Dr Thio Su Mien, what can you teach the ignorant ones, really?

Dr Thio Su Mien, what can you teach the ignorant ones, really?

SINGAPORE - Dr Thio Su Mien has now emerged from behind the scenes to elucidate on her role in mentoring the current members of AWARE’s executive committee. And she has given an interesting exposé into the motivations behind her actions.

According to Dr Thio, her interest in AWARE was piqued when she discovered that the old AWARE comprehensive sexuality program ,which is run in certain schools, regarded homosexuality as a neutral word, not a negative one. Apparently, she felt that homosexuality should be regarded in a negative light. If not, there would come a time when there will a proliferation of homosexuality, according to her beliefs.

It is rather interesting that Dr Thio finds an issue with homosexuality being regarded neutrally. As science students, we are always taught to approach a topic objectively. And the way to do it is to approach a topic with a neutral perspective. There are responsible professors who exhort students not to be influenced by the former’s academic bias, but rather to approach an academic topic with an unbiased and neutral perspective. That is part of responsible teaching.

My previous stint in the editing and authoring of educational materials, most of which involved collaboration with officers from the Ministry of Education, enlightened me on various changes made to the educational curriculum, most of which will benefit the students. Students from the lower secondary level (secondary 1) are now trained in the ways of the Scientific Method, and have to be familiarized with various research techniques, such as sourcing for relevant information through the Internet and other means. When such students approach a new topic, they are encouraged to do it from an unbiased and neutral perspective, and gradually work their way towards a conclusion. Thus, it is not wrong for an educator to treat a topic such as homosexuality in a neutral light.

Hence, to spread biasness towards a particular topic, even if it is on homosexuality already flies in the face of objectivity. Secondly, there is nothing wrong being neutral about that subject. After all, the scientific community with its army of scholars from diverse disciplines are currently trying to study the topic of homosexuality. No one in his right frame of mind would dare lay stake to the claim that he or she completely comprehends homosexuality. The full details of the phenomenon of homosexuality is still not known. I doubt Dr Thio is any more knowledgeable on the science behind the subject vis-a-vis the vast army of scholars. What I do know is that formulating negative conclusions on a yet to be completely elucidated subject is premature at this stage. It is bad science, and the one who is teaching it is effectively teaching bad science. Thus, it is not wrong to treat a phenomenon that one who is not completely familiar with in a neutral light.

Dr Thio professes to help homosexuals, and she has ministered to them in the past. Her actions are commendable because it indicates her heart is in the right place. But one has to question whether her intention to negatively portray homosexuality in the negative light is going to help matters. Interestingly, her nephew, Dr Alan Chin, brought up the fact that homosexuals are at risks of psychological illnesses such as depression, suicides and drug abuse in his forum letter titled “Homosexuality: Neither a disease nor an immutable trait“, in addition to stating that homsexuals are at risks of HIV transmission.

I will attempt to kill two birds with one stone by discussing two studies. The first study was carried out by Waldo and colleagues (Waldo et al. Self-acceptance of gay identity decreases sexual risk behavior and increases psychological health in US young gay men. Int Conf AIDS. 1998;12:209 (abstract no. 154/14135).) to firstly examine the relationships between 1) Self-acceptance of gay identity 2) Sexual risk-taking behavior (unprotected sex) 3) Mental health in US gay men, and secondly, to explore the role of gay community involvement, social support for gay identity, and sexual orientation disclosure in connection to the previous three variables. They found that social support for gay identity is related to self-acceptance of gay identity and psychological health, and self-acceptance of gay identity is a predictor of increased psychological health, sexual orientation disclosure, and decreased sexual risk behaviour. What this means is that gays who accept their sexuality are likely to be psychologically healthy. And this self acceptance of gay identity can be increased by gay community involvement and social support for gay identity. The main conclusion of the study is that HIV preventive interventions for gay men can be more effective within a personal and cultural environment that increase self-acceptance of the gay identity.

The second study was by Mayne and O’Leary on a suburban and rural population of gay men (Mayne T, O’Leary A. Family support is more important than friend or partner support in reducing distress among suburban and rural gay men. Int Conf AIDS. 1993 Jun 6-11;9(1):120 (abstract no. WS-D17-4)). What they found was that family support is more important than friend or partner support in reducing distress among suburban and rural gay men.

These two studies expose the weaknesses of Dr Chin’s and Dr Thio’s arguements. The Waldo et al study has elucidated the relation between social support for gay identity and psychological health. Thus, for one, it shows that Dr Chin’s inclusion of psychological illnesses in his arguement doesn’t really lend weight to it. Because if the gay is in a social setting that does not promote self-acceptance of his sexual identity, he will not likely be psychologically healthy. In such a setting, he is likely to practise risky sexual practices that can lead to HIV transmission. This very setting can be brought about by a projection of a negative mindset of homosexuality throughout the society, which Dr Chin and Dr Thio advocates. And if Dr Thio wants to educate parents about the negativities of homosexuality, she has to be mindful of the implication of the second study which demonstrated that family support of gay men was crucial in reducing distress. Would indoctrinating a negative perspective of homosexuality help matters? I think not.

As a concerned citizen, Dr Thio feels the need to teach the ignorant ones. It seems that what she is teaching may not be that helpful after all.

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