobia is killing us.’ Critical Public Health, 18 (1), 87-96.Case, K.A., Stewart, B., & Tittsworth, J. (2009). Transgender across the curriculum: A psychology for inclusion. Teaching of Psychology, 36, 117-121.
Dermer, S.B., Smith, S.D,. & Barto, K.K. (2010). Identifying and correctly labeling sexual prejudice, discrimination, and oppression. Journal of Counseling & Development, 88, 325-331.
Champaign Schools. (2013). Heterosexism/Cissexism Checklist. Retrieved from https://www.champaignschools.org/sites/default/files/meetings/add_docs/2013-03-26_SJC%20Heterosexism%20Checklist%20Solutions.pdf
Zaikman, Y., Vogel, E., Vicary, A., & Marks, M. (2016, September 1). The Influence of Early Experiences and Adult Attachment on the Exhibit. Retrieved January 21, 2019, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-015-9332-z
Human Rights Campaign. (2018, August 1). Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ Issues: Hinduism. Retrieved January 18, 2019, from https://www.hrc.org/resources/stances-of-faiths-on-lgbt-issues-hinduism
D’Avanzo, C. (2007). Mosby’s pocket guide to cultural health assessment (4th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier.
