Disgust
In Atlas of the Heart, Brené Brown captures research on Disgust. She says with disgust inferiority is not the issue, the feeling is more physical – we want to avoid being “poisoned” (either literally or figuratively). She indicates that researchers believe that “the experience of disgust encourages individuals to distance themselves from the emotion eliciting source thereby limiting contact and exposure to the potentially infectious or toxic target.”
Brené quotes Paul Ekman who indicates “disgust contains a range of states with varying intensities from mild dislike and aversion to repugnance, revolution and intense loathing. All states of disgust are triggered by the feeling that something is aversive, repulsive and/or toxic.”
Essentially, we can feel disgust when someone does something that we think is gross, i.e. clear their throat of mucus and then spit it out in front of you. We also can recognize when something smells bad or toxic, to help protect us from getting poisoned, i.e. the smell of rotten chicken alerting you to throw it away rather than continue cooking it for your family. Researchers find a distinction though between Core Disgust which protects our body from ingestion of contaminants, and Disgust in an interpersonal context that is “protecting” us from unseemly behavior or contamination of the soul.
Disgust Leads to Dehumanization
In today’s crazy world we are seeing a lot of disgust written all over people’s faces, within their twitter comments, and in some of the most recent legislation in three states that have made the LGBTQ+ and especially the Transgender youth the target of their disgust. When we take an emotion that was designed to protect us and keep us safe from physical harm and then use that same emotion to ridicule and spew hate against a group of people who we don’t know or understand, we have now participated in a much larger problem of dehumanization.
Dehumanization is Caused by Fear
I’m not as good of an activist as some of my social work colleagues, and I admit that sometimes it’s easier and safer to just remain silent and not speak up or out because like many of you, I was raised in a culture and family that didn’t like to “Rock The Boat.” Yet there is a book out there now (I’m not gonna name it) that unfortunately is proving great misinformation to fellow believers about what we should all be afraid of as mothers of daughters because those “awful Trans people are converting and gonna steal our daughters.”
When I first saw this book, my heart dropped and I felt disgusted. I was angry that someone who professes to love God and who shared my faith had such wrong information and such little awareness of the reality of a Transgender person’s world. Fear drives this book. Groups that choose not to educate themselves and believe this type of misinformation are the same groups that are behind the dehumanization of our youth and adults who are the most marginalized populations out there.
Dehumanization Increases Safety Risks
I’m glad there are teachers, counselors, therapists and other people out there who can provide a safe place for Trans youth to talk about their feelings and get support. Otherwise, these children are at greater risk for depression, self-harm, and suicide when parents, religious groups, and people in power who are supposed to have their best interest at heart, refuse to support them. As I talk with my colleagues, we are all appalled by the increase of both teens and adults who don’t have support from their family or religious organization to explore their feelings. They are alone, isolated, and often lost without a place to express themselves, feel seen, and even walk through their own fears.
So instead of providing them a safe place when home isn’t safe, we now have states taking away teachers and other support persons’ ability to help, which sends an even stronger message of dehumanization. Mental health is a huge problem today and there aren’t enough of us still fighting in the trenches to help those in need.
As Theodore Roosevelt’s Man in the Arena speech inferred…If you’re not in the arena getting beat up with sweat and blood from the experience, then who are you to judge and or have an opinion about what it’s really like to either be in the trans community or a parent and loved one who is in the arena with their Trans child. The God I love and I’m in relationship with all day every day, sees all people equal and loves all his creation, not just the ones that fit a certain identity.
We all need to remember we have the capacity to judge, feel disgust and dehumanize. The most privileged sometimes argue that they don’t have these flaws. Those who are willing to stand up and not be silent are the ones who will have the most impact on showing God’s amazing grace and love for all mankind.
