Heterophobia

Heterophobia (from ancient Greek ἕτερος , héteros , "the other" and φόβος, phóbos , "fear" / phobia ) describes the aversion to people who are different or are perceived as different. In psychological or educational language use, this can specifically refer to the strong [pathological] fear of the opposite sex.

Definitions

Heterophobic attitudes are expressed in a hostile attitude towards people with behaviors or lifestyles that deviate from the norms of a group. In contrast to xenophobia (xenophobia), the derogatory attitude can also be directed at people who are not generally perceived as alien, but only in certain characteristics as deviating, stressful or disturbing, e.g. people with disabilities , homeless or homosexuals .

In Germany, the term was popularized in this definition by the sociologist Wilhelm Heitmeyer . The Bielefeld Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence , which he heads , last published the annual results of a long-term study of the group-related enmity project in 2006 . Based on the methods of Horkheimer / Adorno and Pierre Bourdieu , tens of thousands of German citizens were asked about political issues and attitudes as part of the study. The term heterophobia is also used to explain the phenomenon that only a small proportion of the respondents in such studies expresses approval of statements that are perceived as socially undesirable ( xenophobic , anti-Semitic or homophobic ), while clearly higher approval values are shown for claused questions.

In 1982, the sociologist Albert Memmi suggested using the term heterophobia instead of racism , unless "racism in the narrower sense", that is, biologically argued racism, is meant:

“Racism” should only refer to the rejection of the other based on purely biological differences, while “heterophobia” should mean the rejection of the other based on differences of any kind. This makes racism a special case of heterophobia. "

Differentiation from other terms

The biphobia called the incomprehension and the distaste for bisexuals . Transphobia describes aversion and the resulting discrimination against transgender or transsexual people.

The misogyny is the aversion to women in general or specific forms of femininity, often those that are not under the "current cultural acceptance categories" of the social role of femininity fall. Misandry describes the aversion to men and virility . Misogyny and misandry are considered sexism.

In the extreme form of the queer theory - and also rarely in the case of bisexual and homosexual women and men who are not consciously arrested in this theory - everything that corresponds to heteronormativity is in principle questioned, and sometimes the other is shown as absolutely superior. Then one can speak of heterophobia , but this rarely occurs in a pronounced form. Even a lack of understanding and an aversion from bad experience towards people who live firmly in the social norm and who do not understand you can be perceived as heterophobia, but need not correspond to it.

Ideology / worldview	Defense form		Aversion to animosity towards	Identity form
Overview of forms of defense against sub-areas of sexual identity
Heteronormativity	Heterosexism		not heteronormatives	Social norm ( hetero )
		Bi- & homophobia	Bi- & homosexuals	Sexual orientation
		Transphobia	Transgender	Gender identity
Feminism masculism	Sexism : Misandry Sexism : Misogyny		Men women	Gender role
Queer Theory Homosexuality	Heterophobia		Heteronormativity

literature

W. Heitmeyer (Ed.):

German conditions. Episode 1 , Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a. M. 2002, ISBN 3518122908
German conditions. Episode 2 , Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a. M. 2004, ISBN 3518123327
German conditions. Episode 3 , Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a. M. 2005, ISBN 3518123882
German conditions. Episode 4 , Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a. M. 2006, ISBN 3518124544
German conditions. Episode 5 , Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a. M. 2007, ISBN 3518124846
German conditions. Episode 6 , Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a. M. 2007, ISBN 3518125257

Albert Memmi:

Racism , Europ. Publishing house, Hamburg, 1992. ISBN 3434460969

Web links

Veronika Fischer: Living with Others . Introductory lecture for the DIE-Forum Further Education 2000 "Future fields of further education"
Verena Krone: Identity, Multiculturalism and Constructivism . Diploma thesis in educational science, University of Cologne, 2000 (PDF file; 652 kB)
"Hate groups" in German society . A quantitative study of xenophobia and heterophobia by the research community for conflict and social studies (FOKUS e.V.), 2003 ( Memento from September 11, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 196 kB)
Hostile normality, DIE ZEIT of December 11, 2003, number 51 by Wilhelm Heitmeyer

Individual evidence

^ Albert Memmi: Racism . European Publishing House, Hamburg 1992, ISBN 978-3-434-46096-1 , p. 124.
^ Jutta Hartmann, Christian Klesse, Peter Wagenknecht: Heteronormativity. Empirical Studies on Gender, Sexuality and Power . Vs Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-531-14611-9 , p. 294.
↑ Julia Serano : Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity . Seal Press 2007, ISBN 978-1-58005-154-5 , p. 12.

[1] Albert Memmi: Racism . European Publishing House, Hamburg 1992, ISBN 978-3-434-46096-1 , p. 124.

[2] Jutta Hartmann, Christian Klesse, Peter Wagenknecht: Heteronormativity. Empirical Studies on Gender, Sexuality and Power . Vs Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-531-14611-9 , p. 294.

[3] Julia Serano : Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity . Seal Press 2007, ISBN 978-1-58005-154-5 , p. 12.