Homosexual Stigma and Sex Education

Homosexual Stigma and Sex Education

Social stigma is a powerful influence on human behavior. Negative stigmatization plays a significant role in the decision to participate in programs whose nature reveals personal information capable of exposing the individual to negative stereotypes and prejudices associated with specific information. Many homosexuals and others with sexual preferences or gender identities that conflict with mainstream society experience great difficulty coming to terms with their orientation and often delay any acknowledgment in that regard long into adulthood to avoid the negative social consequences associated with openly admitting to homosexuality or non-traditional gender identity. As a result, it is not feasible to introduce sex education for homosexuals, especially during adolescence and early adulthood when the need to fit in and avoid social criticism is highest and the relative ability to cope with and process adverse social feedback healthily is at its lowest.

Introduction:

Sex education is part of the public school curriculum precisely because it serves an important function. First, it is an opportunity to provide the information necessary to prevent teenage pregnancy; second, it provides a similar opportunity to dispense crucial information about safe sex to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); third, it allows teenagers to discuss sexual issues and concerns and to ask questions in a forum where their curiosity and questions can be answered by qualified adults.

In principle, sex education is equally important for homosexual students and those with non-traditional gender identities; in fact, in some respects, it may be even more important to provide such information to these students. While pregnancy is not as much of a concern in this group, STD transmission and safe sex is just as important. Moreover, because of the additional psychological, social, and emotional challenges associated with alternate sexual or gender orientation in society, sex education geared specifically to these students may address several important issues not faced by their heterosexual classmates.

However, the prevailing susceptibility to negative stigmatization makes it somewhat unrealistic to include any sex education program in public schools simply because the negative consequences associated with non-traditional sexual or gender identity in American society would deter the vast majority of students from participating in any such programs. That is unlikely to change unless or until society changes the way it views those whose sexual or gender identity does not meet mainstream norms.

Research Methods

The research for this project consisted of: (1) primary research in the form of an interview with Courtney Jones of Wingspan, a Tucson Arizona organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights; and (2) secondary research in the form of a review of scholarly literature on the subject of (a) social stigma, and (b) the psychological issues arising in connection with acknowledging homosexuality and non-traditional gender identities in contemporary society. That secondary research consisted of a review of one scholarly, peer-reviewed journal article, two undergraduate Sociology textbooks, an undergraduate Psychology textbook authored by a world-renowned theoretical psychologist and professor of human psychology, and a non-fiction sociological trade book titled Stigma and Sexual Orientation: Understanding Prejudice against Lesbians, Gay Men and Bisexuals by Gregory Herek (1998).

Herek details the origin of homophobia in contemporary society and the manner in which prevailing social attitudes and prejudices lead directly to violence against individuals in the gay community. Both Sociology textbooks detail the importance of social conformity in societies throughout the human community, and the Psychology textbook explains the significance of self-esteem in human life, the stages of psychological growth and emotional development in the individual, and the tremendous impact that negative social stigmatization can have on young people, especially.

Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo has been a professor of Psychology at Stanford University since 1968 and is one of this nation's most famous psychological researchers. In 1970, his Stanford Prison Experiment dramatically illustrated the capacity of ordinary individuals to develop abusive and even sadistic impulses in a classic experiment that has been widely taught to undergraduate Psychology students for nearly four decades. More recently, Dr. Zimbardo was enlisted by the U.S. government in connection with understanding the abuses that transpired at the now infamous Abu Ghraib prison facility.

Discussion of Findings:

Even in contemporary U.S. society, a homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender identity is not well received and exposes the individual to intense social ostracism (Herek, 1998 p21-22). Even worse, outright violence against homosexuals is extremely common, partly because homophobia is largely condoned and even encouraged in many ways, notwithstanding public proclamations of the importance of social tolerance (Herek, 1998 p89-91).

While the Herek book provided a comprehensive explanation of the problem of homophobia and anti-gay/lesbian prejudice and violence, its value may be partially limited by its publication date, at least with respect to any changes in American society since its writing. In that regard, the primary research of interviewing Ms. Jones was especially helpful. Unfortunately, instead of revealing that the situation had changed appreciably in the last decade, the information provided by the interview strongly suggested that little if anything has changed.

The fact that stigmatization is still such a powerful obstacle to publicly acknowledging non-traditional sexual orientation or gender identity (Henslin, 2002 p130; Macionis, 2003 p198; Major & O'Brien, 2005 p396) means that the prospect of implementing sex education programs in the public school system is unlikely to be successful for lack of participation. That conclusion is further bolstered by the tremendous personal challenges faced by adolescents in particular, in connection with "coming out" at the most vulnerable stage of their emotional development (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2007 p381).