Homosexuals and psychic suffering - homophobia in an intrafamilial context

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Homosexuality is conceptualized as a condition or characteristic of subjects who are physically, emotionally and / or sexually attracted to people of the same sex or gender. In this condition, there are lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, transvestites, transgender people and other subjects who do not fit or perform the normative social models of gender and sexuality. In turn, homophobia is understood as a process of attempting to regulate sexualities, which acts from actions of invisibility and social exclusion, to physical and / or psychological violence. This attempt to regulate sexuality ends up oppressing dissenting subjects of hegemonic conceptions of sexuality, being evidenced, in many cases, manifestations also in family contexts, in which the subjects suffer these different modes of violence, and there are developments in psychosocial aspects, such as physical violence, psychological abuse and even expulsion from their homes. METHOD: This is an integrative review of the national scientific literature, aiming to describe the psychological repercussions of homophobia experiences in a family context. Descriptors corresponding to the topic of interest found in DeCS were used to conduct research combining them in the SciElo, MEDLINE, PepsiC and LiLACS databases. Then, titles and abstracts were read, and articles that dealt with the relationship between homophobia in the family context and psychosexual suffering of homosexuals were selected. RESULTS: The family environment in which the homosexual is inserted is organized from the conceptions of gender, sex and sexuality, following a heteronormative and binary perspective, which is legitimized through discriminatory practices of physical and psychological violence. Such violent practices have impacts on the mental health of individuals such as depression, ideation and suicide attempt, decreased school performance, as well as impaired self-esteem and social behavior of homosexuals. CONCLUSION: There is a need to expand studies that focus on homophobia related to the family context, due to the short- and long-term painful effects that the experience of discrimination in these spaces generates in homosexual individuals, due to the emotional bond and built by them and their family group.