This is an odd thing for Owen Jones – an openly gay journalist – to write:
[Author Matthew Todd] identifies a number of problems that most gay men, if they were honest, would at least recognise: “Disproportionately high levels of depression, self-harm and suicide; not uncommon problems with emotional intimacy … and now a small but significant subculture of men who are using, some injecting, seriously dangerous drugs, which despite accusations of hysteria from the gatekeepers of the gay PR machine, are killing too many people.” He lists a disturbing number of gay friends, acquaintances and people in the public eye who struggled with addictions and took their own lives.
…
The statistics are indeed alarming. According to Stonewall research in 2014, 52% of young LGBT people report they have, at some point, self-harmed; a staggering 44% have considered suicide; and 42% have sought medical help for mental distress. Alcohol and drug abuse are often damaging forms of self-medication to deal with this underlying distress. A recent study by the LGBT Foundation found that drug use among LGB people is seven times higher than the general population, binge drinking is twice as common among gay and bisexual men, and substance dependency is significantly higher.
Hasn’t it traditionally been the religious nutcases that insist homosexuals are mentally disturbed and in desperate need of help? Now it’s Guardian journalists. We live in strange times.
I think divergence comes in *why* there are high levels of mental health problems among homosexuals. If the religious right is to be believed it’s because they are naturally disordered and their mental problems stem from aberration from the natural order. Whereas your average gay activist would probably tell you its because of societies disapproval of gays in mainstream culture which causes the problem(s).
Duffy,
Yeah, but I think outside the religious nutcases and – now – Guardian journalists most people probably don’t think gays are any more mentally disturbed than straight folk. True, the lifestyle choices of some – infidelity, drug abuse, etc. – might lead them to mental illnesses, but that’s not quite the same thing. I certainly don’t believe that in 2016 society is driving gays to mental illness in such numbers, not in the UK anyway.
It might be interesting to see if there’s an asymmetry along political lines – i.e., whether gay people with conservative, classically liberal or libertarian leanings fare better than those who lean left, and who tend to embrace identity politics and all the seething and dysfunction that goes with it.
those who lean left, and who tend to embrace identity politics and all the seething and dysfunction that goes with it.
Well, they’re mentally ill regardless of their sexual orientation.
In my experiences with substance abuse the “tits and ass” boys left the gay guys for dead.
It was also once a thing that sexuality was fixed, therefor the religious types who insisted that gays could be turned straight, were generally considered nuts.
Apparently, sexuality is now fluid. Doesn’t that make the religious nutcases right on two counts? Confusing times.
Didn’t homosexuality used to be considered a mental illness? Perhaps there was something to that
I have to say, I don’t experience any of this “mental distress” that’s allegedly “triggered by deep-rooted homophobia in society.” Maybe I just interact with less obnoxious people, almost all of whom are straight so far as I can tell. But then I never identified with anything that could be called “the gay community,” where these problems are apparently so commonplace.
If you buy into the notion of “the gay community” and its attendant identity politics – which makes being gay one’s defining attribute, and according to which in-group status is often tied to delusions of being oppressed, and which generally entails spending time with leftists – then that kind of thing must take a toll. It seems to me that if people are clinging to an arrested adolescence and 1980s “activism,” and clubbing into their forties, trying to be part of a “scene,” then this is a recipe for desperation, failure and unhappiness.
If, on the other hand, you find someone to love and basically grow up, then there’s very little need for, or interest in, “the gay community” and the kind of people who take part in Stonewall surveys.
I have to say, I don’t experience any of this “mental distress” that’s allegedly “triggered by deep-rooted homophobia in society.”
Tsk! Stop letting the side down. What’s the gay equivalent of an Uncle Tom?
I quite agree about the “gay community” thing. I can see how it would have come about, because I see how Russian gays are forced into doing this: strength in numbers against pretty nasty people who will do them real harm. But it’s hard to see how this is necessary in western Europe or the USA.
In my experience, gay men fall into two categories: those whose entire life revolves around their being gay, and those who are indistinguishable from anyone else other than they just happen to prefer men to women. It’s not difficult to figure out into which category the mentally ill would fall.
It seems to me that if people are clinging to an arrested adolescence and 1980s “activism,” and clubbing into their forties, trying to be part of a “scene,” then this is a recipe for desperation, failure and unhappiness.
And as your blog points out on an almost daily basis, this is hardly limited to gays.
What’s the gay equivalent of an Uncle Tom?
Heh. I denounce myself.
In my experience, gay men fall into two categories: those whose entire life revolves around their being gay, and those who are indistinguishable from anyone else other than they just happen to prefer men to women. It’s not difficult to figure out into which category the mentally ill would fall.
Based on what I’ve seen over the years, identity politics tends to make people cartoonish, narcissistic and absurd. It’s boring and ultimately toxic. Not the kind of thing to build a satisfying life upon.
“And as your blog points out on an almost daily basis, this is hardly limited to gays”
Same with substance abuse.
Maybe David Thompson nailed it when he qualified the research and the results as being restricted and reflective of a stratified sample of gays that participate in Stonewall surveys.