Bulletin

Issue: March 2006

Research in Action

The paradox of increased homophobic abuse – Better outlook for young gays

Same sex attracted young people feel safer at school than they did six years ago, although physical and verbal abuse has increased within the school environment.

This seeming paradox is explained by La Trobe University social psychologist, Dr Lynne Hillier, who led a research team which recently completed the second national report on the sexuality, health and well-being of same sex attracted young people in Australia.

Entitled Writing themselves in again: Six years on, the report was compiled by Dr Hillier and two colleagues from La Trobe’s Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society, Ms Alina Turner and Ms Anne Mitchell, and published in mid 2005.

‘These young people have become more visible, more conscious of their rights and more likely to have a noticeable impact on schools, families and the community generally,’ says Dr Hillier.

‘This increased visibility accounts for the fact that rates of discrimination and violence rose between 1998 and 2004. Nevertheless they reported feeling safer in school. The experience of abuse was more likely to have motivated them to seek support from teachers and counsellors within the school setting,’ she said.

Dr Hillier and her team carried out the first Australia-wide survey of same sex attracted young people in 1998 and the second in 2004. The aim of the second survey was to update information and to see whether the intensive work to address homophobia had been successful.

‘We found many things have changed over six years, mainly for the better,’ says Dr Hillier.

‘In the first research of 14 to 21 year olds in 1998, we located 750 same sex attracted young people. They were quite difficult to locate because about one in five of them had spoken to no one about their sexuality. In 2004 we located 1749. By this time the proportion who had spoken to nobody about their sexuality had fallen to one in 20. Also there were a number of networks through which they could be reached which did not exist six years earlier.’

In 1998, 69 per cent had been verbally or physically abused at school and this figure had risen to 74 per cent in 2004. Verbal abuse extended beyond name calling and insults to include threats and rumour mongering. Physical abuse ranged from having clothes and possessions damaged to rape and hospitalisation for injuries.

‘We were disappointed to find that schools were still the most dangerous places for these young people to be but nonetheless it was encouraging to learn that they felt safer in school than the group interviewed in 1998,’ Dr Hillier said.

‘There has been a lot of anti-homophobia work done in schools but this has mainly involved teachers rather than students. The work with students remains to be done.

‘Young people were more likely to talk to a teacher and receive support than in 1998. They were happier about their sexuality and more active in creating a safer world for themselves.’

A pleasing trend was that in 2004 the use of all drugs, including alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, party drugs and heroin were down on the 1998 levels, perhaps a result of an improved climate in which young people experience same sex attraction.

Percentages injecting drugs dropped from 11 per cent in 1998 to four per cent in 2004 but drug use still remained substantially higher than for heterosexual young people.

Perhaps the most striking finding was the profound impact of homophobia on the young people’s health and well being. ‘Homophobic abuse was the critical factor in negative health outcomes, not homosexuality per se,’ Dr Hillier said.