Gay men in denial
(CBS News) Do homophobic people actually horror their own unconscious feelings? A recent study suggests that people who repress their own sexual attraction to the same sex are more likely to express hostility towards gays.
"In many cases these are people who are at war with themselves and they are turning this internal conflict outward," analyze co-author Dr. Richard Ryan, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, said in a university written statement.
In four separate experiments conducted in the U.S. and in Germany, each involving an average of college students, researchers attempted to measure any differences between what people verb about their sexual orientation and how they actually react. Their findings are published in the April issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
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For one experiment, researchers used pos and picture tests to subliminally prime participants with either the word "me" or "others," and then asking t
Internalised homophobia and oppression happens to gay, lesbian and bisexual people, and even heterosexuals, who own learned and been taught that heterosexuality is the norm and “correct way to be”. Hearing and seeing negative depictions of LGB people can direct us to internalise, or take in, these negative messages. Some LGB people suffer from mental distress as a result.
A general sense of personal worth and also a positive view of your sexual orientation are critical for your mental health. You, like many lesbian, gay and bisexual people, may have hidden your sexual orientation for a long moment. Research carried out in Northern Ireland into the needs of young LGBT people in revealed that the average age for men to realise their sexual orientation was 12, yet the average age they actually confided in someone was It is during these formative years when people are coming to understand and acknowledge their sexual orientation that internalised homophobia can really affect a person.
Internalised homophobia manifests itself in varying ways that can be linked to mental health. Examples
The ‘Global Closet’ is Huge—Vast Majority of World’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Population Mask Orientation, YSPH Revise Finds
The vast majority of the world’s sexual minority population — an estimated 83 percent of those who determine as lesbian, gay or bisexual — keep their orientation hidden from all or most of the people in their lives, according to a unused study by the Yale School of Public Health that could have major implications for global public health.
Concealing one’s sexual orientation can lead to significant mental and physical health issues, increased healthcare costs and a dampening of the public visibility necessary for advancing equal rights, said John Pachankis, Ph.D., associate professor at the Yale University of Public Health. He co-authored the study with Richard Bränström, an associate professor at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and investigate affiliate at Yale.
Published in the journal PLOS ONE, the study is believed to be the first attempt to quantify the size of the “global closet” in order to gauge its public health impact.
“Given rapidly increasing acceptanc
'How I found out my partner was gay'
They had married in and hold two children - she says she was "very content and in love".
But there were signs something wasn't right, including gay dating profiles on his computer, which he explained away. In he said he was bisexual but wanted to be with her.
Carol admits she was probably in denial but thought they would find a way through it as he was the man with whom she wanted to spend her life.
A year later it came to a head when he came home, said he was gay, and left.
"I thought my whole world had fallen apart but then he came back and said let's stay together for the sake of the kids. I didn't know what to do so we lived a lie for two years. To anyone else we looked like a normal happy couple," she said.
But it didn't work and they divorced.
Carol says the difficulty was the shock - he'd had time to get used to it but for her it happened so quickly. He's now married to a man and she says they get on for the sake of their children.
"It took me a prolonged time to verb over