The term “phobia” originates from the Greek, phobos. and means an irrational and intense fear of something, or a persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things or people. Phobias are mental disorders or even mental illnesses, whose definitions embrace at least 105 different kinds of anxiety (according to the Penguin Dictionary of Psychology).
These range from those categorized as mild to those considered “acute,” depending on the nature of the disorder. The further it is from a sense of what is real and the more intense the anxiety disorder experienced, the more the likely the disorder would is considered “acute,” or categorized as mental illness.
From the explanation above, clearly an individual with a phobia is an individual who has a psychological problem which may require treatment or therapy. It is not difficult to overcome a mild phobia, for example acrophobia (the fear of heights), claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces) or nyctophobia/scotophobia (fear of darkness).
Morbid fears in phobias such as these, aside from having individual characteristics, can also be directed at inanimate objects and general situations.
An interesting phenomenon can sometimes occur when there is a significant shift in opinions about who needs treatment and therapy. When a phobia affects a group of people or an entire society, a shift occurs – from an individual suffering from a disorder, to a group of people affected by a phobia. Such shifts turn things upside down, when a group has a phobia as a common characteristic.
Then, as in the law of “mass mentality” in social psychology, what is characterized as morbid in a phobia can change from a form of disorder to a form of common order (common sense). I perceive this is the case with xenophobia (the fear of foreigners) and homophobia (fear of homosexuals).
Still, homophobia is a form of phobia that affects the greatest number of societies in the world.
On May 17, many people gather to celebrate and organize events in recognition of the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHo). At such events, crowds shout together, “Hehe, Hoho, Homophobia has got to go.” In Jakarta, celebrations are taking place from May 16 to May 28, through a chain of events including campaigns, talk shows and seminars.
May 17 was chosen specifically because on that date in 1991 the WHO formally declared that homosexuality was not a disease or mental illness, by announcing ICD-9 codes (and the following year ICD-10 codes).
The decision was based on recommendations from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the American Psychological Association (APA), which constitute medical science fact, specifically in the fields of psychiatry and psychology, and thus help us understand that homosexuality is not a disorder or disturbance.
Indonesia has also adopted these codes in its PPDGJ III (Guide for Categorizing and Diagnosing Mental Disorders), but what can one do when there are still more than a few psychiatrists and psychologists here who don’t want to change their attitudes, preferring instead to continue believing that homosexuality is something “that needs to be cured”.
Homophobia persists chronically in Indonesia, just as other phobias do, but homophobia has spread more virulently here than other phobias, spreading irrationality. In the light of the recent scientific findings mentioned above, it is clear that psychiatrists and psychologists could also be suffering from phobias, since they cannot be using their common sense.
In Indonesia, homophobia has grown from a mental disorder affecting an individual to a value that must be adhered to by the wider society. One source of information most constant in spreading and preserving homophobic values in society is the media, especially “yellow” TV programs which focus on celebrities who have not bowed to heterosexual values.
Indonesian TV media, for example, often broadcasts interviews in which celebrities are cornered and forced to acknowledge their sexual orientations. If they admit to being homosexual, the media seem to hound them, as though there is a problem with their sexuality and they could return to the path of heterosexuality.
The writer is a social justice activist and the co-founder of several major/national women’s groups
