Scientific American Article about Homophobia

Medievalist said:

I realize I have a wretchedly literal mind, but I do think there's a distinction to be made between homophobia—unreasoning, uncontrollable fear of homosexuality to the point that it makes normal life activities like riding a bus, eating in a restaurant or taking an elevator difficult if not impossible—and ordinary run-of-the-mill bigotry and prejudice.

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I was definitely using the everyday meaning of the word (it was introduced to me as a concept in a program our RA put on in our dorms back when I was in college in the 80s, and the term homophobia was used back then as a term for that particular kind of prejudice rather than as a medical diagnosis). I didn't know the meaning of the word had shifted and required an actual medical type diagnosis. I don't know whether or not it is included in the new DSM V (which may be moot, as I understand it is so fraught with problems, some medical practitioners are abandoning it).

I have to admit the image of a bigoted person entering therapy so he/she could get over his/her fear to the point where he/she could frequent places where the people he/she fears are likely to congregate seems unlikely to me.

I was just using this definition.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homophobia?show=0&t=1368990954

I think what Medievalist is trying to say, though, is that using a term like "homophobia" gives a veneer of medical respectability to something that could also be termed, simply, heterosexism, which ties in more closely to the way prejudices are often labeled (with an ism).

This article is an interesting discussion of the different meanings of the term and their possible utility.

There is a lot of debate over whether or not heterosexism has its basis (whether in part or in full) in fear. The original article I posted touched on one possible reason for the fear in at least some individuals. I suppose that may vary, though.


But even on a mental illness level, people with medically-defined phobias (say cynophobia, or acrophobia, for instance) exist on a continuum. I even had a friend with agorophobia (medically diagnosed too) where she was able to function so long as she kept to familiar outdoor areas and kept close to the walls in large, indoor places like theaters and shopping malls. She is able to attend school and hold down a job, though she never goes on vacation.

I think many people who are defined as homophobic in the popular (and not medical sense, if that exists) often do arrange their lives in a similar fashion by avoiding social situations where they are likely to encounter gay and lesbian individuals and by putting on blinders when they can't.

Medievalist said:

Phobias are often crippling, making it impossible for people to leave their home, even for the most ordinary of errands.

Bigots on the other hand tend to make it difficult for other people to function.

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I completely agree with you re this distinction, though I'm still not convinced that the word homophobia usually refers to, or is meant to refer to, an actual clinical disorder, even when it is used by sociologists or psychologists. As far as I know, it has never even been listed in the DSM.


Here's another article I found on the issue of whether or not what is usually called homophobia is based on actual fear or more of a dislike/aversion and also at what point being homophobic could be considered a clinical term/diagnosis versus more of a social one.

http://www.healthcentral.com/anxiety/c/84292/147154/homophobia-fear/

I will add that in scientific terminology, the term phobia does not always mean an actual fear. It can refer to an aversion or incompatibility, and doesn't even require consciousness. For instance, hydrophobic molecules (like lipids) are ones that do not dissolve in water.

Well, people can be scared of anything, and people can have disproportionate, life-disrupting fears of everything from dragonflies to dogs to thunderstorms to open places. In general, things that are ubiquitous in one's environment are more likely to be life disrupting than things that one can arrange their lives to mostly avoid (like thunderstorms if you live somewhere they are rare). I don't know how frequent a genuine clinical phobia of people with a given orientation might be, but I'm sure it exists sometimes.

And yes, Medievalist is right, the DSM V is an interesting piece of work and already attracting a lot of criticism in clinical circles.

Whether most are all hatred and prejudice has its basis (at some level) in fear (though it may not be fear of the object/person themselves but a fear of what they represent--such as change) is another question. There are arguments that misogyny is based on a fear of women and the "power" they have over men (I've always been puzzled by this supposed power) or of the feminine in oneself too.

But misogyny is not called gynophobia