Actions speak louder
"Education should be an effective way of disseminating civilized values and eliminating discrimination, but 'wrong' textbook contents will instead … violate the original intention of education," read an open letter co-signed by several LGBT NGOs addressed to education publishers, colleges and educators on May 17.
It called on educators at all levels to update their backward thinking and accept sexual minorities.
Geng said they will negotiate with the authors or publishing organizations of these "problematic" reading materials and ask them to make corrections.
In August last year, such endeavors by local activists in Hangzhou grabbed widespread attention. A sex education book compiled by the Hangzhou education authority was accused of stigmatizing homosexuals, stirring up strong dissatisfaction from parents and activists.
The book, which was distributed to students and parents for free, said homosexuality is contrary to social customs and morals and is a form of sexual deviancy. It also educates people in their adolescence to practice abstinence and avoid masturbation.
After learning of such contents, about 20 parents of teenage homosexuals jointly released an anti-discrimination letter demanding the correction of related parts in the book. Yao, together with another local activist, chose to directly confront the author Han Siping, a well-known educator in the city.
Yao explicitly expressed his views and pointed out how the book was inappropriate in terms of certain sexual concepts. After two rounds of negotiations, Han acknowledged that there are some controversial contents in the book and promised to make corresponding revisions in the next publication.
Yao revealed that the seemingly smooth negotiations came after the book had earlier been challenged by some sexologists during a sex education conference held in Yunnan.
"We shouldn't see such communication as a 'fight' but instead try to convince others through reasoning," Yao added. During their communications, Yao brought along a large number of materials, including the latest research and theories about LGBT from overseas.
While this shows that people are fighting for the eradication of discrimination against the LGBT community in more diverse ways, the challenges can be unexpected.
On May 17, a 19-year-old gay man was arrested by police in Changsha, Hunan Province and placed in detention for 12 days for organizing a parade in the city, prompting massive controversy.
Future efforts needed
Sex education in China is still in the "flirting" stage - the authorities have been vowing to do something without taking any real actions, but as for education to eliminate homophobia, there hasn't even been any flirting, said Fang Gang, a leading sexologist at Beijing Forestry University.
Indeed, sex education in China is still in an awkward situation despite the growing number of public calls for its improvement. There is no mandatory requirement from top education authorities, nor are there unified textbooks that address the issue. All education of this nature seems to be in a trial phase without unified standards, but most lean toward "suppression" of homosexuality.
"What schools and educators should do is to carry out education on safe sex and sense of responsibility, and leave the issue of identity to students themselves," said Yao. "Instead of creating antagonism, teachers should try to downplay some issues sometimes."
According to Fang, some teachers believe that there are no homosexuals in their class, and as a result do not conduct anti-homophobia education. Others worry that "if we ask students not to discriminate against homosexuals, there will be more homosexual students."
"When you keep silent on this topic, homophobia and discrimination may spread. Your attitude of denial is itself a kind of discrimination," said Fang.
It may take a long time before educators find the right way to instill scientific knowledge of sexual orientation and gender identity in teenagers. Currently, some NGOs play this role by actively working in campuses.
Jiang Hui, director of Aibai, told the Global Times that they have been working with colleges on disseminating LGBT-related knowledge since 2005 and have seen marked changes over the past years.
On the one hand, they cooperate with students' societies to hold lectures, including some by members of the LGBT community who share their own stories with students. Jiang said there were some obstructions in the beginning due to the "sensitivity" of the topic, but now it has become an accepted topic of public discussion, and many students even feel comfortable identifying themselves as homosexuals.
They also cooperate with elementary and middle school teachers who specialize in sex education, trying to bring cutting-edge theories and knowledge to educators who directly face children and teenagers in class.
"Young teachers are more willing to accept the new viewpoints and are easier to communicate with. But generally, there's rarely opposition against such education," said Jiang, noting that the lack of a systematic and scientific textbook concerning this field is a major problem facing all educational institutions.
Translated by Aibai, Human Sexuality: Diversity in Contemporary America, one of the most popular reading materials on sex education in the US, has been published in China and is being promoted among schools across the country as part of NGOs' efforts to give Chinese educators and teenagers a complete and scientific knowledge of sex-related issues.
"This cause also needs efforts from education authorities in terms of policy and other related support," said Jiang.
Actually, few educators have realized the importance of imparting scientific knowledge about gender diversity, but only find that such discussion and research are still struggling to survive due to various forms of resistances.
Lin Hong, an associate professor on gender research at Xiamen University, applied for a research project on gender diversity from the Ministry of Education last year, but was denied. In 2008 and 2009, her attempts to make gender equality part of the general education curriculum in the university and apply for support for her research into this subject all failed, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/783903.shtml |
