PART 2. How does this apply to Conversion Practices?
Topic: The narratives of Conversion Practices
Arguments in favour of Conversion Practices rely on distinct narratives and deep narratives. While these are, by definition, specific to each culture some broader patterns may emerge that hold true across many contexts.
Let’s unpack this here, with a critical lens
The “problem” narrative
Being LGBTQI+ is a problem and people are structurally unhappy. It is a disorder. Being LGBTQI+ should be viewed as a problem.
The “sin” narrative
A very common narrative is that same-sex relationships are prohibited by religious texts, therefore being an LGBTQI person is a sin. This narrative is used as the basis for some conversion practices that ‘help’ queer people ‘atone’ for this sin and get rid of it.
The “medical” narrative
LGBTQI+ people need medical help. This narrative is, of course, very much related to the problem narrative, but has a specific medical edge.
Any of our communications that focus on the medical aspect of gender-affirming care could potentially have the involuntary side-effect of reinforcing this narrative.
The “foreign import” narrative
This narrative implies that feminism and LGBTQI agenda were brought from the West and that so-called “Western values” are foreign and irrelevant. Communications that seek to normalise LGBTQI+ people by appealing to local contexts, such as “LGBTQI+ people are traditional” may run into the danger of reinforcing this narrative.
The “crime” narrative
This is particularly salient in places with criminal laws, but they also prevail in all other contexts, as criminal laws never go very far back in time. According to this narrative, LGBTQI+ people are intrinsically criminals. They are not criminals because they are made so by criminal laws, but on the contrary criminal laws target them because they are criminals by nature. Their “crime” stems from their sexuality and gender identity but expands further to target others. They therefore become a hazard to society, from “grooming” children to preying on Cis women in bathrooms.
The “natural order/nation as family” narrative
The traditional heteronormative nuclear family is both at the centre of and a metaphor for broader society (homeland, fatherland), where gender is at the roots of the natural order. Any deviance from the social order (or diversity) is seen as a threat: disruptive at best, destructive at worst. Population decline is often taken as one of the expressions of this threat.