History Main / CategorismAsAPhobia

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': [[VillainProtagoist Eric Cartman]] is bigoted to the point of delusion. He seriously believes Jewish people are shapeshifting monsters, and that all African-Americans are [[ScaryBlackMan Scary Black Men]].

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The now-defunct [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_panic_defense "gay panic" defense]] for hate crimes, and similar "trans panic".

* ''Dynamisk Psykiatri'' ("Dynamic Psychiatry") by Professor Johan Cullberg is one of the main psychiatrical textbooks in Sweden. Earlier editions contain advice on how to "[[ManufacturingVictims cure]]" homosexuality, even long after international psychiatry had abandoned the idea of considering homosexuality to be a mental disturbance. The 2003 edition has abandoned the talk about curing homosexuality, instead talking about how to [[ManufacturingVictims cure]] homophobia. Treating it as if ''that'' was a real psychiatric disorder. Needless to say, this textbook is subject to much critique and protest.
* Completely averted in ''DSM-IV'', the international psychiatry's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders.

* In one episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', the villain of the week had killed a lot of immigrant children. The killer was overtly racist with his serial killing being an obvious hate-crime. But the defender somehow managed to convince the jury that the man couldn't help it -- that his racism should be regarded as a mental problem. [[spoiler:The defender then murdered his client, and ended the episode with some little rant about his father who was in the Ku Klux Klan.]]

* The now-defunct [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_panic_defense Gay Panic defense]] for hate crimes.

* As one can imagine, several stand-up comedians have done bits about homophobia addressing why it is called "homo''phobia''" exactly. One such comedienne points out the differences between how someone with a regular phobia would act and how someone with homophobia frequently acts before concluding that someone who acts like that isn't really "homophobic" -- they're just an asshole.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Pondus}}'': The eponymous character excels at this. He doesn't seem to have much real bigotry or even prejudice, it's just that he has this crippling fear of homosexuals and homosexual sex acts. He has nightmares about making out with guys, he starts shivering with fear at the sight of real life gays, and so on.
** At one point, his friend Jokke felt like messing a bit with him. So Jokke asked him if he had ever masturbated, and of course Pondus said yes. Jokke then proceeded to inform Pondus that Pondus had actually had sex with a man: himself. In the next panel, Pondus is screaming psychotically while washing his right hand, and Jokke is laughing.
** This comes to a head when Pondus gets a gay married couple as neighbours. The pair are perfectly nice, if extremely flamboyant, and Pondus is perfectly capable of getting along with them (barring some slight snarking)... Unless they start alluding to actual homosexual acts, at which point Pondus shuts down mentally and runs away screaming or goes for the BrainBleach.

It's usually not very funny when a character reeks of prejudice, bigotry, discrimination and so on against a certain category of people. The phenomenon is called racism when it's against a race or ethnic group, homophobia when it's against homosexuals, and so on... but wait a moment! The word "homophobia" has "phobia" as part of the word! Let's just roll with that, and portray homophobia as if it was an actual clinical phobia. HilarityEnsues as the character runs around full of irrational fear of homosexuals, Muslims, Christians, transgender people or whatever category of people.

!!Examples

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

* ''{{Pondus}}'' excels at this. He doesn't seem to have much real bigotry or even prejudice, it's just that he has this crippling fear of homosexuals and homosexual sex acts. He has nightmares about making out with guys, he starts shivering with fear at the sight of real life gays, and so on.
** At one point, his friend Jokke felt like messing a bit with him. So Jokke asked him if he had ever masturbated, and of course Pondus said yes. Jokke then proceeded to inform Pondus that Pondus had actually had sex with a man: himself. In the next panel, Pondus is screaming psychotically while washing his right hand, and Jokke is laughing.
** This comes to a head when Pondus gets a gay married couple as neighbours. The pair are perfectly nice, if extremely flamboyant, and Pondus is perfectly capable of getting along with them (barring some slight snarking)... Unless they start alluding to actual homosexual acts, at which point Pondus shuts down mentally and runs away screaming or goes for the BrainBleach.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* In one episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', the villain of the week had killed a lot of immigrant children. The killer was overtly racist with his serial killing being an obvious hate-crime. But the defender somehow managed to convince the jury that the man couldn't help it - that his racism should be regarded as a mental problem. [[spoiler:The defender then murdered his client, and ended the episode with some little rant about his father who was in the Ku Klux Klan.]]

[[AC:RealLife]]
* the now-defunct [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_panic_defense Gay Panic defense]] for hate crimes.

[[AC:RecordedAndStandUpComedy]]
* As one can imagine, several stand-up comedians have done bits about homophobia addressing why it is called "homo''phobia''" exactly. One such comedienne points out the differences between how someone with a regular phobia would act and how someone with homophobia frequently acts before concluding that someone who acts like that isn't really "homophobic" -- they're just an asshole.

* In ''BitchyBitch'' Midge has a crazy coworker who usually is merely bigoted. But in one episode she developed some weird panic anxiety against a temporary coworker because she believed her to be a pagan. The boss had to waste a lot of energy keeping her reasonably sane.

While this trope can be used on any category of people, it's always easiest when it's a category where a pretty established word for categorism against it ends in the suffix "-phobia": Homophobia against homosexuals, Islamophobia against Muslims, and so on. Sure, these words don't indicate a real phobia any more than the word "mouse-pad" indicates a pad made of mice, by mice or for mice: it's a matter of etymology, not a matter of real meaning. Still, the words having "phobia" in them open up for some fancy wordplay and may also help preserve the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. This goes both ways: a NobleBigot or similar who regard homosexuals as lesser people who should be second class citizens could get the defense that he couldn't possibly be homophobic - after all, he's not ''afraid'' of gay people.

* In one episode of ''LawAndOrderSVU'', the villain of the week had killed a lot of immigrant children. The killer was overtly racist with his serial killing being an obvious hate-crime. But the defender somehow managed to convince the jury that the man couldn't help it - that his racism should be regarded as a mental problem. [[spoiler:The defender then murdered his client, and ended the episode with some little rant about his father who was in the Ku Klux Klan.]]

[[AC:StandUpComedy]]

* As one can imagine, several stand-up comedians have done bits about homophobia addressing why it is called "homo''phobia''" exactly. One such comedienne points out the differences between how someone with a regular phobia would act and how someone with homophobia frequently acts before concluding that someone who acts like that isn't really "homophobic" -- they're just an asshole.

* As one can imagine, several stand-up comedians have done bits about homophobia addressing why it is called "homo''phobia''" exactly. One such comedienne points out the differences between how someone with a regular phobia would and how someone with homophobia frequently acts before concluding that someone who acts like that isn't really "homophobic" -- they're just an asshole.

* As one can imagine, several stand-up comedians have done bits about homophobia addressing why it is called "homo''phobia'' exactly. One such comedienne points out the differences between how someone with a regular phobia would and how someone with homophobia frequently acts before concluding that someone who acts like that isn't really "homophobic" -- they're just an asshole.

* the now-defunct [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_panic_defense Gay Panic defence]] for hatecrimes.

It's usually not very funny when a character reeks of prejudice, bigotry, discrimination and so on against a certain category of people. The phenomenon is called racism when it's against a race or ethnic group, homophobia when it's against homosexuals, and so on... but wait a moment! The word "homophobia" has "phobia" as part of the word! Let's just roll with that, and portray homophobia as if it was an actual clinical phobia. HilarityEnsues as the character runs around full of irrational fear of homosexuals, heterosexuals, Muslims, Christians, transgender people or whatever category of people.

While this trope can be used on any category of people, it's always easiest when it's a category where a pretty established word for categorism against it ends in the suffix "-phobia": Homophobia against homosexuals, Heterophobia against heterosexuals, Islamophobia against Muslims, and so on. Sure, these words don't indicate a real phobia any more than the word "mouse-pad" indicates a pad made of mice, by mice or for mice: it's a matter of etymology, not a matter of real meaning. Still, the words having "phobia" in them open up for some fancy wordplay and may also help preserve the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. This goes both ways: a NobleBigot or similar who regard homosexuals as lesser people who should be second class citizens could get the defense that he couldn't possibly be homophobic - after all, he's not ''afraid'' of gay people.

* ''BitchyButch'' is portrayed as suffering from severe heterophobia to the point that she can hardly take a walk outdoors because she freak out over seeing people being openly heterosexual.

* {{Borat}} went into an over-the-top panic attack when the B&B he was staying at turned out to be operated by a Jewish couple.

* In one episode of ''LawAndOrderSVU'', the villain of the week had killed a lot of immigrant children. The killer was overtly racist with his serial killing being an obvious hate-crime. But the defender somehow managed to convince the jury that the man couldn't help it - that his racism should be regarded as a mental problem. [[spoiler:The defender then murdered his client, and ended the episode with some little rant about his father who was in the Ku Klux Clan.]]

* While most ''ChickTracts'' portray negative feelings against Christians as a matter of ignorance, bigotry and believing the lies of demons, some characters are portrayed as having a phobia against Christians. When it comes to the demons in this setting, the fact that almost all of them are terrified of Christians does not count as a phobia, since this fear is completely rational.

* ''{{Pondus}}'' excels at this. He doesn't seem to have much real bigotry or even prejudice, it's just that he has this crippling fear of homosexuals and homosexual sex acts. He has nightmares about making out with guys, he starts shivering with fear at the sight of real life gays, and so on. * At one point, his friend Jokke felt like messing a bit with him. So Jokke asked him if he had ever masturbated, and of course Pondus said yes. Jokke then proceeded to inform Pondus that Pondus had actually had sex with a man: himself. In the next panel, Pondus is screaming psychotically while washing his right hand, and Jokke is laughing.

* ''{{Pondus}}'' excels at this. He doesn't seem to have much real bigotry or even prejudice, it's just that he has this crippling fear of homosexuals and homosexual sex acts. He has nightmares about making out with guys, he starts shivering with fear at the sight of real life gays, and so on.
** At one point, his friend Jocke felt like messing a bit with him. So Jocke asked him if he had ever masturbated, and of course Pondus said yes. Jocke then proceded to inform Pondus that Pondus had actually had sex with a man: himself. In the next panel, Pondus is screaming psychotically while washing his right hand, and Jocke is laughing at him.

See also TheMentallyDisturbed and HollywoodPersonalityDisorders. Compare BlackAndWhiteInsanity and TroubledSympatheticBigot. Compare InternalizedCategorism and SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny, where the charactr as an aversion against himself because of his idea about what it mean to belong to a certain category or have certain desires.

See also TheMentallyDisturbed and HollywoodPersonalityDisorders. Compare BlackAndWhiteInsanity and TroubledSympatheticBigot. Compare InternalizedCategorism and SexIsEvilAnIAmHorny, where the charactr as an aversion against himself because of his idea about what it mean to belong to a certain category or have certain desires.

See also TheMentallyDisturbed and HollywoodPersonalityDisorders. Compare BlackAndWhiteInsanity and TroubledSympatheticBigot.

It's usually not very funny when a character reek of prejudice, bigotry, discrimination and so on against a certain category of people. The phenomenon is called racism when it's against a race or ethnic group, homophobia when it's against homosexuals, and so on... but wait a moment! The word "homophobia" has "phobia" as part of the word! Lets just roll with that, and portray homophobia as if it was an actual clinical phobia. HilarityEnsues as the character run around full of irrational fear of homosexuals, heterosexuals, Muslims, Christians, transgender people or whatever category of people.

When PlayedForDrama rather than PlayedForLaughs, deaths and ruined lives are more likely than hilarity to ensue and mental problems and bigotry gets mixed into something deeply disturbing.

While this trope can be used on any category of people, it's always easiest when it's a category where a pretty established word for categorism against it ends in the suffix "-phobia": Homophobia against homosexuals, Heterophobia against heterosexuals, Islamophobia against Muslims, and so on. Sure, these words doesn't indicate a real phobia any more than the word "mouse-pad" indicate a pad made of mice, by mice or for mice: It's a matter of etymology, not a matter of real meaning. Still, the words having "phobia" in them open up for some fancy wordplay and may also help preserve the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. This goes both ways: A NobleBigot or similar who regard homosexuals as lesser people who should be second class citizens could get a the defense that he couldn't possibly be homophobic - after all, he's not ''afraid'' of gay people.

* In ''BitchyBitch'' Midge has a crazu cororker who usually is merely bigotted. But in one episode she developed some weird panic anxiety against a temporary coworker because she believed her to be a pagan. The boss had to waste a lot of energy keeping her reasonably sane.

* ''{{Pondus}}'' excel at this. He doesn't seem to have much real bigotry or even prejudice, it's just that he have this crippling fear of homosexuals and homosexual sex acts. He dream nightmares about making out with guys, he start shivering with fear at the sight of real life gays, and so on.
** At one point, his friend Jocke felt like messing a bit with him. So Jocke asked him if he had ever masturbated, and of course Pondus said yes. Jocke then proceded to inform Pondus that Pondus had actually had sex with a man: Himself. In the next panel, Pondus is screaming psychotically while washing his right hand, and Jocke is laughing at him.

* In one episode of ''LawAndOrderSVU'', the villain of the week had killed a lot of immigrant children. The killer was overtly racist, his serial killing being an obvious hate-crime. But the defender somehow managed to convince the jury that the man couldn't help it - that his racism should be regarded a mental problem. [[spoiler:The defender then murder his client, and end the episode with some little rant about his father who was in the Ku Klux Clan.]]

* the now-defunct [[
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_panic_defense Gay Panic defence]] for hatecrimes.