This morning we discussed in our group about what is a good definition of homophobia could be and after that we wanted to find out if we were able to find the sources in which homophobia develop.
At first everbody had to write down their own defenition of homophobia and discuss it with someone of the other group members. After we have done that we made a group round to see how everybody had defined homophobia.
And when you combine all the different anwers that were given this morning you could define the definition of homophobia in two: first there is your own fear of not being accepted when you openly come out for your sexuality. Als second you could mention the fear of the society for the
unknown.
Then Miha explained to use how in sociology the term homophobia and heterosexism are used in time and how we can see that through a personal definition of homophobia a lot of misunderstandings, myths, beliefs and prejudice are born. And that media, education and the culture we live don't take these away, but mostly confirm them. That is why a certain attitude among non-homosexuals is born very easly, because already having there own definition and getting it confirmed in society makes it easy to develop a certain attitude against homosexual people. How far people want to go in that differs, but discriminatory practice is a common thing and in some countries can go as far as in voilence against people who are being open about their sexualty. Thinking of homophobia we can see it as an unability of the society to face with homo erotisizm.
The next question that then came up is how can we find a way to stop the lack of information. The first thing to then do is find the sources and practices of homophobia. In our workshop we disscused it in three groups that all talked about a different kind of learning/education. Knowing, school, non-formal education and high education.
In all the groups the lack of knowledge came up very strongly. And the fact that people react based on their lack of knowledge makes it difficult to change their reaction.
One of the things that could be done in schools is that children are already taught that it is not strange to have a relationship with someone from the same sex. In (youth) organisations it should no longer be a no-go subject to talk about discrimination of homosexual people. And being homosexual should no longer have influence on your career, reputation or reactions from your social environment.