Question

Although people’s acceptance of homosexuality and homosexuals has improved, prejudice and stigma remain, and attitudes towards homosexuals are frequently negative (Avery et al., 2007; Ben-Ari, 2001; Petersen & Hyde, 2010). Prejudice and stigma against the (LGBT) community have also been reported by several studies in Turkey, the findings of which were consistent with those of other international studies (Çırakoğlu, 2006; Gelbal & Duyan, 2006). Some of these negative attitudes and oppositions arise from misconceptions and stereotypes about homosexuals. homosxual men were generally described as people who act different … wearing feminine clothes, talking feminine, being similar to females, etc.’ (Sakallı, 2002, p. 116). Since masculine traits are overvalued and feminine traits are undervalued, homosexuals in Turkey have been rejected by a heterosexist society, and homosexuality is regarded as intolerable and dishonourable to manhood (Akpınar, 2003). Prejudice and negative attitudes towards homosexuality in Turkey have also been profoundly affected by another factor: the Islamic religion. Turkey is a secular country which has a 99% Muslim majority (Bereket & Adam, 2008). Although there are many controversies about Islam’s view of homosexuality and homosexuals (Siraj, 2006), referring to the hadiths (an interpretation of the Islamic Holy Book Qur’an) on the destruction of sexual deviants, homosexuality is explicitly condemned, absolutely forbidden and punishable by death, and many Islamic scholars regard homosexuality as a major sin and a crime (Siraj, 2009). Accepting homosexuality as legal, homosexuals and homosexual acts are neither appreciated nor tolerated; homosexuality is regarded as a violation of human nature in Turkish society (Tapınç, 1992). In addition to identifying the hostility within the sociocultural structures and religion towards homosexuality, the social context in the field of physical education (PE) and sports is not a welcoming environment for LGBT individuals either. Davison and Frank (2006) defined masculinity as ‘not-feminine’ and as having ideal physical and athletic qualities including strength, power, speed and endurance. In addition, masculine men were expected to be heterosexual; lesbian women and men were considered to be deviant, and not suited for sports (Elling & Janssens, 2009). Several studies have shown negative attitudes and behaviours towards lesbians and homosexual men in PE and sports settings (Roper & Halloran, 2007; Southall, Nagel, Anderson, Polite, & Southall, 2009). The Turkish PE and sports literature is bereft of studies investigating the existence of homophobic attitudes. One of the most well-known arguments related to sports homophobia in Turkey started with a statement made by a famous Turkish ballet dancer. He stated that ‘there are more homosexual football players than homosexual ballet dancers. I know homosexual football players’. Many people from the Turkish soccer world protested against his statements for bringing soccer players under suspicion (Akbaş, 2004). Following these attacks, the ballet dancer made a statement that his friends who are homosexual soccer players played in another country. He stressed that he had not intended to cast aspersions on soccer players. After his statements the Turkish soccer world returned to a ‘normal’ heterosexual life. Given the marginalization of homosexuality in Turkish society and, perhaps even more so in the Turkish sporting world, the topic is predictably an understudied and seemingly taboo subject for investigation. As a sport psychology consultant in training working at a public university, your client today is Reza, a 20 year old student-athlete from Turkey studying in the US who is disclosing his preference for men in relationships to you and sharing his country's atittude and belief about homosexual men in sport as cited above.

1. Analyse a homosexual university student’s experiences of homophobia in Turkish society 2. Discuss if the fact that he is a major in Health and Fitness Management can help with his motivation to play, the stress to deal with the situation he returns to every summer on holidays. 3. What kind of feedback could you give him to help him? 4. Could imagery be useful when dealing with adversity? if so, how. 5. How would you introduce self confidence and well-being concepts to him to help him process what is going on in his country and in the sport in this country?

Answer 1

1. Analyse a homose-xual university student’s experiences of homophobia in Turkish society.

A homose-xual student in the Turkish university would be ridiculed. According to the Turkish beliefs, men who have been homose-xual do not possess characteristics of a man and that their feminine side is overpowered. It is the Turkish people who believe that females are not at par with the males, and hence, at every instance they would be demeaned.

2. Discuss if the fact that he is a major in Health and Fitness Management can help with his motivation to play, the stress to deal with the situation he returns to every summer on holidays.

A homose-xual man being a major in health and fitness is absolutely not acceptable. This is because a man seen as a homo is expected to be feminine. The idea that such a man could be displaying masculine characteristics as being strong and having speed and showing endurance, is something that falls out of the definition of being a homose-xual. When a person is involved in the field of physical education, he has a way to channel out his negative energy in the form of more rigorous exercise. The more people ridicule and doubt his masculinity, the more he gets motivated to show that he is way more strong than most of the men are. Not just physically, but also mentally as he is living through such criticisms and fighting for his se-xual identity.

3. What kind of feedback could you give him to help him?

The only feedback that could be given to help is that he should be ignoring any comments that people make since they are prejudiced and they do not have the will to accept anyone who is different from them. The society is built such that it would only accept people and things that fall in the manual of their built norms and any deviance for them is forbidden. People not having the courage to be what they are, lose their identity and it is very important to maintain and make your own identity. Hence, the only way to prove the society wrong is by being better in a field that they think of being out of the bounds of homos-exual man.

4. Could imagery be useful when dealing with adversity? if so, how.

Imagery is the voluntary or involuntary recreation of experiences that have been generated from the information stored in the memory, which may be associated with an actual experience, and may have a psychological or physiological impact. Through imagery, people can imagine themselves in development of a skill or learning of a skill such that those skills could be enhanced. When people develop an imagery, it helps a psychological skill for motivation. They recreate the experiences of their physical fitness or their fitness goals, that in turn creates a motivation for them to achieve those goals.

5. How would you introduce self confidence and well-being concepts to him to help him process what is going on in his country and in the sport in this country?

It is important that self confidence be boost. For people having a good image of self, tend to achieve goals that would otherwise be impossible. If a person does not believe in what he could do or what he could achieve, they would tend to lose on the activities that could otherwise be achieved. In order to do this, we must make them realise on where they stand and how much they could achieve by a little more effort.