IngentaConnect A Review of the Medical Consequences of Homophobia with Suggestio...

Abstract:

Purpose: This review highlights the effects of homophobia, the antipathy or disdain for gay men and lesbians, which is a widespread response to this largely unfamiliar and previously hidden segment of society. Data Sources: Peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed journal articles, published and unpublished survey reports, current newspaper coverage of events, U.S. census data, are all integrated to produce an overview of societal, psychosocial, and medical consequences of homophobia. Data Synthesis: The available information has been analyzed from a psychiatric, medical, and sociocultural perspective in order to provide an update on the known science about homosexuality and the medical effects of homophobia. Conclusions: The medical and psychological effects of homophobic prejudice are profound on the developing self-concept of youths as well as adults who recognize a same-sex orientation. Medical practitioners are not immune from societal prejudice and may demonstrate disdain for gay men and lesbians as patients. Patients perceive this disdain, which alienates them from the medical system, reducing utilization of screening modalities, risking higher morbidity and mortality from infections, cancers, and heart disease. Being gay or lesbian is not genetically or biologically hazardous, but risk factors are conferred through homophobia. Therefore, the process of homophobia—the socialization of heterosexuals against homosexuals and concomitant conditioning of gays and lesbians against themselves—poses a legitimate health hazard. Governmental, institutional, educational, and medical resolutions of homophobia are discussed which would improve the quality of medical care provided to gay men and lesbians, and have a favorable impact on the health and quality of life of this population.

Keywords: Homosexuality; lesbianism; gays; prejudice

Document Type: Review article

Affiliations: 1: Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305-5317 2: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143 3: Executive Director, Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, San Francisco, California 94114 4: Division of Child Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 5: Attending, Physical Medicine, St. Mary's Hospital, San Francisco, California 94117; Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305

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A Review of the Medical Consequences of Homophobia with Suggestions for Resolution