The narratives of gay male teachers in contemporary Catholic Malta

Abstract

The hegemonic privileging of absolute masculinity promotes “values such as courage… certain forms of aggression… and considerable amounts of toughness in mind and body” (Carrigan, Connell and Lee, 1987 p.148). Men who fail to fulfil such criteria are not only at an increased risk of social alienation but they endure an intricate process in defining their masculinity vis-à-vis ‘mainstream’ norms. Consequently, pressures to conform to gender stereotypes from parents, media and peers are pervasive and the perpetration of homophobic violence becomes tolerable.

The resulting societal discrimination, internalised heterosexism (Hetzel, 2011) and disruption in social support networks can precipitate mental distress, impacting one’s psychological well-being (Meyer, 1995; 2003). Consequently, ‘coming-out’ and therefore disclosing one’s sexuality may be an anguishing process (Armstrong and Moore, 2004) and incidence of suicide and self-harm in LGBT populations has been documented (Scott, Pringle, Lumsdaine, 2004).

Interestingly, Borg (2006) refers to the ‘Catholic hegemony’ in Malta as “one dominant culture” (p.61) which “works through education to reproduce its position within society” (p.62). Research by Conti (2011) with therapists who deal with Maltese LGB clients confirms that the predominance of the Catholic Church results in “religious fundamentalism, guilt, parents fearing for their children’s spiritual well-being, individuals fearing that they will end up in hell, lack of acceptance by society and family, and lack of self-acceptance” (p.58).