Cartas

INFLUENCIA DE LA OPRESIÓN INTERNALIZADA SOBRE LA SALUD MENTAL DE BISEXUALES, LESBIANAS Y HOMOSEXUALES DE LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO
Luis Ortiz-Hernández*

SUMMARY
Bisexuals, lesbians, and homosexuals (BLH) face diverse forms of social exclusion because their sexual orientation (SO) is viewed negatively in most societies. Studies performed in industrialized countries have shown that prejudices facedby the BLH population may have a deleterious effect in their mental health because, in comparison with heterosexuals, they present a higher prevalence of consumption of alcohol and other drugs, suicide attempts, suicide ideation and mental disorders. Meyer has pointed out in those studies that comparing BLH and heterosexual morbidity may only allow for the documentation of the existence ofnegative effects of heterosexism and homophobia on BLH health. Although this means a substantial advance, it does not allow for the exploration of mechanisms through which oppression leads to higher morbidity in the BLH population. It must be added that most of these studies are not guided by a conceptual framework which explains in detail the differences in mental morbidity between heterosexuals andBLH. Despite the fact that in Latin America increasingly more academics and politicians are worried by these problems, knowledge about health and disease conditions in BLH is still incipient. In a literature review it was evinced that almost all the researches performed in Latin America have been centered in the HIV/AIDS infection and other sexually transmissible diseases or traumatisms derived fromcertain sexual practices in homosexual and bisexual males. It was concluded that more studies are necessary about mental health in the BLH population in which bisexual and lesbian women are included, because they have been studied with less frequency than homosexual and bisexual males. Considering the above, the objective of this study was to analyze the effects of internalization of oppression onthe risk of presenting mental health damages in the BLH population. The oppression of BLH is caused by three dominant norms deriving from the gender system: a) Heterosexism, which is the ideological system that denies, derides and stigmatizes any form of behavior, identity, relation or community different from the heterosexual ones. b) The adherence to gender stereotypes, according to which malesmust be masculine and women must be feminine. Culturally, homosexuality is equaled to the transgression of gender stereotypes (TGS): homosexual males are thought of as feminine and lesbians as masculine, although in reality this does

not always the case. That is why many BLH have suffered diverse forms of violence because in infancy and adolescence they were feminine males or masculine women.c) Androcentrism consists in the subordination or inferiority of feminine before masculine, that is, the features, attitudes and values considered as masculine are evaluated positively and the individuals who have them possess a superior status, while the symbols defined as feminine are scorned. Androcentrism explains why homosexuality is more punished in males than in females. BLH, just likeheterosexuals, grow up and live in a society structured in terms of the dominant norms of the gender system. This causes that BLH internalize the dominant values of the gender system. To understand how BLH incorporate oppression in their subjectivity, one may recover the concept of habitus which is defined as a system of categories of perception, thought and action. To be able to evaluate the habitusof the oppressed in BLH it is proposed to “deconstruct” it in three concepts: internalized homophobia, perception of the homosexual stigma and hiding. Internalized homophobia occurs when BLH incorporate in their self-esteem the negative meanings, the prejudices and stereotypes accrued to homosexuality and TGS, which causes them to have negative attitude towards their own homosexuality, the...