Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Queer Labelled as a Mental Illnesss
In the video attached, it shows the type of ignorance people had in the 1970’s towards homosexuality. At 3:50 in the video, the narrator says that ‘Ralph’ had “a sickness of the mind”. It’s hard to believe how people could have even thought like that, by judging others with such harsh discrimination. I think that many people feared anything that was different from the ‘normal’ person. Most people in that time wanted to get rid of the thing that scared them. It continues to say that homosexuals can be violent and even possible killers. The video makes it seem that all queer are pure evil and cannot be trusted. I know of many cases where heterosexual men and woman have done much worse.
Over thirty years ago, homosexuality (Anything that wasn’t the typical heterosexual orientation) was labelled as a mental illness (Herek, 2007). Fortunately, it is no longer seen as an illness or as something that can be cured by a pill or needle.
The mainstream thought many years ago, was that homosexuality was pathological and that all adults with sexual minorities should try to become heterosexual to fit better into society. There was an assumption that since homosexuals had higher rates of psychological problems than heterosexuals did, and then homosexuality must be some sort of an illness (Meyer 2003). Well known psychologist, Sigmund Freud (1905) had a basic theory of human sexuality. He believed that all humans begin with the same sexual orientation (bisexual) and only through personal experiences will they become either hetero or homosexual. In a letter Freud wrote to a mother in 1935, Freud states that, “Homosexuality is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation, it cannot be classified as an illness”. Even in the 1930’s, someone realised that there is nothing wrong with being a sexual minority.
Canadian Mental Health Association defines mental illness as changes to a person’s “thinking, mood or behaviour associated with significant distress and impaired functioning”. Homosexuals may have a different way to think or behave to certain things but it doesn’t mean that they are impaired in any way, shape, or form.
As I stated before, the average person is frightened by anything that is even slightly different from what they are used to. It may be something like different sexual orientation or, something we can all relate to, going to university for the first time. We were scared because it was bigger, we had fewer friends in our classes, and the teaching style for some was not the same. It’s okay to be scared of change but the second that we push those differences away and single them out for their own personal lifestyle, it needs to be realised that we all need to see each other as equals.
-Nicole (Nikki) S.
Canadian Mental Health Association (n.d.)
Retrieved from:
http://www.cmha.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=4-42-215
Gregory M. Herek and Linda D. Garnets (April 2007) Sexual Orientation and Mental Health, Vol. 3: 353-375
Retrieved from:
http://www.annualreviews.org.proxy1.lib.umanitoba.ca/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.3.022806.091510
Meyer IH. (2003) Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychol. Bull. 129:674–97
Sigmund Freud (1905)
Retrieved from:
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_mental_health.html
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It is hard to watch a video that displays homosexuality as being so immorally wrong and sick that you could find yourself in jail for identifying yourself as that. I find it even harder to fathom that some people today still hold some of those beliefs. I honestly do not know what it is going to take to change the long held beliefs by many that being gay, lesbian, or bisexual is morally wrong. How many more years is it going to take for discrimination to pass? Do you think that there will ever be a time were sexual minorities are not discriminated against? I want to say yes for hope's sake, but a large part of me doubts this.
ReplyDelete-Morgan
Hi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteThe video is a really interesting time piece, it's strange to see that so-called 'homosexuals' were depicted as preying on children. It is strange to me that same-sex attraction was classified as a mental illness. They even used to use electro shock treatment as a 'cure' for being gay or lesbian. Makes me think about how far we've come!
-Julianna
Great post Nikki! I agree with you here, that there are many causes of man and women violence if not even more. I think its sad that people would even think that homosexual individuals would be consider " killers" and even said to have a " mental Illness" that just sickens me. I believe that everyone is their own person and can make their own choices and no one should have a say in what they believe. Like you said we all need to see each other as equals.
ReplyDeleteSara
If the video's angle was on pedophilia, then I'm sure we would all agree with it, BUT they are demonizing the homosexual instead and lumping him with pedos.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I do not appreciate that they put the coloured man as the violent homosexual; that just perpetrates another negative stereotype.
Kel
This video is messed up and I'm shocked that it was only dates back to the 70's. It seems obvious to me that they're demonstrating a blatent bias by lumping pedophilia with homosexuality as if one has anything to do with the other. Twisted! Also, I didn't realize it at first, but as Kel said, I'm sure portraying the coloured man as the more violent one was no accident.
ReplyDeleteJulia
I didn't even notice that Kel! And yes, I agree with you Julia in that they most likely did that on purpose. People in the past just had no tolerance for anyone that was not the typical "norm". I'm glad to say that there are less people as openly vocal about dicriminating towards queer and race nowadays. Hopefully one day it will be eliminated altogther.
ReplyDelete-Nicole (Nikki) S.
This video from 1970 is astounding, it hard to believe that this is how being a homosexual was portrayed to people. it really shows the stigmas that are out there against someones sexual orientation. Although, we still have a long way to go before same sex marriage is legalized everywhere. Good post Nikki, it was very interesting.
ReplyDelete-Chandra B
Wonderful post! That video is so wrong and it frustrates me to see that people used to actually think that way. There are so many LGBTTQ* individuals in the world and to think that they were all labeled as having a mental illness is upsetting. I am thankful that things have changed for the better.
ReplyDelete-Brigitte
It is extremely sad how the LGBTTQ* population was treated and everything they had to go through. I can not even imagine how hard it would be to live in a time like that. It is so obvious to me why they have more mental illnesses than heterosexuals just look at how they were portrayed and how that would effect someone. The more i read all the blogs I wonder if there should be a change in cirriculum at schools by adding a whole new class to the system. Policies do not always make any changes but just force people to do what they say. If we could educate a topic of equality to children teaching them about all minorities, LGBTTQ*, mental illnesses, dissabilities, immigrants and different cultures then maybe they will grow up to accept, understand and appreciate differences in people and the world would be a much happier place to live in.
ReplyDeleteBrittany