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The Jamaican Homophobic Culture: PART I- Homophobia

 

The Oprah show on Friday, April 11, 2008 was a rebroadcast of the show “Gay around the World” that first aired in October 2007. The Oprah show selected to concentrate on 3 countries: India, Jamaica and the USA. I was surprised and yet not surprise by the selection of Jamaica for such a show.

 

(Watch the Interview with Jamaican Stacey Ann Chin). For many, gay and straight alike, around the world there is a belief that Jamaicans are amongst the most homophobic people in the world. This belief is fuelled by stories of physical violence being meted out to gays sometimes with fatal results. The scary thing about Jamaica is that oftentimes the groups that are set up to protect human rights are in violation of those rights: like the police and the church.

20051129T170000-0500_93580_OBS_EDITORIAL_CARTOON_1

SOURCE: Jamaica Observer

 

This series is an exploration into Homophobia and also my opinions on the homophobic culture in Jamaica. As usual your comments are welcome.

HOMOPHOBIA IN JAMAICA:

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20051220/news/news5.html

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070325/focus/focus2.html

http://jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20070214t220000-0500_119155_obs_cops_save_three_alleged_homosexuals_from_angry_crowd.asp

20070428T020000-0500_122324_OBS_MOB_BEATS_CROSS_DRESSER_1

Source: Jamaica Observer

ORIGINS

The term homophobia was created about thirty years ago by a psychologist George Weinsberg (Wickberg, 2000). The term was used to pathologise people who held certain attitudes towards homosexuals. In fact, Weinsberg referred to it as “a disease… a mental illness” (Wickberg, 2000, p. 46). The irony is that up to the end of 1973 it was homosexuality that was considered a mental disease according to the American Psychological Association, but now it was homophobia that was considered the illness and homosexual implied to be normal (Wickberg, 2000). According to Bohan (1996), Homophobia is “an irrational fear (phobia) of homosexual people and the qualities attributed to them; by extension, it describes a fear of being associated or in close company with these individuals” (p. 38).

The Most Homophobic Place on Earth? - TIME

The discourse that homosexuality is wrong has its foundation in biblical stories of God creating Adam and Eve, man and woman to be together. Also the story of ‘Sodom and Gomorra’ (Ratzinger, 1995), the city where it is implied that homosexuality was practiced was burnt to the ground. Other power structures include the media, especially advertising and music where the dominant discourse is the display of heterosexual families or romantic love as existing only between a man and a woman. Entertainer Sizzla takes on Homosexuality

 

Readings

Bohan, J.S. (1996). Psychology and sexual orientation: Coming to terms. New York, NY: Routledge.

Ratzinger, J.C. (1995). Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic church on the pastoral care of homosexual persons. In R.M. Baird & M.K. Baird (Eds.), Homosexuality: Debating the issues (pp. 203-210). Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.

Wickberg, D. (2000). Homophobia: On the cultural history of an idea. Critical Inquiry, 27(1), 42-57.

 

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