环球时报英文版：Activists battle to eliminate discrimination taught in schools

Global Times | 2013-5-23 20:53:01

By Yang Jinghao

"Homosexuality is an indecent perversion, a hindrance to personal psychological health and purification of society, and a hotbed for the transmission of AIDS …" Zhang Yanxi, 22, was shocked to read this description of homosexuality in a Chinese textbook while preparing for an exam last year.

"I realized it was totally wrong and misleading as soon as I read it," the girl from Anhui Province said about the part regarding homosexuality in the book entitled Teenage Psychology, compiled by two professors from Northeast Normal University in Jilin Province.

The book, aimed at students applying for a college diploma through self-taught exams, labeled homosexuals as people with a psychosexual disorder that could be cured by means of aversion therapy or hormonotherapy.

It further quoted an unnamed US newspaper as saying that "AIDS is a punishment from God against homosexuals."

Zhang shared her view with friends and many were equally contemptuous of the textbook's assertions. But she felt helpless in challenging a textbook, which Chinese students have always viewed as being authoritative.

This textbook, which was presumably used by students aspiring to be teachers in this normal university, is not an isolated case in the country. Worrying that such "misleading" content may further instigate discrimination against LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) groups, activists are increasingly making their voices heard and trying to change the status quo through action.

Zhang said she hoped that teenagers could be taught true, objective and scientific knowledge. But in a country where sex education is woefully inadequate, initiatives from education authorities may be the only solution.

Homophobic textbooks

In September 2012, popular Chinese LGBT website danlan.org (Danlan) launched an online campaign calling on Web users to disclose "homophobic textbooks" they had found. As of May 17, the annual International Day against Homophobia, at least 13 samples deemed as discriminating against homosexuals had been collected.

These books, all claiming to help young students develop psychological health, unanimously categorized homosexuality as a "sexual deviance," which most said could be rectified at an early age.

In a book entitled Life Education published by People's Education Press, an education ministry-affiliated organ specializing in publishing basic education textbooks, homosexuality is defined as an "abnormal sexual orientation."

The textbook, adopted by several high schools in Liaoning Province, explained that homosexuality still comes under the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders (CCMD-2-R, 1995), despite the fact it was already scrapped from the 2001 edition.

"Middle school is an important period for teenagers to form their philosophy and values. Such concepts can only play a misleading role," said Geng Le, director of Danlan.

Yao Huang, an activist for LGBT causes in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, said that such viewpoints will prevent homosexual teenagers from understanding their own identity and make them physically and psychologically unhealthy.

At the same time, the circulation of such concepts among young students may lead to bullying at school.

A survey last year targeting over 420 teenagers, 80 percent of them homosexual or bisexual, showed that about 77 percent of interviewees experienced bullying due to their sexual orientation and sexual identity, with verbal attacks being the most common form. Some even suffered physical attacks, according to Aibai Culture and Education Center, a Beijing-based LGBT rights NGO.

Authors' lack of updated knowledge in this field is commonly regarded by activists as the main reason for the prevalence of such "biased" textbooks.

"It's a fact that many textbooks are published only to meet inspection standards by higher education authorities and will not be taken seriously," said Yao, who is also known as Comrade Brother (Tongzhi Ge).

The phenomenon also reflected the reality that many academic results are based on mutual "references," and sometimes even plagiarism.

Li Lihong, a psychology professor who co-authored the controversial Teenage Psychology, admitted that the book was relatively outdated, while stressing that the part about homosexuality had not been written by her.

"All knowledge is in a state of development and needs updating. Educators need to add new views constantly during their teaching," Li said, adding that from the psychological perspective, homosexuality shouldn't be regarded as sexual deviancy.

Actions speak louder

"Education should be an effective way of disseminating civilized values and eliminating discrimination, but 'wrong' textbook contents will instead … violate the original intention of education," read an open letter co-signed by several LGBT NGOs addressed to education publishers, colleges and educators on May 17.

It called on educators at all levels to update their backward thinking and accept sexual minorities.

Geng said they will negotiate with the authors or publishing organizations of these "problematic" reading materials and ask them to make corrections.

In August last year, such endeavors by local activists in Hangzhou grabbed widespread attention. A sex education book compiled by the Hangzhou education authority was accused of stigmatizing homosexuals, stirring up strong dissatisfaction from parents and activists.

The book, which was distributed to students and parents for free, said homosexuality is contrary to social customs and morals and is a form of sexual deviancy. It also educates people in their adolescence to practice abstinence and avoid masturbation.

After learning of such contents, about 20 parents of teenage homosexuals jointly released an anti-discrimination letter demanding the correction of related parts in the book. Yao, together with another local activist, chose to directly confront the author Han Siping, a well-known educator in the city.

Yao explicitly expressed his views and pointed out how the book was inappropriate in terms of certain sexual concepts. After two rounds of negotiations, Han acknowledged that there are some controversial contents in the book and promised to make corresponding revisions in the next publication.

Yao revealed that the seemingly smooth negotiations came after the book had earlier been challenged by some sexologists during a sex education conference held in Yunnan.

"We shouldn't see such communication as a 'fight' but instead try to convince others through reasoning," Yao added. During their communications, Yao brought along a large number of materials, including the latest research and theories about LGBT from overseas.

While this shows that people are fighting for the eradication of discrimination against the LGBT community in more diverse ways, the challenges can be unexpected.

On May 17, a 19-year-old gay man was arrested by police in Changsha, Hunan Province and placed in detention for 12 days for organizing a parade in the city, prompting massive controversy.

Future efforts needed

Sex education in China is still in the "flirting" stage - the authorities have been vowing to do something without taking any real actions, but as for education to eliminate homophobia, there hasn't even been any flirting, said Fang Gang, a leading sexologist at Beijing Forestry University.

Indeed, sex education in China is still in an awkward situation despite the growing number of public calls for its improvement. There is no mandatory requirement from top education authorities, nor are there unified textbooks that address the issue. All education of this nature seems to be in a trial phase without unified standards, but most lean toward "suppression" of homosexuality.

"What schools and educators should do is to carry out education on safe sex and sense of responsibility, and leave the issue of identity to students themselves," said Yao. "Instead of creating antagonism, teachers should try to downplay some issues sometimes."

According to Fang, some teachers believe that there are no homosexuals in their class, and as a result do not conduct anti-homophobia education. Others worry that "if we ask students not to discriminate against homosexuals, there will be more homosexual students."

"When you keep silent on this topic, homophobia and discrimination may spread. Your attitude of denial is itself a kind of discrimination," said Fang.

It may take a long time before educators find the right way to instill scientific knowledge of sexual orientation and gender identity in teenagers.  Currently, some NGOs play this role by actively working in campuses.

Jiang Hui, director of Aibai, told the Global Times that they have been working with colleges on disseminating LGBT-related knowledge since 2005 and have seen marked changes over the past years.

On the one hand, they cooperate with students' societies to hold lectures, including some by members of the LGBT community who share their own stories with students. Jiang said there were some obstructions in the beginning due to the "sensitivity" of the topic, but now it has become an accepted topic of public discussion, and many students even feel comfortable identifying themselves as homosexuals.

They also cooperate with elementary and middle school teachers who specialize in sex education, trying to bring cutting-edge theories and knowledge to educators who directly face children and teenagers in class.

"Young teachers are more willing to accept the new viewpoints and are easier to communicate with. But generally, there's rarely opposition against such education," said Jiang, noting that the lack of a systematic and scientific textbook concerning this field is a major problem facing all educational institutions.

Translated by Aibai, Human Sexuality: Diversity in Contemporary America, one of the most popular reading materials on sex education in the US, has been published in China and is being promoted among schools across the country as part of NGOs' efforts to give Chinese educators and teenagers a complete and scientific knowledge of sex-related issues.

"This cause also needs efforts from education authorities in terms of policy and other related support," said Jiang.

Actually, few educators have realized the importance of imparting scientific knowledge about gender diversity, but only find that such discussion and research are still struggling to survive due to various forms of resistances.

Lin Hong, an associate professor on gender research at Xiamen University, applied for a research project on gender diversity from the Ministry of Education last year, but was denied. In 2008 and 2009, her attempts to make gender equality part of the general education curriculum in the university and apply for support for her research into this subject all failed, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/783903.shtml