InQueery

Within a project course in my study we were tasked to create a data physicalization to a topic of our choosing. My group decided on the topic LGBTQ+ rights and acceptance around the world.

Despite progress in many countries, there is still much to be done in many others to ensure the rights of LGBTQ+ people are treated fairly and are accepted. The goal of this installation was to raise awareness, highlight the differences between countries around the world and enable the user to step into the position of LGBTQ+ people and experience their rights around the world.

Background research

Worldwide it is estimated that on average 5% of people identify as homosexual, 4% as bisexual, 1% as Pansexual, 1% as Asexual, and 1% as other. Additionally, 1% of people are non-binary, and less than 1% are transgender. Regarding visibility, a study from Ipos found that 51% of people support LGBTQ+ people being open about their sexual orientation or gender identity, 33% neither support nor oppose and 16% strongly oppose . The community is made up of many individuals with different experiences, not only related to their identity but also to the country they live in. The first laws against sexual and gender diversity in Europe can be traced back to medieval times . In the US the first sentencing because of lesbian activity was in 1649. Only in the 20th century, the first LGBTQ+ groups started to form to protest against discrimination and criminalization. The first gay group in the US was, however, shut down quickly after they formed in 1924. In 1970 the first “Gay Liberation Day March” was organized in New York City. In 1972, Sweden legalized sex changes and allowed free hormone therapy as the first country worldwide. Until 1973, homosexuality was viewed as a mental illness in the DSM. In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same sex marriage, and only 11 years ago, in 2011, LGBT people were allowed to openly serve in the US military .

Regarding acceptance, UCLA did a study on 174 countries from 1981 to 2017 to research the level of acceptance towards the LGBTQ+ community . Acceptance encompasses a positive and inclusive view of LGBTQ+ people, laws, and policies. Low levels of acceptance were defined as bullying and violence, physical and mental health problems, discrimination in employment, and underrepresentation in positions of civic leadership. The results were that 131 countries had an increase in acceptance, in 16 countries the acceptance rate lowered, and in 27 countries it stayed the same. The countries with the highest acceptance were Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Canada, and Spain. In contrast, Ethiopia, Azerbaijan, Senegal, Tajikistan, and Somaliland had the lowest acceptance. Another trend the study found was that especially in countries where the acceptance rate was very high or very low, the trend over time increased these tendencies.

A low rate of acceptance and equality can have tremendous effects on LGBTQ+ people. Because of stigma and prejudice, anxiety and stress levels rise as the social sigma gets internalized. As a result, people tend to hide their identities. Negative attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people often start in school. Perpetrators are often groups of young males who feel the need to prove their masculinity. This discrimination leads to higher depression, anxiety, and suicide rates among people from the LGBTQ+ community.

To summarize, discrimination against LGBTQ+ people has existed for a long time and still prevails through unequal rights, opportunities, and social stigma. All of this has measurable negative effects on people from the LGBTQ+ community which shows that more acceptance and awareness are needed to ensure a better quality of life.

Main user interactions

When a user walks up to the installation, they can choose a country by moving the globe and holding up the chosen country to the plain. By putting their arms on the arm rests, the country is selected and the corresponding rights and acceptance is displayed.

The factors that are being displayed are whether LGBTQ+ people have the right to marry and adopt, whether conversion therapy is banned, if being part of the LGBTQ+ community is illegal and penalized by imprisonment or the death penalty and the public opinion within the country.

Rights

The rights are physicalized using symbols that light up, so if the country allows LGBTQ+ people to marry and adopt these symbols will light up. For the conversion therapy, the symbol will light up if it is banned, as it is a very harmful practice and the purpose of the symbols is to show how well the countries are doing on the way to equality.

Imprisonment

The prison sentence will be physicalized using “handcuffs” that lock the user to the armrests. These will close for countries that have prison sentences. The number of seconds these “handcuffs” are closed will relate to the maximum amount of years a person can be imprisoned.

Death penalty

For the physicalization of the death penalty electrocution will be a simulation thereof using lights, vibration sensors, and sounds. Two fluorescent tubes will light up in white, the armrests will start vibrating and static, electronic sounds will be played.

Public opinion

The public opinion regarding the LGBTQ+ community in a specific country will be physicalized in two different ways related to the acceptance of this country. The data is in a range from 0 to 100, so everything below 50 will be labelled as an unaccepting country and everything above that will be labelled as an accepting country.

For countries that are unaccepting the user will be immersed in booing sounds, the louder these sounds are, the less accepting the country is, so the data would be closer to 0. These values from 0 to 50 are mapped to a volume from 0% to 100% of the maximal volume. For accepting countries hearts will appear from the ceiling around the user. The amount of these hearts will be mapped to the acceptance of the country. So for example, 74 hearts mean that the public opinion is a 74 on the scale as well.

Contribution

This project was done in a group of 12 people. My contribution consisted of mainly programming, building and a bit of designing. I programmed the hearts and sounds for the Public opinion and build the heart construction with one other person. Additionally I build the installation frame together with one other person and painted it. I also programmed the visualizations for the screen and helped with the programming for the stands and the rights.

References

S. W. Written by Victoria Masterson, “6 charts that reveal global attitudes to LGBT+ and gender identities in 2021,” World Economic Forum. [Online]. Available: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/lgbt-gender-identity-ipsos-2021-survey/. [Accessed: 27-May-2022].

“LGBTQ history timeline reference.” [Online]. Available: https://www.facinghistory.org/sites/default/files/GLSEN_LGBTQ_History_Timeline.pdf. [Accessed: 27-May-2022].

“The history of LGBTQ+ rights,” LGBTQ+ Impact. [Online]. Available: https://lgbtqimpact.weebly.com/the-history-of-lgbtq-rights/the-history-of-lgbtq-rights. [Accessed: 27-May-2022].

“LGBT history,” I amsterdam. [Online]. Available: https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/see-and-do/whats-on/lgbt/history. [Accessed: 04-Jul-2022].

Rainbow Europe. [Online]. Available: https://rainbow-europe.org/#8651/0/0. [Accessed: 04-Jul-2022].

A. R. Flores, “Social Acceptance of LGBT People in 174 Countries: 1981 to 2017,” UCLA, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://escholarship.org/content/qt5qs218xd/qt5qs218xd.pdf. [Accessed: 27-May-2022]

S. H. Dworkin and H. Yi, “LGBT identity, violence, and Social Justice: The psychological is political - International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling,” SpringerLink. [Online]. Available: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:ADCO.0000005526.87218.9f. [Accessed: 27-May-2022]