Sexual orientation prejudice and homophobic bullying

energizeual orientation prejudice and discriminatory push aroundIn todays hostelry, many another(prenominal) man individuals be dealing with harassment, threats, and fury on a daily basis. Homosexuals be far more app arnt to be victims of a violent hate crime than any opposite minority grouping in the United States, according to a new analysis of federal hate crime statistics (Southern Poverty Law Center, 2010). research shows that al some two thirds of lesbian, comic and bisexual teens experience prejudiced hector in British directs (Equality and charitable rights commission, 2007). Similarly, many transsexual(prenominal) teens in U.S. drills are often subjected to such intense browbeat that they are unable to fix a satisfactory level of education (Chase, 2001), with 28% of braw students displace out altogether (Bart, 1998).Homophobic determent is currently an issue of plaguey proportions in society today, so much so that both the British Prime Minister David Cameron, the U.S. President Barack Obama, and many more politicians, activists and celebrities have put down personal messages for the It gets better track down, a project roofy up in September 2010 to inspire hope for gay youth facing harassment. This campaign came about as a response to the recent string of suicides among newfangled homosexuals in the U.S.I live that the design of an hindrance to tackle the puzzle of sexual orientation prejudice and homophobic intimidation is of the upmost immenseness to society, as the benefits to society from reducing homophobic ballyrag would far surmount the costs of funding this intervention in schooltimes. The harm from bullying and the chime it takes not only on unsalted homosexual teens but in any case to society at large is far greater than people realize. I feel it is less likely that a youngster result espouse in life and have the office to fully contribute to society without an adequate level of education. S tatistics show that anti-gay bullying truncates a childs academic ability to excel for example, 7 out of 10 pupils who experience homophobic bullying state this has an impact on their school work and too their attending (Stonewall, 2007). And the cost, while initially about the child, is a greater cost to us as a society in the long run.However, perhaps the most signifi jakest cause of concern to society is the grave issue of suicides perpetrate by gay teens. In September 2010 alone, 5 young people, victims of homophobic bullying, committed suicide. One of these victims, 18- form-old Tyler Clementi, jumped off the George Washington Bridge in impudent York City after(prenominal) discovering house clearmates has posted videos of his sexual encounters on the internet. Another, thirteen-year-old Asher Brown, shot himself after severe harassment by fellow classmates. I feel that this snowball effect of teen suicides in the U.S. highlights the damaging effect of homophobic bullying to society, and I am proposing an intervention to prevent such occurrences from escalating.AimsThe target area of this intervention is to subjugate the incidences of homophobic bullying behaviour in the mainstream school mountain by changing attitudes towards homophobic bullying. In order to do this I would suggest educating pupils on issues around sexual orientation and overly on the severe negative consequences of bullying. I would introduce weekly classes in the course of study designed to focus on these pull up stakesicular issues for example, it could be taught in verdant care classes, not only with the aim of educating the children and reducing the bullying, but too empowering pupils to report bullying. One recent study which has had major success with the origin of a gay awareness class was Stoke Newington School in London. In one lesson, pupils were taught about significant gay historical figures who positively contributed to society, such as authors and playwrigh ts James Baldwin and Oscar Wilde, artist Andy Warhol, and mathematician, computer science innovate and war time code breaker Alan Turing. Elly Barnes, the teacher who runs the class in Stoke Newington School, express that, four years on from when she initiated the scheme, homophobic bullying has been more or less eradicated in the school (Learner, 2010). I feel that this case is a positive and pioneering exemplar from which many schools could learn.DesignAs I feel a one-time lecture on homophobic bullying would have little impact on levels of bullying in the long-term, I am proposing a weekly class to be run in schools with the agenda of educating pupils on issues around sexual orientation and also on the severe negative consequences of bullying. I would introduce weekly classes in the political platform designed to focus on these particular issues for example, it could be taught in agricultural care classes, not only with the aim of educating the children and reducing the bull ying, but also empowering pupils to report bullying. I am proposing that the intervention take place at the school setting, as bullying so often stems from within the school environment, and the aim is to eradicate this at the grass roots.MethodsBefore starting the intervention I would measure the pupils attitudes towards homosexuality using an affective questionnaire and a cognitive questionnaire the Index of Homophobia (Hudson and Ricketts, 1980) and the Modified attitudes towards sexuality scale (Price, 1982), respectively. I would then quest students to fill out these questionnaires again at the end of the school year so as to measure whether attitudes have been improve following the intervention.I would use a direct approach to trim the sexual orientation prejudice by including a weekly pastoral care class into the schools curriculum in which educators would provoke diversity in multicultural societies, group equality, and teach pupils about the history of the Gay Rights M ovement. I would also aim to get the pupils involved by having group discussions and role-plays to increase empathy for outgroups, and by take in gay guest speakers in order to improve sympathy and attitudes, and to correct some misguided stereotypes and faulty generalisations that heterosexual pupils may hold against their homosexual classmates. I would also hope that having the chance to meet a positive role model from the gay community who does not adapt to the negative stereotypes would pretend dissonance-induced attitude change. I would attempt to change the hearty norms of the school environment, by introducing a zero tolerance policy in the school, which states that no-one shall be discriminated against for their religion, race, disability, or sexual orientation, and educate the teachers so that they also moldinessiness(prenominal) follow this policy.Also, I would set aside a class to whistle about the issue of derogatory phrases and how they could make gay students f eel, as a recent study showed that 97% of gay pupils hear offensive phrases such as dyke, bender or poof used in school and 98% of gay pupils hear the phrases thats so gay when people are referring to something they feel is rubbish or stupid (Stonewall, 2007). The intention would be to create perspective-taking (i.e. How would you feel if you were gay and heard those derogatory phrases?) and instil empathy for the outgroup.One metaphysical framework which supports this is the Intergroup play Theory (Allport, 1954). Allport proposed that intergroup assemble between two groups should drop prejudice as long as the following were present reciprocal group goals, equal status, intergroup co-operation and support of authorities. Therefore in the intervention, I would set tasks which both groups would have to work on to achieve a place goal, I would structure the task so as the groups must affirm upon each other in order to achieve this superordinate goal, and I would make sure that equality of all sexual orientations is promoted. The school itself and its educators would throw as the authority which supports both groups. I feel that this would work in either a real situation (whereby gay individuals have unwrap their sexuality to their classmates and feel confident to be categorized as homosexual) or in an imagined situation (for example, a role-play, as many pupils who are gay may not wish to disclose this information, nor would we force them to do so). I believe that the latter may well occur as in order to avoid social stigma many gay young people hide their sexuality. Therefore, in this instance I would use the hypothetic framework of Imagined Intergroup Contact (Crisp Turner, 2009). This theory suggests that simply getting participants to conjure up a mental simulation of a positive intergroup encounter leads to improved attitudes towards the outgroup.I would also use indirect approaches to reduce prejudice by educating pupils on moral reasoning, promo te egalitarianism within the school setting, and promote respect, understanding and tolerance of others no matter what their play down is. I would also incorporate modern media into the school environment, such as using examples from music, image and TV programs to teach pupils about other cultures and groups. This is supported by the Parasocial contact hypothesis theory (Schiappa, Gregg and Hewes, 2005), which states that the illusion of face-to-face contact with interaction can change prejudices, as people process mass media relationships in the equivalent way as they process real-life interpersonal interactions. Schiappa, Gregg and Hewes (2005) set in motion that parasocial contact reduced prejudice toward the outgroup.Although the intergroup contact theory can be used for many groups such as opposing ethnic minority groups, opposing spiritual groups, opposing sports teams and so on, research has shown that the theory has been particularly successful in reducing prejudice to ward homosexuals. Applying the intergroup contact theory to sexual orientation groups, Herek (1987) found that heterosexuals who had experience of pleasant interactions with a homosexual tend to accept the homosexual community in general. It was also shown that increased contact with a homosexual was a better predictor of changed attitudes than any other factor, including gender, race, socioeconomic background and so on (Herek and Glunt, 1993).I would also create a schoolroom discussion about why certain individuals may feel threaten by homosexuals, and address the issues as to why this symbolic threat may come about, such as perceiving that your ingroups moral values and phantasmal beliefs are different from the outgroups. I would increase perceptions of similarity between hetersexuals and homosexuals by bring out examples of gay individuals who are good role models, religious, and so on, to show that they are not so different from straight people.One issue we must think about when introducing such curriculum into the school setting is whether put ups will approve. I would propose sending letters home to parents detailing the intentions shtup the sexual orientation awareness class and highlighting the need to reduce bullying within the school. However, I would ensure that children could withdraw from the class if they powerfully wish to do so as some of the pupils families or religious/cultural communities may be homophobic and may disapprove of their participation, and we would not want the pupils to suffer negatively from attending this class, for example, to become ostracised from their community. Therefore we would strongly encourage students to take part, but would not force it upon them. However, the teacher who pioneered the gay awareness class in the Stoke Newington School in London, Elly Barnes, stated that she has only ever received a few complaints A parent complained after her son told her he had seen a film at the school that showed two m en kissing. I told her we are an inclusive school and it is part of the curriculum(Learner, 2010).In conclusion, I propose that a school-based intervention is essential to reduce sexual orientation prejudice and homophobic bullying amongst teens in schools. I would hope that a curriculum which promotes diversity, understanding, acceptance and equality will go a long way in reducing homophobic bullying and equally, I am optimistic that the introduction of an anti-discrimination policy which all students and teachers must follow will help protect the students.ResourcesAllport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, MA Perseus BooksBart, M. (1998). Creating a safer school for gay students. Counseling Today.Chase, A. (2001). Violent Reaction What do stripling Killers have in Common? In these Times.Crisp Turner (2009). posterior Imagined Interactions Produce Positive Perceptions? Reducing Prejudice Through Simulated friendly Contact. American Psychologist, Vol 64, sleep w ith 4, pg.231-240.Herek, G. M. (1987) The instrumentality of attitudes Toward a neofunctional theory. Journal of Social Issues, 42, 99-114.Herek, G. M., Glunt, E. K. (1993). interpersonal contact and heterosexuals attitudes toward gay men Results from a national survey. Journal of Sex Research, 30, 239-244.Hudson, W.W. Ricketts, W.A. (1980). A strategy for the measurement of homophobia. Journal of homosexuality, 5, 357-372.Learner, S. Making homophobia history. In The Guardian, p5 of the EducationGuardian section, October twenty-sixth 2010 issue.Price, J. H. (1982). High school students attitudes toward homosexuality. Journal of School Health 52 469-474.Schiappa, E., Gregg, P., Hewes, D. (2005) The Parasocial Contact Hypothesis. Communication Monographs, 72, 92-115The School Report The experiences of young gay people in Britains schools. (2007) Stonewall.Under attack (2010) The Intelligence Report, Southern Poverty Law centre, Issue 40.Valentine, G. Wood, N. (2010) The experien ces of lesbian, gay and bisexual staff and students in higher education. Equality and Human rights commission, research summary 39.