Are you a Heterosexism?

Have you ever asked yourself  this question when you face the mirror  in the morning ?

"Why am I a gay/lesbian/transgender/bisexual?"

It sounds silly to ask yourself this question early in the morning, but my LGBT friends told me that this was the question they would ask themselves in the past. They were upset and confused with the truth that they are LGBT, especially in the stage of self-recognition as a LGBT person.

What is Heterosexism?

In short, heterosexism is the "presumption of heterosexuality" that has sociological implications. As heterosexual relationships are seen as the mainstream (and so "normal") in the society, a heterosexist person feels justified in suppressing or ignoring those who do not follow that model. To make it more complex,  heterosexism can be at personal or institutional level

Ø Level 1 - Promotion or perpetuation of the superiority of heterosexuality

Ø Level 2 - Denying non-heterosexuals access to similar rights and privileges (legal, financial and social)

Ø Level 3 - Assumption that everyone is heterosexual

Self reflection

I believe a self-awareness of whether you are homophobic will be essential  to assess your perception and belief about LGBT. If you plan to be a clinical practitioner in future, you might probably encounter LGBT clients, your understanding of your value and perception on LGBT issues will be an important element for you to work with them.  Being heterosexual does not work against your therapeutic relationship with your LGBT clients, however, not being aware in your belief, values and heterosexism will hinder your work.

Of course, if you are not a psychology student or do not plan to be practitioner, a self-assessment of homophobic test will probably explain to you some of the doubts and behaviors you might have when you deal with LGBT individuals (social setting, school, workplace and etc)

Let's take up this Homophobic scale test  and please be honest to yourself  while you are taking the test.There are two simple Homophobic scale test here.

1) Are You Homophobic?
Weigh your attitudes and beliefs about homosexuals on the "Homophobia Scale" by Wright, Adams and Bernat Homophobia Scale
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/assault/etc/quiz.html

 

2) Index of Attitudes towards Gays and Lesbian

Forgive me that I couldn't get an online survey for this test, so I had to create the form on my own.  You have to do this test manually but you only need less than 15 minutes to complete this test

https://sites.google.com/site/homophobicscaletest

Adopted from Oogachaga , a NGO that provide counseling and personal development organization for LGBT individuals in Singapore

Scoring

Ø Reverse the scores for items 3, 5,7,8,10,11,13, 15, 17 and 19 by changing 1 to 5, 2 to 4, 4 to 2, 5 to 1 (3 remains the same)

Ø Add up the total and subtract 20

Score	Degree of comfort in close quarters with gays/lesbians
Between 0 and 20	Probably accepting of homosexuality
Between 21 and 40	Probably moderately accepting of homosexuality
Between 41 and 60	Probably moderately homophobic
Between 61 to 80	Probably very homophobic

After taking the test, you should be more aware of your attitudes and beliefs towards homosexual by now. Whether you are homophobic or non-homophobic, I do hope that you could have an open-minded towards the topic I would like to share and discuss in this blog.

References

Carroll JL. (2010). Sexuality Now: Embracing diversity (3rd ed). Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Choong B. (2011). Handling sexuality issues. Singapore: Oogachaga.

Frontline. (n.d) Homophobia Questionnaire. Retrived 5 Oct, 2012 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/assault/etc/quiz.html