Psychology of Homophobia

The psychological basis of homophobia: cultural construction of a barrier.

Integr Psychol Behav Sci. 2007 Dec;41(3-4):225-47; discussion 326-34.

Madureira AF

The main goals of this article are: (a) to analyze the intricate relations between sexuality, gender, culture and power, and more precisely, the connections between homophobia and sexism; and (b) to analyze the psychological and cultural basis of homophobia and its affective roots. The model of the semiotic regulatory system and the general notion of tension between the two processes (specified by Ernest Boesch)--Heimweh ("homeward road"--striving towards the known and the secure) and the Fernweh ("road to the far away"--adventure, encountering novelty) is used as the theoretical ways to analyze homophobia as a cultural barrier. It is suggested: homophobia is a boundary phenomenon of affective meaning making, a collective historical-cultural construction. Presented in the conclusion are some implications of the promotion of strategies against homophobia in our societies.

Institute of Psychology, University of Brasilia, Brasilia, DF, Brazil. afam2001@terra.com.br
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"Homophobia": a dialogical-semiotic approach.

Integr Psychol Behav Sci. 2007 Dec;41(3-4):262-71; discussion 326-34.

Gonçalves MM, Machado C

The target article from Madureira--The psychological basis of homophobia: Construction of a cultural barrier--is a very rich theoretical proposal, drawing on from different fields, from cultural psychology to the dialogical theories of the self. Despite its richness, in this commentary we will question some of its implicit and explicit assumptions. It seems to us that the author treats "homophobia" as a hegemonic cultural discourse, ignoring that a mixture of opposing discourses are nowadays available at a cultural level towards lesbians and gays, with important consequences at interpersonal and intrapersonal level. In addition, the very concept of "homophobia" (with its implicit assumptions from the field of psychopathology: "phobia") suggests a very static and intrapersonal way of understanding the diversity of the social mechanisms that underlie sexual prejudice. The way the author describes and tries to clarify the semiotic processes implied in the construction of the interpersonal and psychological barrier involved in "homophobia", in our opinion, also needs to be further developed. The use of the opposition between HEIMWEH and FERNWEH in the explanation of the barrier it is not, from our view, a description of a (semiotic) process but more a description of an outcome. In order to overcome these problems, we suggest some possible ways to approach this phenomenon from a semiotic and dialogical perspective.

Department of Psychology, University do Minho, 4710 Braga, Portugal. mgoncalves@iep.uminho.pt
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