Assignment in Gender and Society

with Personality Development

In Partial Fulfillment of

The Requirement for

PD 101

Presented to:

Juleva Saniel
 Presented by:

Tracey Gel Julian

Samantha Faye Polestico

Charmaine Aprilly Ronquillo

Rica Stephanie Rodrigo

I. CONTENT

Sexual orientation refers to the person’s enduring romantic and sexual attractions to
the opposite gender, the same gender, or both. The study mainly talks about the links
between young men’s sexual orientation and suicide risk in the Philippines by examining its
prevalence in a potentially vulnerable subgroup: young sexual-minority Filipino men who
are gay or bisexual.

The data used was from the Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey 3, and the data
are based on a nationally representative sample of young Filipino adults from 16
administrative regions of the Philippines including the National Capital Region and the
Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, including 894 barangays, using two-stage cluster
sampling a national population-based study of 8,042 Filipino men from different regions that
is aged 15 to 24. From that, the results depict that young gay and bisexual Filipino men had
twice the proportion of suicide ideation compared to other male youth. About 16% of young
gay and bisexual men thought of suicide which is 8% higher than heterosexually attracted
male youth. Furthermore, sexual minority youth also had disproportionately higher rates of
suicide attempts than heterosexual peers. Young bisexual and gay Filipino men reporting
suicide ideation had higher levels of suicide attempt (39%) which is significantly higher than
heterosexual male youth (26%). In conclusion, the study indicates that sexual orientation
appears to be associated with suicide risk and ideation.

II. DISCUSSION

According to Gunnell, Lebanan, and Redaniel (2011), suicide is a major contributor to

mortality rates worldwide and is among the leading causes of death in the Western Pacific
Region and Philippines is one of the countries which suicide is prevalent. They added that,
between male and female rates of suicide the male rates were consistently higher than female
rates. Manalastas, E.J. (2013) suggest that here in the Philippines sexual orientation and
suicide risk are associated. Furthermore, among men those who are gay or bisexual have
higher suicide risks compared to the heterosexual males. This just proves that gay or bisexual
males are under twice the danger of committing suicide, suicide attempts, and suicide
ideation.

Van Heeringen & Vincke’s overview (as cited in Gunnell et al., 2011) indicates that
suicide behavior is facilitated by an interaction of two factors: (1) a persistent vulnerability,
such as depression or poverty, and (2) a proximal stressor, like sudden unemployment or
relationship breakup. Some general risk factors for suicide identified over the past several
decades include a family history of suicide, childhood maltreatment, having a mental illness,
struggling with substance abuse, experiencing chronic feelings of hopelessness, and having
access to a means of completing suicide (Franklin et al., 2017). Mustanski & Liu (2013),
mentioned in their research that the risk factors specific to sexual minority youth include
gender nonconformity, low (or lack of) family support, and victimization for being a sexual
minority . These additional risk factors and many more greatly explains why the LGBTQ
youth are at a greater risk of suicide attempts and completed suicide. There are various
theories regarding the root of the higher risks but as observed in most situations, the LGBTQ
community are always faced with maltreatment, bullying and most of the times under so
much societal pressure and disagreement. According to most researchers, psychologists, and
mental health practitioners these are the reality and they agree that youth identifying as a
sexual minority are exposed to a higher number of risk factors than their heterosexual
counterparts (Schreiber, 2017).

In a 2013 survey by the US-based Pew Research Center, the Philippines ranked 10th
among the 17 countries in the world with a high level of public acceptance of homosexuals
but in a Social Weather Stations (SWS) from March 23 to March 27, showed that nationwide,
61 percent of the 1,200 respondents were against legalizing the civil union of two men or
two women. (Salaverria, 2018). This is highly controversial and this proves the statement of
Peter Jones Dela Cruz (2015) that Filipinoes in general just tolerate the LGBTQ community
and not accept them. He added that there is too much discrimination still in a normal basis
and in the laws as well. Gays that are accepted according to him are the Vice Ganda type and
those who are good make-up artists and designers, this pressures them to be such and thus
not acceptance.
 Truly, the society is getting better at treating LGBT people, but Philippines is still not at
the stage wherein the community is open to understanding non-heterosexual and
non-cisgender people the Philippines can only be truly gay friendly when everyone stops
harassing, bullying, hurting, and discriminating against gay people and other sexual
minorities.

III. RECOMMENDATION

In the research, the author recommended two topics that needs further study one is to
determine to what extent the link between sexual orientation and suicide risk also exists for
lesbian and bisexual Filipina women, as well as for the Filipino transgender community,
especially as mental health outcomes tend to intersect with gender and sexuality in complex
ways and a second and equally important research direction is the examination of protective
factors that may shield Filipino LGBT youth from the negative effects of stigma and
discrimination. The author also suggested similar investigations in the Philippine context are
needed to build a more complete picture of not just LGBT vulnerability but also LGBT
resilience

In our own opinion, individuality is something we all need to respect and accept.
Differences are very much normal and all of the members of the community must further
work on respecting each others’ individuality. Although a lot of work must still be done in a
worldwide scope we must prioritize first in building in ourselves acceptance and respect to
people in our circle or society we belong in that is in the sexual minority and LGBTQ
community .

IV. REFERENCES

Dela Cruz, P.J. (2015). 15 Reasons Philippines is not gay friendly. Retrieved from:
 https://outragemag.com/15-reasons-philippines-is-not-gay-friendly/

Franklin, J. C. et al (2017). Risk factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviors: A

meta-analysis of 50 years of research. Psychological Bulletin, 143(2), 187-232.
doi:10.1037/bul0000084

Gunnell, D., Lebanan, M.A., & Redaniel, M.T. (2011). Suicide in the Philippines: Time
trend analysis (1974-2005) and literature review. BMC Public Health, 11(1). 1-9.
doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-536

Manalastas, E.J. (2013). Sexual Orientation and Suicide Risk in the Philippines:
Evidence from a Nationally Representative Sample of Young Filipino Men.
Philippine Journal of Psychology, 46(1), 1-13.

Mustanski, B., Liu, Richard T. (2013). A longitudinal study of predictors of suicide

attempts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. Archives of Sexual
Behavior, 42(3), 437-48. doi: 10.1007/s10508-012-0013-9

Salaverria, L. (2018, July 1). PH LGBT-friendly, but 61% oppose same-sex marriage.
Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved from: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1005757/
ph-lgbt-friendly-but-61-oppose-same-sex-marriage

Schreiber, K. (2017). Why Are Suicide Rates Higher Among LGBTQ Youth? Retrieved
from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-truth-about-exercise-
addiction/201710/why-are-suicide-rates-higher-among-lgbtq-youth