Situation of research on lgbtq+ issues in vietnam

That is “Prejudice, stigma and discrimination against homosexuals and transgender people in Vietnam” VNU Scientific Journal, Volume 31, Issue 5 2015 70-79 and " Becoming Gay, Bise

University of Social Sciences and Humanities

Faculty of Oriental Studies

*****

Essay

SITUATION OF RESEARCH ON LGBTQ+ ISSUES IN VIETNAM

TEACHER: HO THI THANH

STUDENT: CO VAN QUAN

INDUSTRY: SOUTHEAST ASIA STUDY

COURSE: HK211-SEA1150-21- INTRODUCTION TO SOUTHEAST ASIA KEY: QH-2021-X

HANOI – 2021

Table of content:

Table of Contents.……… 2

Introduction……… 3

Content 1 Overview of the LBGTQ+ community……… 4

1.1 LGBTQ+ concept ……… 4

1.2 Vietnamese people's perception of LGBTQ+…………4

2 Research on Prejudice, Stigma and Discrimination 6

2.1 Prejudice about LGBTQ+ ………6

2.2 Stigma and discrimination against LGBTQ+ ………….7

2.3 Psychological influence………8

3 Individual Reflection……….9

Conclusion………11

References……….12

Introduction

Sexual orientation is still a very sensitive issue in Eastern countries, especially

in Vietnam When it comes to issues of sexual orientation, especially those

related to the LGBT community, there are often negative thoughts and

stereotypes While the concept of the LGBTQ+ community has been around for

a long time, people often don't fully understand these specific sexual

orientations I have selected two studies on this topic That is “Prejudice, stigma

and discrimination against homosexuals and transgender people in Vietnam” (VNU Scientific Journal, Volume 31, Issue 5 (2015) 70-79) and "

Becoming Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) in Asia: A Country Report for Vietnam: Synthesis and Analysis of the Legal and Social Environment of Individuals and Civil Society Organizations gay, bisexual and transgender

(LGBT) people", was developed by the United Nations Planning Agency,

the United States Agency for International Development

The report below is my research through research papers on special sexual orientations as well as problems faced by the LGBTQ+ community in life from the past to the present This report will also help readers better understand the LGBTQ+ community, the difficulties they face when the society is not open At that time, people in the community had to suffer prejudices and stigmas from society, even from family members But besides that, there are still positive and supportive opinions for the LGBTQ+ community in Vietnam I hope that after this report, readers will have more positive and better thoughts about people from the LGBTQ+ community, willing to participate in activities to help the community, and partly to make society a better place fairer

Finally, there will be opinions from my own personal point of view after I read the documentation as well as capture external information If there are errors in finding documents or my personal opinions are not accurate, I hope the lecturers and readers will give me suggestions for correction in the near future

1 Overview of the LGBT community

1.1 Concepts

- LGBTQ+ is an acronym to refer to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender, Queer,

- More specifically, below I will introduce each sexual orientation

Lesbian: Lesbians are people of the female sex who are sexually/emotionally attracted to people of the same sex

Gay: Gay men are people of the male sex who are emotionally/sexually attracted

to people of the same sex

Bisexual: Bisexual people are people who can be emotionally, emotionally/sexually attracted to both sexes

- There are also some other special sexual orientations such as: Pansexual, Asexual, Intersex,

- The phrases above are all phrases that refer to sexual orientation that people often confuse for a long time That leads to negative perceptions about the LGBTQ+ community There was a time when it was considered a “disease” and many people sought treatment for LGBTQ+ people

- Although these concepts are gradually being popularized in modern life, in some places in Vietnam in particular, and in Southeast Asian countries in general, people still do not accept and have no ideas aware of these sexual orientations

1.2 Vietnamese people's perception of LGBT

- Through my review of Research Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT)

People in Asia: Vietnam: Synthesis and analysis of the legal and social

environment of individual, gay, bisexual and transgender civil society

organizations gender (LGBT)" The author points out the concepts before the

early modern period and from the 14th to the end of the 20th century

- First, the author gives a point of view " Before modernity, Vietnamese society

did not have specific prejudices or distinguish people with different sexual orientations and gender identities from the rest of society , defining who should

be who and should be love someone, and at the same time marginalize those who

do not belong to this stereotype Gay and transgender people suddenly find themselves abandoned by modern society and have to face the prejudice and discrimination of others." Initially, the author pointed out that in ancient times,

Vietnamese society was very open and barely cared about the issue of sexual

orientation On the other hand, with the further development of society, people have formed so-called "templates" for their sexual orientation, which gives rise to ideas that have been ingrained in their subconscious everyone It is these thoughts that create stereotypes about people in the LGBTQ+ community and greatly affect their lives

- The beliefs of the ancient Vietnamese that have influenced even today consider men who dress as women not accepted in society, are believed to have special abilities, and are called by many names according to each region domain This

point of view is expressed by the authors in section "From the 14th to the 19th

century", This proves that at that time the "standards" of gender identity were very

strict, men had to be strong, not act like women, not dress like women And for men with different behaviors, gestures, and ways of dressing, they are considered

to have special abilities, called by many different names depending on the region Also during this period, the authors gave examples of people from the LGBT

community in the past recorded in “Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu”, “Hong Duc Thien

Chinh Thu”,… Then, at the end of the 19th century, when Westerners began to

invade Vietnam, the Vietnamese's concept was changed and "Vietnamese people

always think that this habit is imported from Western civilization" That's why the

Vietnamese have the term "pede" (or "pédéraste" in French) and since then is

still used until now to refer to people of the LGBTQ+ community, especially gay people

- Finally, the authors have given the conceptions of the Vietnamese people in the 20th century At that time, activities involving gay or transgender people were

banned “unapproved and convicted in the South, …” After the war, although

homosexuals and transgender people were more active in the South, they were mainly considered as "entertainment", entertaining others Next, the authors raised a situation at the end of the 20th century, due to the increase in HIV disease

that “Vietnam’s state media declares homosexuality a social evil, an offense

comparable to gambling, prostitution and drug trafficking, as well as calling for the arrest of same-sex couples.” From here it can be seen that there was a time

when Vietnam considered homosexuality as a serious social evil as some other evils Although now this concept has been gradually eliminated, there are still many conceptions that affect Vietnamese people's thoughts, making people pathologically LGBTQ+

- From such negative conceptions, many problems have arisen for the LGBTQ+ community And that's what I'm going to talk about right now through research

“Prejudice, stigma and discrimination against homosexuals and transgender

people in Vietnam” by Pham Thu Hoa, Dong Thi Yen (VNU Science Journal, Volume 31, Issue 5 (2015) 70-79)

2 Research on prejudice, stigma and discrimination

2.1 Prejudice about LGBTQ+

- First of all, we need to understand the term "prejudice" In my opinion, prejudice

is negative thoughts and ideas that have existed for a long time, have a certain nature and are difficult to change

- As in the report "“Being Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) in Asia:

VIETNAM NATIONAL REPORT…”, The authors made the point that

“homosexuality is a social evil, …as well as calls for the arrest of same-sex couples” (LGBT VIETNAM NATIONAL REPORT – IS LGBT IN ASIA, p 14)

Then in research “Prejudice, stigma and discrimination against homosexuals and

transgender people in Vietnam” The authors have also made a similar point of

view “…that homosexuality is a mental illness, a manifestation of psychological

distortions, and an alienated lifestyle…”( VNU Science Journal, Volume 31, Issue

5 (2015), page 70) but here the point of view that the authors give has lessened

the seriousness of the problem, although homosexuality is still considered a disease, it is no longer a social evil

- Most of the stereotypes about the LGBTQ+ community, especially gay or transgender people, are negative, always considered a disease because people in

the community often do not follow the standards of society “… men must be

strong and decisive to do heavy and big jobs; Women have to be small, appear weak, cute, do light jobs.” (VNU Science Journal, Volume 31, Issue 5 (2015), page 71) OLDTherefore, when people in the LGBTQ+ community express their

sexual orientation, they are stigmatized, scrutinized or discriminated against by others

2.2 Stigma, discrimination against LGBTQ+

- This part is mainly from my research through research “Prejudice, stigma and

discrimination against homosexuals and transgender people in Vietnam” (VNU Science Journal, Volume 31, Issue 5 (2015))

- From the existing prejudices in society, there have been stigmas and discrimination against people in the LGBTQ+ community A surprising thing that

I found after reading the document is that these stigmas and discriminations are

not only between outsiders and people in the community but also from people in the community themselves

- First of all, they are stigmatized by people outside of society Just because they have different sexual orientations from everyone else and don't follow a stereotype about gender identity that they are denigrated, scrutinized, and even say deeply hurtful words by outsiders Especially for people in rural areas when they are rarely exposed to or disseminated about this issue of sexual orientation, the stigma against homosexuals and transgender people in rural areas is often very strong harsh, part of the concept from the old days of the Vietnamese Even for those of you who are still at school age, most of you are subjected to discrimination from some parts of the students, staff and teachers in the school

“…according to a CCIHP study on stigma and discrimination against gay, bisexual and transgender people in schools, out of more than 500 respondents, 44% have experienced violence (physically) physical, mental, sexual and economic) and discrimination in schools.”(VNU Science Journal, Volume 31, Issue 5 (2015) page 75) Not only are they stigmatized by society, but people of

the LGBTQ+ community also have to bear the trauma caused by their own family

members “From advice, sweet affection to strong measures such as banning

going out, beating, taking children to the hospital for treatment, even using Eastern and Western medicine combined with worshiping just with the desire to change gender count for you.”(VNU Science Journal, Volume 31, Issue 5 (2015) page 72) People in the LGBTQ+ community, when they want to express their

sexual orientation, are stigmatized, discriminated against by their family members, even taking actions that harm them physically both mentally and physically with the desire for their children to become "normal" When people in the community have beliefs and hope that the family will understand and respect them, the actions taken by their families have a completely opposite attitude It is these things that have partly affected the psychology of people in the LGBTQ+ community

- In addition, the stigma and discrimination that occurs in the LGBTQ+ community itself has also been mentioned by the authors This stigma and discrimination often occurs between homosexuals and transgender people

“…transgender people also have to endure the discriminatory attitude of the gay and bisexual community itself…” But this prejudice does not come from

prejudices about people in the LGBTQ+ community, but due to the fears of gay people when they have not "comeout" (publicize their sexual orientation), they are afraid to participate in Working with transgender people will make them suspect of their sexual orientation, causing many problems for them

- Even people in the LGBTQ+ community, especially gay or transgender people, being stigmatized and discriminated against are often problems caused by media hype and inaccurate information that makes many people think erroneous thinking

with discriminatory thoughts in the community "ridiculed in the media and by the

entertainment industry The negative portrayals they paint further reinforce the public's prejudice and discrimination against the LGBT community” (LGBT VIETNAM NATIONAL REPORT – IS LGBT IN ASIA, p 16)

2.3 Psychological influence

- In both research articles, the authors have given their views on issues affecting

the psychology of people in the LGBTQ+ community “…when they are

stigmatized and discriminated against by society, family and friends, and especially faced with violence in the family and in society, it has led to serious psychological trauma…” (VNU Science Journal, Volume 31, Issue 5 (2015), page 76) or “Most parents of gay people still believe that gender, marriage and family need to adhere to traditional values Therefore, it is very difficult for them to accept when their children have sexual orientation and expression that deviate from social norms, thereby taking fierce protest actions." (LGBT VIETNAM NATIONAL REPORT – IS LGBT IN ASIA, page 31) From the above two simple

points of view, it can be seen that the psychological trauma that people in the community often suffer from comes from their own families, because parents, relatives, and relatives do not have the concept of Extensive knowledge of sexual orientation, in addition to antiquated notions, old traditions of the Vietnamese people and social prejudices, makes the families of people in the community more harsh with the society this problem

- When determining their sexual orientation, most people in the LGBTQ+ community, especially gay or transgender people, often have to "struggle" to live according to their biological gender, which leads to living 2 lives of people in the

community“Many gay people divide their lives into two separate worlds, with

their community they live for real, have lovers or partners of the same sex With family, colleagues and friends they are completely secretive, living under the guise of a heterosexual.” (VNU Science Journal, Volume 31, Issue 5 (2015), page 76) At that time, their psychology was also greatly affected, struggling between

being real with themselves or living "fake" to please their parents and relatives, blaming the stigmas from society, causing problems create inhibitions for the people in the community themselves and they almost can't share it with anyone

- The profound psychological effects make people in the community feel suffocated, they gradually fall into a state of depression and may think about suicide

3 Individual Reflection

- Through the study about two studies “Prejudice, stigma and discrimination

against homosexuals and transgender people in Vietnam” (VNU Scientific Journal, Volume 31, Issue 5 (2015)) and “Being Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) in Asia: VIETNAM NATIONAL REPORT: Synthesis and analysis of the legal and social environment for individuals and civil society organizations of gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)” Here are a few things I learned:

+ In the report “Being Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) in Asia:

VIETNAM NATIONAL REPORT: Synthesis and analysis of the legal and social environment for individuals and civil society organizations of gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)", I find that the authors give very objective views that are

consulted from many sources from which to have strong arguments The authors also give concepts, for example from the medieval period, the feudal period to the modern period That then leads to existing realities in Vietnamese society as well

as the LGBTQ+ community Attitudes of the family, society as well as the media towards the community from the past to present There are also strategic ways to help people in the LGBTQ+ community The downside of this report is that because it is an overview, it will not be too in-depth on an issue in the LGBTQ+ community Finally, this is a national report, compiled after discussions with people in the LGBTQ+ community

+ Next is the research paper Prejudice, stigma and discrimination against

homosexuals and transgender people in Vietnam” by Pham Thu Hoa, Dong Thi

Yen (VNU Science Journal, Volume 31, Issue 5 (2015)) Here the authors have

given examples interviewed by the authors themselves, which bring a more authentic feel to the research paper that can help readers better understand the prejudices, stigmas and discrimination against them judge At the same time, there are data showing the harshness of society for people belonging to the community This research paper delves deeper into the issue of LGBTQ+ people being subjected to prejudice, stigma and discrimination In addition, this study also has a drawback, because the research period was more than 5 years ago, the authors may not have paid attention to other sexual orientations but only focused

on the gay community Transgender in Vietnam But anyway, through this study,

it also helps us better understand the prejudices or stigmas and discriminations that gay and transgender people have to endure

- Personally, I also find that this is a rather sensitive topic and also a bit difficult

to research and often have to study a lot of documents to be able to give opinions and have reports to discuss for us to study later