Attitudes toward Gays and Lesbians Among Social Work Students in Turkey

Attitudes toward Gays and LesbiansAmong Social Work Students in Turkey Hakan ACAR (PhD) KOCAELİ UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT of SOCIAL WORK İzmit-Kocaeli/Turkey hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

INTRODUCTION The purpose of the study is to understand the attitudes of undergraduate social work students towards gays and lesbians and to evaluate, discuss the effects of social work education on attitudes towards gays and lesbians. HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

INTRODUCTION The study based on three questions which are: 1. Are there any differences about the attitudes of the students toward lesbians and gays? 2. Are there any relationships between various socio-demographic characteristics of the students and their attitudes toward lesbians and gays? 3. Are there any differences between first and second year students regarding their attitudes toward lesbians and gays? HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

INTRODUCTION The data gathered from the students of social work department (first and second year students) in Kocaeli University School of Health. 47 students (32 first year students and 15 second year students) involved the research process voluntarily. Social work education provided only within university structure and totally takes 4 years: 8 semesters in Turkey. HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

INTRODUCTION Data Collection Instruments - Questionnaire: prepared by the researcher, includes questions about socio-cultural, demographic and politic characteristics of the students - The Attitudes toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale (ATLG-R)—the revised short version (Herek, 1998): This scale includes ten statements that yield two subscales: one measures attitudes toward lesbians (ATGL-L), and the other measures attitudes toward gay men (ATGL-G). The Turkish version of the scale developed by Gelbal and Duyan (2004). HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

BACKGROUND Homosexuality occupies an interesting place in the lives of the Turkish people. This has been so since the days of the Ottoman Empire (Yuzgun, 1993). Homosexuality has always found supporters and has been expressed in symbolic ways. Literature is one of the areas where there is eternal freedom of homosexuality. There was no pressure from the authorities on the poets for writing poems about the oglan (which means “boy” and was used to connote beautiful and young men). Ottoman Literature known as “Divan Literature” consists of many poems written by male poets (e.g., Nedim, AsikRazi) about their male lovers (Adasal, 1975). This tolerance for homosexuality disappeared in the early nineteenth century with the adoption of Western culture (Erol, 2003) (cited in Gelbal and Duyan, 2006: 573). HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

BACKGROUND There is no doubt that in Islamic belief homosexuality is considered “sinful”. According to Islam, humans are not homosexual by nature; they become so because of their environments. Homosexuality is seen by Islamic scholars as a sinful and perverted deviation from the norm. Most Islamic schools consider gay acts to be unlawful, but differ in terms of penalty (Gelbal and Duyan, 2006: 573). HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

BACKGROUND According to Sakallı (2002a), sexist attitudes, being more traditional and conservative, and not personally knowing any homosexual individuals all predict more negative attitudes toward homosexuality (cited in Gelbal and Duyan, 2006: 574). HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

BACKGROUND Güney, KargıveÇorbacıOruç (2004: 136) in their study (90 undergraduate students in Hacettepe University-Ankara) stated that students have negative attitudes towards gays and lesbians. Below you can find some of the verbal expressions of interviewed students towards gays and lesbians revealed by the research: “Homosexuals can never be happy”, “Homosexuals are disgusting”, “Having a male or female homosexual friend may negatively affect my social statue” (cited in Duyan, Tuncay, Sevin, Erbay, 2011: 15). HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

BACKGROUND Aras and friends (2005) in their research implemented in İzmirprovince with 861 high school students found that %73,1 of students have negative attitudes towards female and male homosexuals and girls have more positive attitudes then boys (cited in Duyan, Tuncay, Sevin, Erbay, 2011: 15). HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

BACKGROUND “World value survey”, 2011 (data gathered in 54 provinces and 128 districts with 1605 people) implemented by Bahçeşehir University/İstanbul revealed controversial results about the attitudes of society towards gays and lesbians in Turkey. The study showed that % 84 of research sample stated that they do not prefer to have gay and lesbian neighbors. HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

Social Workand LGBT Rights… The social work profession historically has been in the forefront of advocating on behalf of minorities and disenfranchised groups. In general social workers must become aware of their own homophobia and how it affects their work with clients of any sexual orientation (Morrow, 1993: 658). …Social work education has liberalizing effects and leads to more open-minded, empathic, and tolerant individuals. Black et al. (1996) echoed the same conclusion when they wrote in discussion of their findings that “the attitudes of students may change in a direction which is consistent with social work values” (p. 32). (Tolar, Lambert, Ventura, Pasupuleti, 2004: 75). HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

Social Workand LGBT Rights… Tolar, Lambert, Ventura, Pasupuleti, (2004: 75) showed that “social work students had more positive attitudes toward gay and lesbian persons than other undergraduate students…” Newman, Dannenfelser, and Benishek (2002)also indicated that most of the social work students they surveyed expressed mostly positive attitudes toward lesbians and gay men(Herek, 1988; cited in Duyan and Duyan, 2005: 698). HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

Social Workand LGBT Rights… Swank and Raiz, (2010: 24) found that most of the research participants (575 social work students in 12 different social work programs in USA) saw no pathological side to homosexuality…and half wanted to liberalize laws against homosexuality. Authors indicated that in comparing these findings to studies of the general U.S. population, these social work undergraduates were relatively less homonegative. HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

Research Findings Number of male participants: 25 Number of female participants: 22. The age of the participants range from 18 to 23. The income level of the families differs from 150 Euros to 2500 Euros per month . The average income per month is 750 Euros. More than half of their mothers have only basic education (primary school). Fathers’ educational level are higher than mothers. All participants define their sexual identity as heterosexual. HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

Research FindingsAverage Scores of the ATLG-R HakanAcar (PhD), Kocaeli University/Turkey, Dept. of Social Work, E-mail: hakan.acar@kocaeli.edu.tr

Research results showed that students, in general, have negative attitudes towards LGBT persons. Results indicate that students have more (slightly) positive attitudes towards lesbians. HakanAcar, Kocaeli University Dept. of Social Work, syo.kocaeli.edu.tr,http://www.facebook.com/Kocaelisosyalhizmet

According to results second year social work students have more positive attitudes towards LGBT people. The curriculum of the social work department in Kocaeli University diversity issue including LGBT people are being discussed in the listed courses below. First year: Introduction to social Work and field examination Second year: Generalist social work, human behaviour and social environment I and II, Social work theory I: Social work with individuals, I assume that having more classes regarding the diversity issue and having discussions about LGBT rights creating more positive attitudes. HakanAcar, Kocaeli University Dept. of Social Work, syo.kocaeli.edu.tr,http://www.facebook.com/Kocaelisosyalhizmet

Allof participants define themselves as heterosexual males or females. The results of the comparison showed us female students have strongly more positive attitudes than males. HakanAcar, Kocaeli University Dept. of Social Work, syo.kocaeli.edu.tr,http://www.facebook.com/Kocaelisosyalhizmet

The other important results of the research can be summarized as below. - Students have gay or lesbian friends (6 students) have more positive attitudes. - Students have had a formal education on sexuality (5 students) have more positive attitudes. HakanAcar, Kocaeli University Dept. of Social Work, syo.kocaeli.edu.tr,http://www.facebook.com/Kocaelisosyalhizmet

Conclusion • Need to reevaluate the social work curriculum. • More tools to effect the students’ value system. • Making the LGBT rights more visible in the curriculum. • Clear understanding of ethical principles of social work. HakanAcar, Kocaeli University Dept. of Social Work, syo.kocaeli.edu.tr,http://www.facebook.com/Kocaelisosyalhizmet

References Gelbal, S. & Duyan, V. (2006) “Attitudes of University Students toward Lesbians and Gay Men in Turkey”. Sex Roles. 55:573–579 Veli Duyan, V., Tuncay, T., Sevin, Ç., Erbay, E. (2011). “Attitudes of SocialWorkStudentstowardsHomosexuality: Effects of a Training Workshop”. Toplum ve Sosyal Hizmet , Vol: 22, No: 2, October 2011: 7-18. (in Turkish) Swank, E. and Raiz, L. ( 2010). Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, 25(1) 19-29. HakanAcar, Kocaeli University Dept. of Social Work, syo.kocaeli.edu.tr,http://www.facebook.com/Kocaelisosyalhizmet

Attitudes toward Gays and Lesbians Among Social Work Students in Turkey