LGBT Forum Progress: To withdraw homophobic textbooks from FPN as soon as possible

Textbooks that are recommended to students of the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Montenegro (FPN UCG) as mandatory reading, treat homosexuality as diseases and antisocial behavior, and even if they call into question established prejudices, LGBTIQ topics are not treated systematically, so how will such shortcomings be compensated, depends solely on the teacher's intervention. These are, among other things, the conclusions of the analysis of LGBTIQ topics in textbooks at the political science faculties of the UCG and the University of Belgrade, which was presented today by the LGBT Forum progres. The NGO will request the immediate withdrawal of the disputed literature.

In part of the literature, it is stated, among other things, that "lesbianism and pederasty, as two present and widespread types of sexual deviations, arise as a rule, as a consequence of certain defects in psychological and social development...".

John M. Barac from the LGBT Forum Progres said that such contents are "deeply inappropriate and should be seen as one of the causes of widespread homo/bi/transphobia among young academic citizens."

Forum progress will, as he said, already next week send a formal initiative to the FPN, UCG and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports to withdraw these and such textbooks immediately and to include in their place in the curricula those that contain factual and scientifically based definitions".

"And not those who put homosexuality and necrophilia, pedophilia and zoophilia on the same level," he said and added that "it is inadmissible for such textbooks to be used in the 21st century, and even less to educate social workers from them. journalists, journalists...".

Textbook analysis was done by Vuk Uskoković (Montenegro) and Mina Damnjanović (Serbia).

Uskoković analyzed the textbooks used at the FPN UCG, on the Social Policy and Social Work program. The analysis includes seven subjects and recommended reading: Introduction to political science, History of political theories, Theory of social work, Psychology, Social pathology, Ethics and Social psychology.

In question are the mandatory basic study programs from 2014. The author explains that they were analyzed, not the newly accredited programs from 2020, "because they have already trained generations of political scientists and social workers".

In the analysis, the author treats how the topic of feminism is treated in textbooks and in part of the analysis states "how the attitude towards the first women and the rights of LGBTIQ people are closely related, the way in which feminism is taught is also of fundamental importance for LGBTIQ topics".

Thus, in the analysis part of the Introduction to Political Science program, the author says that "the presence of LGBTIQ topics in the textbook of this formative and credit-worthy subject is marginal... and, by the way, neutral in terms of value", and that "thus, students can, in the absence of appropriate intervention by the subject teachers, to miss recent developments in feminist and gender theory and the ways in which they have shaped the fundamental political debates of our time".

"There is also a fear that, again without the appropriate intervention of subject teachers, the author's wording and manner of presentation may underestimate the importance of feminism or encourage prejudiced attitudes about the rights of women and LGBTIQ people," writes the author.

Mandatory literature for the History of Political Theories course does not deal with LGBTIQ topics, but, according to the author of the analysis, it is a positive way of dealing with feminism. The LGBTIQ topic is an incidental phenomenon in the literature section of the Social Work Theory program, and feminism, writes Uskoković, is dealt with in the chapter on radical and Marxist approaches to social work.

In the Psychology program, among other things, the list of recommended reading includes "Social Pathology" by Milo Bošković (Novi Sad, 2000) and "Deviation and Society" by Milosav Milosavljević (Izdavačka kuća Draganić, Belgrade 2003), which the author of the analysis states contain "amazing examples of discrimination, homophobia and outdated medical attitudes".

"That it is simply incredible that such literature passed all internal and external quality controls. Those textbooks contain in the most vulgar and uncritical form all the entrenched prejudices against LGBTIQ people, drug addicts and prostitutes dressed in the language of expertise, science and exactness," the analysis states.

Among other things, the author cites a part from Bošković's textbook, in which he states that "for medical sciences... homosexuality is still a complete secret, because in biological and psychological characteristics, homosexual and heterosexual persons are almost indistinguishable."

Additionally, according to the analysis, Bošković writes that "gay rights movements, whole missionary movements and ideologies are expanding and strengthening" in the world.

"In their programs, the words nature and naturalness have strange contents, they indicate the 'traditional backwardness' of ethics and sexual morality. Demands for the legalization of marriages and the right to adopt children are only some of the deprivations that, according to them, are dictated by 'uncivilized consciousness'".

In this way, the analysis states, the LGBTIQ movement is almost portrayed as a "fanatical religious campaign that threatens common-sense civil order and morality", while at the same time it is emphasized that "homosexuality is linked to delinquent behavior and often results in serious diseases (AIDS )”.

Additionally problematic, the author of the analysis finds the part related to lesbians, in which "every semblance of scientificity is abandoned, and metaphors of danger and conspiracy come to the fore".

"Female homosexuality - lesbianism is a much rarer phenomenon. It is characterized by the fact that in relationships, as with the male form, the roles of 'man' and 'woman' are divided, as well as by closed societies, such as sects", is the content of part of the literature studied at FPN.

In the analysis, the author also gives recommendations, among which the FPN should consider how LGBTIQ topics could be dealt with in a systematic, modernized and socially conscious way.

It is also recommended to "immediately remove textbooks or textbook content that promotes discrimination, homophobia and outdated medical ideas", and the author of the analysis calls for an investigation into the responsibility for "such a big failure in internal and external quality control".

In the end, the author of the analysis recommends connecting theoretical and practical teaching, and in this sense suggests connecting FPN and non-governmental organizations in the field of human rights protection, which would enable students to do part of the practical training with these NGOs.

In December, "Vijesti" wrote about the shortcomings of the official literature used in some schools and colleges, not only in relation to LGBTIQ, but also persons with disabilities.

Thus, in part of the textbook, people with disabilities are treated as persons who should be placed in institutions and kept away from society, and someone who is LGBTQ is told that they are disturbed.

Such a relationship, the interlocutors of "Vijesti" judged at the time, had also influenced the treatment of individuals in the past, and if something does not change, something like this can be expected in the future as well.

The author of the book "Montenegrin's educational policy and sexual orientation", in which the representation of LGBT topics in school programs and textbooks is analyzed - Aleksandar Saša Zeković said then that Montenegrin textbooks as a whole promote human rights, but also that there are no socially sensitive topics in them.

"Our textbooks do not have negative content about sexual orientation, but they mostly ignore it," Zeković said.

He also said that it is important not to allow the use of textbooks that are outdated and unacceptable in terms of science and respect for human rights, and that it is necessary to innovate the existing editions.

Analysis in PDF on this LINK.