Age of Consent at 14 Makes Canada Favoured gay Tourism Destination

By Hilary White

OTTAWA, December 19, 2006 – A newly released report says that the age of consent for vaginal sex in Canada – currently set at 14 – has made this country a favorite destination for child-sex “tourism”. The Global Monitoring Report on the Status of Action against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, says that Canada’s age of consent has made Canada a haven for pedophiles.

The report was issued by the Bangkok-based organization, End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes, or ECPAT International. It gives Canada 17 recommendations, including raising the age of consent from 14 to 16.

EPCAT International monitors and studies the problem of child sexual exploitation around the world. The Global Monitoring Report says that legal action is not enough and that a culture of sexual exploitation of children has arisen around the world in recent years, particularly in media imagery and the internet. This, the group says, coincides with trends of children being frequently victimized by adults for commercial sex, “under the wrongful concept of their ability to consent to exploitation.”

The report recommends that “all children up to the age of 18 …be afforded legal protection from commercial sexual exploitation.”

A bill to raise the age of consent, one of the first to be put forward by Canada’s Conservative government, passed second reading in the House of Commons in October.

Federal Justice Minister Vic Toews told the CBC that Americans are being prosecuted under US laws for using Canada as a sex-tourism destination. “It's ironic in Canada we can't prosecute them, and yet Americans coming here and taking advantage of our children, when they go back, can face criminal prosecutions and lengthy imprisonment." Toews told the CBC.

The CBC report quotes Toronto police constable, Paul Krawczyk, who said, “I've been in pedophile chat rooms that discuss Canada having such a low age of consent that they tell other pedophiles to travel to Canada because of that. Sixty-year-olds engaging in sexual activities with 14 or 15-year-olds is not appropriate.”

The federal government’s proposal to raise the age of consent in Canada from 14 to 16 was vocally opposed by homosexual advocacy groups who accused the government of attacking the sexual freedoms of young people.

As a longtime proponent of raising the age of consent, Toews responded in June when the government tabled their bill, “Adults who sexually prey upon young people are the targets of these reforms, not consenting teenagers.”

The proposed legislation includes a close-in-age clause that means young people 14 or 15 can have sexual relations with someone “less than five years older.”

The sides are clearly lined up in the war over child-protection and the age of consent. After the Conservatives tabled the bill, the Coalition For Lesbian And Gay Rights In Ontario and the Sex Laws Committee said raising the age would discriminate against the sexual choices of gay youth.

Planned Parenthood Ottawa and the Canadian AIDS Society also criticized the bill saying it would interfere with efforts to educate youth about pregnancy, disease prevention and sexual rights.

This February, the homosexual activist group EGALE (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere), asked the government to lower the age of consent for anal sex to 16 from its current 18, saying that the difference only served to “stigmatize gay men.”

Following this, in November, a Liberal Party policy resolution, attributed to the British Columbia branch of the Party, called for the lowering of the age of consent for anal sex.

 

On the Pedophilia Issue:
What the APA Should Have Known

By Joseph Nicolosi, Ph.D. and Dale O'Leary

Deconstructionists argue that distinctions between the genders are arbitrary and political. Now, the same argument is being advanced by man-boy love advocates about the distinction between the generations.

An article published last summer in the American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin has drawn a recent firestorm of criticism. Talk show hosts and congressmen are calling for investigations. The outrage has focused on the authors' conclusion, based on their analysis of child-molestation studies, that "the negative effects [of sexual abuse] were neither pervasive nor typically intense."

The article was entitled "A Meta-analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using College Samples."

APA spokeswoman Rhea Faberman defended publication of the article as part of the scientific work of the organization, saying, "We try to create a lot of dialogue." She labeled "ridiculous" the claim of radio talk-show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger that publication of the article and the attempt to normalize pedophilia were in any way related.

Contrary to Ms. Faberman's assertion, however:

1.       There is a real and growing movement to legitimize and also legalize sexual relations between boys aged 10 to 16 and adult males;

2.       Robert Bauserman, one of the authors of the article, has associated himself with the pedophilia movement through a previous article;

3.       The movement's strategy is to promote the "objective" study of child/adult sex, free of moral considerations;

4.       The APA should have known this before they published the article.

Those who are interested in legalizing sexual relations between adults and children want to change the parameters of the discussion from the "absolutist" moral position, to the "relative" position that it can sometimes be beneficial. The A.P.A. article furthered exactly this position.

Deconstructionists have argued--with some success--that distinctions between the genders are arbitrary and politically motivated. Now, the same argument is being advanced about the distinction between the generations.

In a recent lead article of the Journal of Homosexuality (1), for example, Harris Mirkin says the "sexually privileged" have disadvantaged the pedophile through sheer political force in the same way that blacks were disadvantaged by whites before the civil-rights movement.

The Movement to Legitimize Pedophilia

In 1981, Dr. Theo Sandfort, co-director of the research program of the Department of Gay and Lesbian Studies at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands, interviewed 25 boys aged 10 to 16 who were currently involved in sexual relationships with adult men. The interviews took place in the homes of the men.

According to Sandfort, "For virtually all the boys ... the sexual contact itself was experienced positively..." Could an adult-child sexual contact, then, truly be called positive for the child? Based on the research presented, Sandfort answered that question in the affirmative.

The study was severely criticized by experts in the field of child sexual abuse. Dr. David Mrazek, co-editor of Sexually Abused Children and Their Families, attacked the Sandfort research as unethical, saying:

"In this study, the researchers joined with members of the National Pedophile Workshop to 'study' the boys who were the sexual 'partners' of its members ... there is no evidence that human subject safeguards were a paramount concern. However, there is ample evidence that the study was politically motivated to 'reform' legislation.

"These researchers knowingly colluded with the perpetuation of secret illegal activity ... In the majority of cases, these boys' parents were unaware of these sexual activities with adult men, and the researchers contributed to this deception by their action."

Child sexual-abuse expert Dr. David Finkelhor also criticized the Sandfort research, pointing to the numerous studies which show adult-child sexual contact as a predictor of later depression, suicidal behavior, dissociative disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, and sexual problems.

Dr. Finkelhor strongly defended laws against child/adult sex, saying that many of those now-grown children are very active in lobbying for such protection.

In 1990, the campaign to legalize man-boy sex was furthered by the publication of a two-issue special of the Journal on Homosexuality, reissued as Male Intergenerational Intimacy: Historical, Socio-Psychological, and Legal Perspectives.

This volume provided devastating information on the way psychologically immature pedophile men use vulnerable boys who are starved for adult nurturance and protection.

In the forward, Gunter Schmidt decries discrimination against and persecution of pedophiles, and describes

"successful pedophile relationships which help and encourage the child, even though the child often agrees to sex while really seeking comfort and affection. These are often emotionally deprived, deeply lonely, socially isolated children who seek, as it were, a refuge in an adult's love and for whom, because of their misery, see it as a stroke of luck to have found such an 'enormously nurturant relationship'."

There is another deeply disturbing article in the volume, revealingly titled, "The Main Thing is Being Wanted: Some Case Studies on Adult Sexual Experiences with Children." In it, pedophiles reveal their need to find a child who will satisfy their desire for uncritical affirmation and a lost youth. One of the men justifies his activity as a search for love, and complains that: "Although I've had physical relationships with probably, I don't know, maybe a hundred or more boys over the years, I can only point to four or five true relationships over that time."

The volume also contains an introductory article which decries society's anti-pedophile sentiment. The authors complain about the difficulty studying man-boy relationships in "an objective way," and they hope the social sciences will adopt a broader approach which could lead to understanding of the "diversity and possible benefits of intergenerational intimacy."

Bauserman Defends Sandfort's Research

The same volume contains an article by Robert Bauserman-co-author of the A.P.A. study--which complains that objective research is impossible in a social climate that condemns man-boy sexual relationships. Bauserman decries the prevailing ideology that labels all boys as "victims" and all adult pedophiles as "perpetrators." He attacks researchers Mzarek and Finkelhor as being driven by a "particular set of beliefs about adult-juvenile sex." Bauserman looks for a new "scientific objectivity," with the explicit call for research that will challenge the social-moral taboo against adult/child sex. The meta-analysis which he co-authored, and which the American Psychological Association published, can be seen as Bauserman's follow-up to his Journal of Homosexuality article.

More Recent Defenses of Pedophilia

Harris Mirkin recently wrote a lead article in the Journal of Homosexuality entitled "The Pattern of Sexual Politics: Feminism, Homosexuality and Pedophilia." Using social-constructionist theory, he argues that the concept of child molestation is a "culture- and class-specific creation" which can and should be changed.

He likens the battle for the legalization of pedophilia to the battles for women's rights, homosexual rights, and even the civil rights of blacks.

He sees the hoped-for shift as taking place in two stages. During the first stage, the opponents of pedophilia control the debate by insisting that the issue is non-negotiable--while using psychological and moral categories to silence all discussion.

But in the second stage, Mirkin says, the discussion must move on to such issues as the "right" of children to have and enjoy sex.

If this paradigm shift could be accomplished, the issue would move from the moral to the political arena, and therefore become open to negotiation. For example, rather than decrying sexual abuse, lawmakers would be forced to argue about when and under what conditions adult/child sex could be accepted. Once the issues becomes "discussible," it would only be a matter of time before the public would begin to view pedophilia as another sexual orientation, and not a choice for the pedophile.

The response to the APA article shows that for the present, social opposition to pedophilia continues to be strong. Finkelhor's response to Bauserman, which was included in Male Intergenerational Intimacy, explains why:

"Some types of social relationships violate deeply held values and principles in our culture about equality and self-determination. Sex between adults and children is one of them. Evidence that certain children have positive experiences does not challenge these values, which have deep roots in our worldview."

To pedophile advocates, any discussion of the benefits of child-adult sex is a victory. The APA should have understood this, should have known about Bauserman's connections, and should have been well aware of--and vocally resistent to--the growing movement to legalize pedophilia.

Endnote

Mirkin, Harris, "The Pattern of Sexual Politics: Feminism, Homosexuality and Pedophilia," Journal of Homosexuality vol. 37(2), 1999, p. 1-24.

 

 

International Academy of Sex Research Joins the Debate: Is Pedophilia a Mental Disorder?

In an issue of the Archives of Sexual Behavior--the official journal of the International Academy of Sex Research--some clinicians argue that "unusual sexual interests" should not be considered mental disorders.

Bruce Rind, author of the 1998 meta-analysis that claimed to find little or no harm in man-boy sex, joins the discussion; other commentators disagree.

By Linda Ames Nicolosi

The Archives of Sexual Behavior published a special edition in December 2002 to discuss whether pedophilia should remain a mental disorder.

Opening the debate was Richard Green, M.D., J.D. a widely known writer specializing in homosexuality and gender-identity issues. Green argued in favor of removing pedophilia from the diagnostic manual (DSM).

Green was one of the clinicians who, in the 1973, took the side of gay activists to argue for removing homosexuality from the diagnostic manual.

In a second article in the Archives, "The Dilemma of the Male Pedophile," Gunter Schmidt, D. Phil., makes a sympathetic case for the pedophile who, Schmidt says, must "remain abstinent for significant periods of time" and "lead a life of self-denial at significant emotional cost." Schmidt calls for a new, "enlightened discourse on morality" with the recognition that "in view of the pedophile's burden, the necessity of denying himself the experience of love and sexuality," he deserves society's respect.

Furthermore, Schmidt argues, molested children do not always appear to be harmed. A 1998 study by Bruce Rind, he notes, found that many boys grow up to have positive or neutral memories of their man-boy sexual experiences.

The Issue of "Consent"

Many of the commentators in the Archives argued that children are usually too emotionally immature to offer valid consent for sex with an adult. But the issue of ability to give valid consent is not the point at all, another writer responded--for no parent asks his child for his "consent" before baptizing him into a church.

A number of the commentators indicated their disapproval of the moral influences exerted on society by its Judeo-Christian heritage, which has traditionally stigmatized child sexuality.

Psychiatrist Richard C. Friedman, the author of Male Homosexuality: A Contemporary Psychoanalytic Perspective and a number of related research papers, says that it would be "more helpful than harmful" to continue to view pedophilia as a mental disorder because we know so little about adult-child sex at this time, and because of the potentially harmful age and power discrepancy between children and adults. But he closes his commentary by urging that society not "discriminate" against people who are sexually attracted to children.

Looking at the issue historically, argues psychologist Robert Prentky, the age for sexual consent used to be age ten in England until about 100 years ago. So when, Prentky asks, is "a child no longer a child?" Certainly there are some 12-year-olds, he says, who are mature enough to give valid consent for sex. Prentky also observes that some of our culture's most beloved heroes were "clearly pedophiles" --including, he says, the authors of the children's classics Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland.

The debate in the Archives provides an eye-opening view into the philosophical reasoning employed in the ongoing debate about what should be the defining criteria for mental illness.

Criteria for Mental Illness

Why should pedophilia not be considered a mental illness? Richard green makes the case by considering several factors.

Distress. One of the criteria for mental illness is subjective distress - and, Green notes, many pedophiles are not distressed about their attractions at all--except, he notes, about being the possibility of being jailed. In fact, "some celebrate their interests, organize politically, and publish magazines or books."

Disability. Considering another marker of illness, "disability," Green says, psychiatry must not let itself be locked into the narrow definition of disability currently dictated by our culture. When we broaden our view to consider other cultures over time, Green explains, we see that many African tribes and even the ancient Greeks considered man-boy pedophilia to be a helpful rite-of-passage into manhood.

Animal Behavior. Looking at normality from the perspective of our animal relatives, Dr. Green looks at a close genetic relative, the pygmy chimp, or bonobo. Studies show that the bonobo has erotic contact with babies of its own species. And that behavior isn't likely harmful to the babies, Green says, because it's the babies themselves that often initiate the sex play.

Frequency of Occurrence. Green says that contrary to popular myth, pedophile attractions aren't even especially unusual. Studies prove that many so-called "normal" men with conventional sexual interests can, in fact, be sexually aroused in a laboratory setting when they are shown erotic photos of little girls.

Is the pedophile a dysfunctional person? No, Green says; in truth, there appear to be quite a number of "highly skilled pedophiles" - in fact, even some beloved public figures--so a simple explanation of "social inadequacy" doesn't explain their psychological condition.

Taken together, Green says, these findings converge on the conclusion that pedophilia is not a mental disorder - at least "not unless we declare a lot of people in many cultures and in much of the past to be mentally ill."

A Change in Worldviews

Dr. Gunther Schmidt counters that the Western world was once dominated by Judeo-Christian principles, and we used to judge particular sex acts like adultery, sodomy, and sado-masochistic sex as intrinsically wrong. But now those old "prejudices," he says, are fading away.

What anyone decides to do sexually with another person is today considered morally acceptable as long as a valid agreement is negotiated. But because the child is usually too immature to give his "consent," pedophilia must continue to be seen as harmful.

However, Schmidt notes, even though the child is too young to agree to sex, it's certainly not, in fact, true that harm always results from child molestation. Even some boys who were actually forced into sex with a man against their will, Schmidt says, later remember those experiences as having been "favorable to their development" and "interesting and enjoyable."

And because an attraction to children is a basic part of the pedophile's identity--in other words, "who he is"-- the pedophile's self-denial of gratification is, in fact, "tragic."

Others Say the Issue of "Consent" is Irrelevant

Among those writers who opted for retaining pedophilia in the DSM, the majority made their argument against adult-child sex on the grounds of the age and power discrepancy between the partners. But not all of the writers in the Archives agreed that a power imbalance renders a relationship psychologically harmful or even subjectively unsatisfying.

For example, psychiatrist Emil Ng, M.D. of the University of Hong Kong says that in ancient Chinese history, children are described as "natural sexual beings," and romances are portrayed with children as young as ten years old in sexual relationships with each other, or with adults--and "sex play is viewed as beneficial to their healthy development."

Is lack of "consent" a valid reason to call pedophilia harmful? No, Dr. Ng notes, "the seemingly righteous and humanitarian debate on child self-determination" is nothing more than "another game adults play to impose their own values on children."

After all, Ng notes, "How often do the adults [in the West] try to ascertain 'valid consent' from their children before getting them to do most things?" For example, have parents "sought valid 'consent' from their children before baptizing them soon after birth?"

"Unequal Relationships Are Not Necessarily Unprincipled"

Dr. Paul Okami of UCLA agrees that a power imbalance should not be the deciding issue. History is full of examples, he notes, of unequal relationships that "work" for the individuals involved--for example, a professor and his student marry "and live happily ever after." An unequal relationship doesn't violate principles of justice or fairness in sexual relationships, Dr. Okami says, "unless one views sexual relationships as similar to hand-to-hand combat."

Actually, he says, the real problem in pedophilia traces back to Christianity. People "detest" pedophilia because Christianity has given our culture a restrictive attitude toward the "naturalistic" child and his sexual instincts.

Christianity, Okami says, "regards children as sinful heathens who need the devil beat out of them. The end result is a powerful desire to save priceless, lovable, sacred innocents from something dangerous, dirty, disgusting and sinful."

Dr. Bruce Rind agrees with Dr. Ng and Dr. Okami that lack of consent from the child doesn't necessarily mean adult-child sexual relationships are harmful. (Dr. Rind was the lead author of the 1998 study that was attacked in the media by radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger. The Rind study concluded that there was little or no psychological harm in man-boy sexual relationships.)

Dr. Rind notes that many other societies, today and in the past, have endorsed sex between a man and a boy. And, what is necessarily wrong with a power imbalance?

After all, Rind says, some parents force their children to go to church! And couldn't religious indoctrination, for that matter, be harmful to the child?

Even Man-Boy Incest May Be Remembered Positively, Says Rind

To back up his claim that pedophile relationships can be consensual, Rind describes several cases of men who say they benefited from--and even initiated--their childhood sexual experiences, including a "positive" recollection of father-son incest.

One boy had several relationships with men, starting when he was age 11, "all of which he viewed as very positive. He thinks the sex helped his sexual self-confidence; as he matured, he knew exactly what he wanted in sex, while his peers were still searching."

Another man saw the childhood intimacy he had with a man as the "highlight of his life."

Still another boy started having sex with his own father at age ten, and now (he is 33 years old) he looks back on their incestuous relationship as "beautiful, pure" and full of love. He said he "cherished the intimacy."

Dr. Charles Moser--the clinician who was invited to present a paper at the May 2003 American Psychiatric Conference on pedophilia--supported Rind's observations. Psychiatry, he said, is ethically obliged to help those people who have unusual sexual interests pursue their subjective ideal of personal fulfillment.

"Any sexual interest," concluded Moser, "can be healthy and life-enhancing."

References:

1. Moser, Charles and Peggy J. Kleinplatz, "DSM-IV-TR and the Paraphilias: An Argument for Removal," paper presented at the American Psychiatric Association annual conference, San Francisco, California, May 19, 2003.

2. "Special Section: Pedophilia: Concepts and Controversy," in Archives of Sexual Behavior, vol. 31, No. 6, December 2002, p. 465-510.

 

 

Three Homosexual Activist Groups Gain Previously Denied UN Consultative Status

Three Homosexual Activist Groups Gain Previously Denied UN Consultative Status
Will boost efforts to gain UN recognition for sexual orientation and gender identity as human rights

By Gudrun Schultz

NEW YORK, United States, December 14, 2006 - Three homosexual activist groups were granted consultative status at the United Nations this week, despite serious concerns over the groups’ history of affiliation with organizations promoting pedophilia.

The European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA-Europe), along with two member groups--the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians and the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany--were granted consultative status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Consultative status gives non-governmental organizations the right to represent their own interests at the UN and to participate in the UN’s work.

“We demand the right not to be discriminated against on the grounds of who we are, as lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender persons,” said Rosanna Flamer Caldera, Co-Secretary General of ILGA, in response to the UN decision.

ECOSOC disregarded the report of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations for 2006, which called on the Council to withhold status from the homosexual organizations.

The Council’s actions were criticized by UN members who objected to the decision to override the Committee’s recommendation, according to a press release. The UN representative for Benin called the procedure a “masquerade” and said the Council had “acted in great haste and general disarray” and had “created an unfortunate precedent by reducing the authority of the Committee’s decisions.”

“The Council should not be in a hurry to sow confusion for the benefit of certain organizations,” the representative said.

ILGA had gained consultative status to the UN in 1993, but was suspended one year later after the UN discovered that groups promoting sex with children had memberships with the organization, including the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) which campaigns to legalize adult/child sexual contact.

The organization’s support for repealing sexual age-of-consent laws have been a source of concern for conservative UN member states, as well. In 1985, ILGA passed a resolution stating that “young people have the right to sexual and social self-determination and age of consent laws often operate to oppress and not to protect.”

Repeated efforts by the organization to regain status have been denied.
In January 2006 ECOSOC again denied requests by ILGA and the Danish National Association for official status, after opposing members in the UN remained unconvinced that the organizations no longer included pro-pedophilia members.

While ILGA said pedophilia groups had been expelled, the organization had refused to submit a membership list, claiming to do so would compromise members in countries where homosexuality was illegal.

The executive director of ILGA-Europe, Patricia Prendiville, said the UN’s decision to admit the group will boost homosexual activist efforts to gain UN recognition for sexual orientation and gender identity as human rights, one of the primary goals of the organization.

See UN press release:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/ecosoc6242.doc.htm

Wal-Mart Hits Teens with Gay Porn How-To Manual

By Gudrun Schultz

BENTONVILLE, AR, November 15, 2006 - A graphic sex-ed manual promoting lesbianism to teenage girls is now offered for sale by Wal-Mart in the United States.  Called "irresponsible and obscene" and by the Institute for Canadian Values, the material contains explicit directions for engaging in oral/anal sexual acts. The book encourages same-sex experimentation, telling girls that only 10 percent of the population is actually heterosexual, while 80 percent is "mixed" or bi-sexual.

Produced by St. Stephens' Community House in Toronto, the book titled "The Little Black Book for Girlz: A Book on Healthy Sexuality" caused a storm of controversy earlier this fall when parents and pro-family groups first became aware of the books' content after it was published in September.

The  manual was further condemned for using obscene and derogatory language. Examples include a section entitled "My First Time F***ing a Girl" and the statement "If you need someone to represent God The Holiness, then for me, it's a fat black dyke."

The manual contains misleading and dangerous information on "safe" sex devises, assuring teenagers that condom use is 100 percent effective in preventing the transmission of disease. That statement contradicts the World Health Organization's recent admission that condom use fails to protect against HIV/AIDS transmission up to 20 percent of the time, crucial information missing from the manual.

Another section on "safe" lesbian sex acts, entitled "How to use a dental dam," encourages girls to engage in such dangerous behaviour as sewing latex squares used in dentistry into the crotch of their underwear "for added fun."

Wal-Mart says the book, sold for $8.50, is "a great mix of real-life examples and life-saving info."

Advertising the manual as "not just a book about sex, but a look at girl culture by teenagers," the book is praised as "No stuffy school textbook," with "No nosy adults" involved.

"It's all stuff that youth need to know…The Little Black Book for Girlz is an important, take--anywhere empowerment guide. Girls shouldn't leave their teen years without it."

Wal-Mart recently joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, which  celebrated the involvement of the corporation as "part of the company's ongoing commitment to advancing diversity among all of its associate, supplier and customer bases."

The company contributed $60,000 in 2006 to the activist group Out & Equal, an organization dedicated to promoting the homosexual lifestyle, including same-sex marriage, in the workplace. Wal-Mart ran a full-page ad in the Out & Equal 2006 Workplace Summit Program Guide stating the company's commitment to supporting the goals of the Out & Equal Summit.

In 2005, Human Rights Campaign, the largest homosexual activist lobby organization in the U.S., applauded Wal-Mart for adopting a new definition of family that included same-sex partners, where recognized under state law.

 

2002 Study Shows The Importance Of Social Factors, Cannot Detect Genetic Factors In SSA

2002 Study Shows The Importance Of Social Factors, Cannot Detect Genetic Factors In SSA By N. E. Whitehead, Ph.D., Lower Hutt, New Zealand August 10, 2006 - A study in the American Journal of Sociology by Columbia/Yale researchers Bearman and Bruekner contradicts a recent study by researcher Bogaert of Canada and declares that at least one social factor is important in the development of male SSA. The study shows that males in opposite-sex twin pairs are twice as likely to have SSA as expected -- which is almost certainly a social effect. Parallel calculations for the extent of a genetic effect on SSA gave a result of zero for both males and females, which is similar to, but lower than, two other recent studies. The study entitled "Opposite-sex twins and adolescent same-sex attraction" appeared in 2002, but has received no media attention, partly because its abstract did not show the interesting details contained in the paper. When contacted by Dr. Warren Throckmorton, the chief author Peter Bearman, said that no other researchers had contacted him about the report. A problem with SSA studies has been that they have been based on volunteers rather than being really representative of the population. In contrast, an excellent sample was used in the Bearman/Bruekner study. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) was started in 1994 and surveyed tens of thousands of children who were truly nationally representative. In this survey, 3,139 sibling pairs were specially selected from among this group, including many twin pairs for the genetic part of this study. Although refusal to participate was allowed, 80% agreed, making it probably the highest acceptance rate in any genetic study, and least subject to bias. Included in the study were opposite sex twins, identical twins, fraternal twins, sibling pairs and even adopted pairs. There were generally several hundred individuals in each category. Although the males in opposite twin pairs were twice as likely to develop SSA, statistical examination by Dr. Throckmorton and his colleagues showed that the result was only about as significant as the study by Bogaert in which he claimed development of SSA in adopted males was correlated with number of elder brothers in the original family but not the adopted family. Bearman and Bruecker explained their opposite twin effect by parental influence. They say that demands for unisex equal treatment by opposite-sex twins lead to less masculine influence on the males and greater masculine influence on the females. However, this is far more critical for males and leads to greater SSA. They also did a traditional twin study among their subjects and found the genetic contribution was zero, and chance was a very important factor. In identical male twins, if one twin had SSA there was only a 7% chance the co-twin had SSA, and the corresponding result for females was about 5%. These results, known as the concordance rates, have steadily decreased with time as studies have become more representative, suggesting previous volunteer-related bias. The study joins two previous ones (Bailey, et al. 2000, Hershberger 1997) to give a low genetic contribution for same sex attraction (which might not be exactly the same as sexual orientation). Averaging the three studies, the genetic contributions for male and female SSA are now 10% and 25% respectively. The only literature figure for genetic contribution to OSA (Opposite Sex Attraction) or heterosexuality, is 18% for both sexes combined (Hershberger, 1997). Bearman and Brueckner could find no trace of a fraternal birth order on the males in their opposite-sex twins, although the effect is generally rather well established by other research. Bogaert, contacted by Throckmorton, thinks that the study is a rogue result, mainly a chance finding. He emphasizes it is for unstable adolescents and may not be comparable with studies on adults. However, if this once again points to the instability of SSA in adolescents, it also points to the fact that social factors must play a large part and that adolescents, among others, could seriously consider change of sexual orientation References Bailey, JM; Dunne, MP; Martin, NG (2000): Genetic and Environmental influences on sexual orientation and its correlates in an Australian twin sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 78, 524-536. Bearman, PS; Bruckner, H (2002): Opposite-sex twins and adolescent same-sex attraction. American Journal of Sociology 107, 1179-1205. Hershberger, SL (1997): A twin registry study of male and female sexual orientation. Journal of Sex Research 34, 212-222.

Scotland Forbids Nurses To Use
'Mum' Or 'Dad' In Health Care

December 8, 2006 - The Daily Mail of London (Dec. 3, 2006) reported on a new policy booklet from the National Health Service that forbids nurses from using terms such as "Mum," "Dad," "husband," "wife," or "married" under new "anti-homophobia" rules.

The report, "Good LGBT Practice In the NHS," tells nurses that they must use terms like "guardian" or "carer" when referring to parents in order not to offend homosexual parents.

The report was produced in collaboration with a gay group known as Stonewall and was funded by the Scottish Executive.

It warns health care workers that they face disciplinary action if they fail to comply. It says, "Resources will be expended on conflict if there is resistance to required change."

The booklet notes: "Many remarks made by people that appear to be harmless or throwaway may assume only opposite-sex relationships are valid. This is demeaning for LGBT people and they may fear a negative reaction if the assumptions are challenged ... LGBT people can and do have children - sexual orientation or gender identity has nothing to do with good parenting or good child care."

http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/

My interview with Dr.Robert Spitzer

Warren Throckmorton, PhD

One of the most prominent psychiatrists of the last half century is Robert Spitzer.

Shaper of the APA.s standard setting diagnostic system, Dr. Spitzer has indelibly

influenced the way mental health care is provided.

In March, 2004, I had an opportunity to visit with Dr. Spitzer in his residence

while filming a documentary called I Do Exist regarding sexual orientation.1 Dr. Spitzer

had presented his study of 200 ex-gays at the 2001 American Psychiatric Association

convention in New Orleans to great media fanfare. This study was published in the

October 2003 issue of the Archives of Sexual Behavior (Spitzer, 2003).

I had been slated to attend the New Orleans meeting to co-present with Mark

Yarhouse regarding ethics and reorientation therapy. That presentation which Dr.

Yarhouse delivered was later published in the journal Psychotherapy (Yarhouse &

Throckmorton, 2002).

In the interview, Dr. Spitzer mentions a symposium he organized for the 2000

APA conference in Chicago. He organized the symposium after talking with Anthony

Falzarano and other ex-gays at the 1999 APA convention (Spitzer & Friedman, 2000).

The planned symposium was titled .Ethical Issues in Attempts to Ban Reorientation

Therapies. and was to take the form of a debate regarding the ethics of banning sexual

reorientation therapy. Gerald Zuriff was to debate along with me in opposition to a ban.

Dr. Spitzer and Dr. Richard Friedman, MD, were slated to moderate the event. The

debate was cancelled shortly before the convention however, due to withdrawal of the

opposing debaters. After the symposium was cancelled, Dr. Spitzer began to prepare the

study that we discuss in this interview.

Dr. Throckmorton: Dr. Spitzer, you researched individuals who were dissatisfied with

their sexual feelings, what did you learn from that study?

Dr. Spitzer: Well it was a study of 200 people who had been homosexually oriented. In

order to get into the study, they had to have had at least five years of a change, where

they had previously been predominately homosexual, now are predominately

heterosexual. What we learned was that the changes that were recorded were not just in

behavior, but were in their feelings, their fantasies, what attracted them, and how they

performed sexually. So it was a very meaningful change for the great majority.

Dr. Spitzer: I.m sorry; I would think that you would start with, what were you trying to

find out?

Dr. Throckmorton: Certainly, that would be a good place to go, what were you trying to

find out in this study?

Dr. Spitzer: Well, within the mental health profession, there.s almost a unanimous

consensus that homosexual orientation is pretty fixed, and that when you hear of a person

who says that they were gay and have become ex-gay, they will acknowledge that the

change is really in the way that they view themselves but their feelings and fantasies have

not really changed. And that.s the accepted view, and I kind of accepted that view.

I had an interesting experience, I was at the American Psychiatric Association

annual meeting several years ago, and it was picketed by a group of people who were exgay.

They were very unhappy with the American Psychiatric Association and I started

talking to one of them and he started to tell me of how he changed. He was a very

religious person and religion had been an important part of his change, and it occurred to

me, gee, could it really be that it.s not as fixed as everybody thought? So I tried to

organize a symposium to have both sides, and that symposium was accepted, but the

other side, the gay activist side withdrew from the symposium. But in the meantime I

decided that I could do a study of it.

My own research work is in structured research work, as in assessments so I

thought it was something I could do. And I contacted NARTH and Dr. Nicolosi and I

asked him if I could interview a bunch of people that he felt had changed. I think he was

a little startled to have me call him up because I had been involved in the 1973 decision

to remove homosexuality from the DSM II. But he agreed and what he said was that he

wanted to know the results after I had seen a few patients. I think he was afraid that

maybe I was setting him up, conning him. So I made up a tentative interview. And the

interview kept being modified as I spoke to people. But as soon as I spoke to a few of the

people, it seemed pretty obvious to me that these were people who gave a very credible

story of how they had changed. So the real purpose was to see whether it was true that

essentially no one could change. Now it was not a study of how often they can make that

change, but it was a study of whether there are some people who can make a change in

more than just how they view themselves, but also in their fantasies, in their arousal. I

developed a very systematic structured interview which I think is much more

methodologically sound that in previous studies. Most previous studies, they have one or

two measures of homosexual/heterosexual attraction. But we had 9 different measures

which we used. We used various scales, and it was, I think, methodologically quite

superior. What we found was that there were some significant changes. We also sent

questionnaires to many of the people who were married, and we also had questionnaires

on marital adjustment to their spouses. And they, by and large, reported quite good

functioning.

Dr. Throckmorton: How has the study been received?

Dr. Spitzer: I do have to say that one of the concerns that people have, and this study has

been criticized severely by many people, particularly gay activists, who apparently, many

feel quite threatened by it. They have the feeling that in order to get their civil rights, it.s

helpful to them if they can present the view that once you.re a homosexual you can never

change. Which may actually, they may be right politically that it does help them, but it

may not be scientifically correct.

Now the real issue, or one of the major issues is can you believe these people?

And the study has been criticized on the grounds of, well, these are people who had a

particular viewpoint and what they.re doing is justifying their claims that they have

made, either lied or deceived themselves. So one of the major criticisms is that, well, ok,

these have said something, but do we know it.s actually true? And there.s no easy answer

to that. When I listened to them, I have a kind of clinical feeling that these people were

telling me the truth. While there may be some who were exaggerating, but that.s not true

with all who reported change. And there were some who reported change, some not very

much, many disappointed that they had not changed more.

So why do I think that it.s believable? One is that they didn.t report absolutely

total change, which I think if, you know, if you.re going to exaggerate, you.re going to

exaggerate more. In addition, the marital adjustment that the spouses told, mainly

women; what they said about their marriage, what the individuals said about their

marriage is from a marital adjustment scale, where we had norms, what a community

sample generally reports. Now you would think that if these were people who wanted to

give a good story that they would report better than normal, or better that usual, better

than average, sexual functioning. And they didn.t, they reported just about the same.

And I think that, what, also makes me think, in addition is that when they talked

about the therapy what went on in the therapy, for a small number, it was very religious,

uh, dramatically religious experiences. I remember one woman said that, in the middle of

having sex with her lesbian partner, and all of the sudden, she heard Jesus say, .What are

you doing?!. but that was relatively rare. Most of the changes seemed to be associated

with the usual things that one hears about in psychotherapy. People talking about their

background, their family, how they saw masculinity, femininity, so it seemed believable

to me.

Now the other issue is that the study has been severely criticized on the grounds

that you will give a false impression that change is easy, and that it.s common for those

who go into this kind of therapy, to make this change. Now, of course, this study was not

a study of how often, because we only started with people who had made a change. My

own sense of this is that we had a great deal of difficulty getting those 200. It took us

about two years, and we had several sources where we could make it known that in the

study we wanted people who had changed to participate. Since it was so hard to get those

200, and we were not flooded with hundreds of people, my own view and I, there.s no

way that I can be sure, is that probably a relatively rare experience that people change as

much as these people did.

It also important to realize that there were some of the people that we did not

accept, because they had only changed in their behavior. There were those who said,

well, I know now that I am heterosexual because God made me this way, but I still have

homosexual feelings. Now even those people who we did not admit into this study, many

of them felt that, by controlling their sexual behavior, which made it possible for them to

live a life more in tune with their own values . religious values . that were very valuable.

So what we conclude, or what I conclude is that change occurs on a continuum it

probably is not nearly as common as some of the therapists who do this, there aren.t

nearly as many these days as there were many more 20 or 30 years ago. But I.ve asked

two of the more well known practitioners of this kind of therapy how often are they

successful, and they say, well it depends on the way you define success, but if you define

success in terms of a change in behavior, and in feelings, there.s about 30 percent or

something like that. Now I suspect it.s much lower, but I could be wrong. So whether it.s

2 %, 10%, or 15%, but what I am sure is that it.s not 0%. And that.s what this study was

about, whether it.s actually 0 percent.

Dr. Throckmorton: And those people who didn.t change, dramatically, there were some

people in the study who changed only a small amount.

Dr. Spitzer: Yeah

Dr. Throckmorton: Are you saying that those people are satisfied with the experiences of

counseling?

Dr. Spitzer: Oh yes. They were disappointed that they had not made more of a change,

but they certainly all felt that the therapy they had had was very meaningful to them. Of

course, if not, they wouldn.t have been in the study. Now this study has also been

criticized on the ground that we didn.t study harm done by this kind of therapy. Well

there.s nothing to study for these people because there.s nothing to study because they

got into the study because they felt that it would help them. But you know I.m sure that

there are many who entered this therapy and are disappointed and harmed, but that.s not

what this study was about.

Dr. Throckmorton: I know earlier you talked about measures that you had used, but let

me ask this in a bit of a different way, how would you define sexual orientation?

Dr. Spitzer: Well I think by sexual orientation were talking about two main things, one is

sexual identity, how one feels, in terms of how one labels oneself. But ultimately, sexual

orientation refers to what you are attracted to, what kind of fantasies do you have what

arouses you? And of course, also, what behavior you engage in. but of course, one could

be homosexually or heterosexually oriented and not engage in any sexual behavior, one

could be celibate, which is really determined by, what is sexual arousing. That.s the

fundamental issue.

Dr. Throckmorton: What do people say about why they wanted to change sexually or

change their sexual orientation?

Dr. Spitzer: We asked all of them what was the most important reason, and many gave

several reasons and we made, after listening to them, a list of the most common, so we

have some notion that, of the frequency. For many, it was that they wanted to stay

married or get married; for many, it was a religious conflict, they felt that their religious

values conflicted with homosexuality. Many of them were unhappy with what they would

perceive is a gay lifestyle of promiscuity that they had felt was associated with being gay.

Those were the main reasons.

Dr. Throckmorton: Did you learn anything in your conversations with participants about

approaches that were helpful for people, the counseling and therapy approaches that were

helpful?

Dr. Spitzer: Most of the people were in more than one kind of therapy, one type. Many

were seeing individual therapists, many were seeing group, were involved in groups,

usually religiously organized group experience. And the group experience was clearly

very helpful to many to get the support that they got. Most of the therapists, there were

very few psychiatrists, I think only three of the patients had seen psychiatrists, most were

seeing counselors, psychologists, pastoral counselors.

Dr. Throckmorton: And did they record anything about their therapy that was helpful to

them.

Dr. Spitzer: Um, no. I remember I asked them, what was the most important thing you

learned in your therapy? Different people mentioned different things. Many of the people

in terms of, well, we didn.t study this systematically , but many of them gave the theory

that, many reparative therapists believe and that struggle with gender and comfort and

what not, and sexualizing relationships to get intimacy, many of them spoke of that.

Dr. Throckmorton: Let me take a little different route. Given your experience in this

research, how would you view the development of sexuality?

Dr. Spitzer: (Laughs) Well I.m no expert in that. The only thing I can say is that I.m

impressed; the twin studies show that there must be, at least it convinced me, that there.s

a genetic component. But I assume that like with almost everything else that both biology

and environment are important. Well what particular environment, well, I know the

theories, but I don.t know which is correct.

Dr. Throckmorton: Are you aware of any studies that would implicate a certain type of

environment?

Dr. Spitzer: No, no I don.t think so. Now it.s interesting that there is I think many who do

this kind of therapy who believe that many of the individuals who have become

homosexual have been sexually abused, raped, and what not. We actually asked about

that and didn.t find a very high frequency of reports of that. Now I assume it.s higher

than in what would be in a community. We didn.t publish that because, we just didn.t

want to get into that. And also, in some of those reports, they were not always certain

whether they were necessarily accurate reports. Some of them reported in therapy that,

you know, I had been abused when I was four years old but only as a really recovered

memory, or a false memory.there.s really no way to know.

Dr. Throckmorton: That.s a whole other kettle of fish

Dr. Spitzer: Yeah, that.s a whole other kettle of fish.

Dr. Throckmorton: Were there any mental health consequences of attempting to change?

Dr. Spitzer: The majority of subjects reported moderate to severe depression before they

went into therapy. And a marked change, very few were depressed after therapy. So that

was an important finding, I think, that depression was, you know, there was a tremendous

conflict over homosexuality, and many were very depressed that they had made previous

efforts, that was another interesting thing, was many of the subjects reported that they had

gone to mental health professionals and were told, just, you know, accept it, that there.s

no way to change. And they were not satisfied with that, and were very depressed

thinking that they could not, you know, change.

Dr. Throckmorton: Were there any other mental health consequences.

Dr. Spitzer: Well, many had been so depressed they were suicidal. And a few had made

actual attempts. So, I mean they reported a very unhappy state of mind before they

changed. The other thing is that the change was not quick.another reason why I believe

in credibility; you would think that, if you want to present the best way of presenting

therapy, you would say that it started to work pretty soon. You wouldn.t say that it was

on average two years before there was really much change, which was the case. Many

said it took several years before they actually noticed change, and on average it was two

years. The people were in some kind of therapy for an average of 7 years. But, often that

was still being in some group experience they would keep going to a support group for

several years.

Dr. Throckmorton: Did you find that any of the people that you interviewed were still in

some kind of treatment?

Dr. Spitzer: Yeah well some, I think about 15% were in some kind of support group, so in

some sense they had not stopped some type of support group or therapy.

Dr. Throckmorton: You touched on this before, now going back to, where we began in

your reasons for wanting to do this study, would you say that your viewpoint on this has

changed at all?

Dr. Spitzer: Um, sure, you know, one of the issues that critics have, you know, brought

up is: have I really changed my viewpoint or what did I really think? Well, one thing I do

recall is there was I believe in the early 80s, Geraldo did a show on .Can gays change?.

and the producer got in touch with the American Psychiatric Association because they

wanted someone to represent the official viewpoint, so they picked me. And I was up

there, and what I said was the official viewpoint, and that was that reports of change were

just anecdotal, there were no systematic studies. I was quite, you know, not believing of

it. So I mean, that was my view. I think if I would have been asked 5 or 10 years ago, I

doubted, now I didn.t know, but I certainly thought probably, that nobody really changed.

Dr. Throckmorton: And now?

Dr. Spitzer: Well, now I think that that is not the case. Although again I have to say I

think it.s probably relatively rare.

Dr. Throckmorton: Ok.

Dr. Spitzer: (Laughs) You won.t eliminate that relatively rare?

Dr. Throckmorton: I guess I would just, I.ll maybe press you a little on that. Really,

because of the way that your particular study was done, we really don.t know for sure.

Dr. Spitzer: No, no, we certainly don.t know for sure. And there, one could say, well you

know, just because we had trouble finding 200, you know, you.ve become heterosexual,

you want to forget about your previous life, you know. So that may be. But it would seem

to me that if it was very common, and even when they went to therapists we didn.t have a

lot of people to refer, but again, it may be some not wanting to participate.

Dr. Throckmorton: Now, has the American Psychiatric Association.s position changed

since the time the Geraldo show was on?

Dr. Spitzer: Yeah, well actually I don.t think they had a position statement. That was

their viewpoint, that was the position at that time. There have been position statements, as

you know, you know, more recently.

Dr. Throckmorton: Do you feel, in your opinion, do you think that those position

statements should be, maybe, looked at again.

Dr. Spitzer: I think they should. They will not be, it.s not going to happen in the near

future. There.s no way it.s going to happen. I think the only issue is whether it goes

beyond the position statement whether they go to, you know, saying that it.s an ethical

violation to do this kind of therapy. But those position statements are not going to

change. There.s no, there.s a gay activist group that.s very strong and very vocal and are

recognized officially by the American Psychiatric Association. There.s nobody to give

the other viewpoint. There may be a few who believe it but they won.t talk.

Dr. Throckmorton: So, in some respects then the changing of a viewpoint of an

organization has to do with the dynamics within that organization, not exclusively related

to the literature or the science, but maybe to the people who are active.

Dr. Spitzer: Sure, sure and then it.s also that you.re part of a culture and what.s going on

in the culture. There are dramatic changes obviously and attitudes toward homosexuality,

television, its amazing what you see now on television.

Dr. Throckmorton: Thank you, Dr. Spitzer.

References

Yarhouse, M.A., & Throckmorton, W. (2002). Ethical issues in attempts to ban

reorientation therapies. Psychotherapy: Research, Theory and Practice, 39, 66-75.

Spitzer, R.L. (2003). Can some gay men and lesbians change their sexual orientation?

200 participants reporting a change from homosexual to heterosexual orientation.

Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 32, No. 5, October 2003, pp. 403-417.

Spitzer, R.L. & Friedman, R. (2000). .Ethical Issues in Attempts to Ban Reorientation

Therapies.. Invited debater. American Psychiatric Association, Moderators Robert

Spitzer, MD and Richard Friedman, MD, Chicago, IL, May 13, 2000. Cancelled

due to withdrawal of opposing debaters.

1 www.idoexist.com

Psychology Losing Scientific Credibility,
Say APA Insiders

At NARTH Conference, APA Past-President
Charges His Association with Stifling Discourse and Distorting Research

By Linda Ames Nicolosi

In a harsh critique of his own profession, a former American Psychological Association president told fellow clinicians at the NARTH Conference that social science is in a state of alarming decline.

Speaking to a rapt audience of about 100 fellow professionals at the Marina Del Rey Marriott Hotel on November 12, 2005, psychologists Nicholas Cummings, Ph.D. and Rogers Wright, Ph.D. had much to say about the profession they had served throughout their long and distinguished careers -- charging "intellectual arrogance and zealotry" within a profession that they say is now dominated by social-activist groups.

Dr. Cummings said he has had a career-long commitment to promoting diversity. Therefore has been dismayed to see activists exploit the stature of the parent body to further their own social aims -- pushing the APA to take positions in areas where they have no conclusive evidence.

When APA does conduct research, Dr. Cummings said, they only do so "when they know what the outcome is going to be...only research with predictably favorable outcomes is permissible."

When writing their newly released book Destructive Trends in Mental Health, Wright and Cummings invited the participation of a number of fellow psychologists who flatly turned them down--fearing loss of tenure, loss of promotion, and other forms of professional retaliation. "We were bombarded by horror stories," Dr. Cummings said. "Their greatest fear was of the gay lobby, which is very strong in the APA."

"'Homophobia as intimidation' is one of the most pervasive techniques used to silence anyone who would disagree with the gay activist agenda," said Cummings. "Sadly, I have seen militant gay men and lesbians-- who I am certain do not represent all homosexuals, and who themselves have been the object of derision and oppression-- once gaining freedom and power, then becoming oppressors themselves."

He described his own experience of oppression and reverse bias: "This was aptly demonstrated," he said, "during an interchange that took place in a large meeting assembled by the then-current president to address the future of the APA. I was just about to agree with one of the participants, when she stopped me before I could speak: 'I don't know what you are going to say, but there is nothing you and I can agree on, because you are a straight white male and I am a lesbian.' Such blatant reverse discrimination was overlooked by everyone else in the room, but I was dumbfounded. This woman is prominent in APA affairs, is extensively published, and has received most of the APA's highest awards. The APA continues to laud her, even though recently she had her license suspended for an improper dual relationship with a female patient! What would be the response had it been a straight white male in an improper dual relationship with a female patient?"

Regarding treatment for unwanted homosexuality, the American Psychological Association has come very close to ratifying a statement which would declare therapy to modify sexual orientation "unethical." But "why does free choice go only one way?" Dr. Cummings asks.

Cummings then discussed a 2004 resolution by the APA in favor of gay marriage, which APA recommended because it "promotes mental health." What was the evidence APA offered? (Such a bold statement from APA, of course, would be used in the courts to decide key social issues.) The references APA cited, it turned out, actually proved only one claim-- that as a general matter, "loving relationships are healthy." "That was one of the worst resolutions," Cummings said.

"When we speak in the name of psychology we are to speak only from facts and clinical expertise," he explained. If psychology speaks out on every social issue, "very soon the public will see us as a discredited organization--just another opinionated voice shouting and shouting."

Cummings' co-author Dr. Rogers Wright (who like Cummings, describes himself as a lifelong liberal) notes that "psychology has been ultra-liberal" and not particularly welcoming to the views of people of religious faith.

Wright described the difficulties he has encountered with the American Psychological Association since the Association instituted a "strategic decision not to respond" to their book in an effort to avoid attracting attention to it. Initially, the APA prohibited its member-publications from reviewing Destructive Trends. "So much for diversity and open-mindedness," Wright added wryly.

Judicial Malfeasance by Activists

Joining them in yet another stinging critique of the mental-health profession was psychiatrist Jeffrey Satinover, M.D. In his talk entitled "Judicial Abuse of Scientific Literature on Homosexuality by the American Mental Health Professional Organizations," Satinover offered a long, elaborately referenced description of ethics breaches in the recent legal cases that have set the stage for groundbreaking changes in family-law policy.

Satinover said the mental-health associations had allowed themselves to be used by gay activists who distorted the research findings to serve their own socio-political aims. This distortion of the science, he said, has been so great that it is "appalling beyond imagination."

Dr. Satinover recently taught constitutional law at Princeton University, and is presently doing research at the University of Nice. He showed the legal briefs to his students and told them, "Whether you become a leftist or a rightist, don't hold yourself to such a standard."

Given carte blanche, the activists wrote briefs that were "sophisticated, nuanced" but in many cases, almost entirely untrue. To Dr. Satinover's dismay, the brief-writers' testimony rarely matched the references they footnoted--but almost never directly cited--as corroborating evidence.

Called as an expert witness in court cases and asked to assess briefs being submitted to state and the U.S. Supreme Courts, Satinover had the opportunity to pore over hundreds of research papers offered as evidence by the gay activists who had been invited to represent the views of the major mental-health associations.

He quoted Susan Cochran, Ph.D., a lesbian activist advising the Lawrence v. Texas brief, which claimed that "Research has...found no inherent association between homosexuality and psychopathology." The references she provided were largely self-references -- referring not to corroborating sources, but directly back to her own published work. Paradoxically, in those same studies, Cochran had consistently found more mental-health problems in lesbians and gay men -- and she did not find that "social homophobia" was a sufficient cause for these problems. In fact, Cochran had concluded in one of her own referenced papers that "further research is needed to explore the causal mechanisms underlying this association." In a follow-up paper, she herself showed that the effects of social homophobia couldn't account entirely for the association.

Satinover also offered evidence from the Romer v. Evans brief that evidently came from gay-activist psychologist Gregory Herek, Ph.D., who wrote the brief on behalf of the APA. Herek, he says, distorted the findings of the authors of the research he cited; omitted available contrary evidence; and failed to mention the evidence for spontaneous changes of sexual identity. Herek also defined the term "homosexual" in an arguable manner that worked most effectively to meet the aims of his brief--a definition that was the outcome solely of his own work, and that deviated from widely-used, neutral scientific standards. In support of the argument that same-sex attracted people are as well-adjusted as straights, Satinover said, Herek also referenced the "notoriously flawed and out-of-date Hooker study, its claims long-since and multiple times overturned."

Pedophile Supporters
Offering Family-Law Testimony?

In the Romer v. Evans case, psychologist John Money, Ph.D. was referenced (also by Herek, evidently) as an expert in sexual identity. In an interview published in the Dutch journal of pedophilia (PAIDIKA), Money once said, "If it [man-boy sexual contact] is consensual, it can be constructive."

Another expert offered by Herek was John de Cecco, Ph.D., who has also written affirmatively of man-boy "intergenerational intimacy" in the Journal of Homosexuality, and is an editor of PAIDIKA.

Yet one other frequent contributor to legal testimony, the Lawrence brief included, is lesbian activist-researcher Charlotte Patterson, Ph.D., who in a landmark case of same-sex adoption was cited for refusing to turn over her research notes, contributing to her side's defeat. "Her conduct was a clear violation of a court order," said Satinover, "yet she is still writing briefs in current court cases."

In discussing the overall "scope and type of malfeasance," Satinover concluded the following:

1.       "Briefs appear to be authored by a small circle of individuals who are called on repeatedly, with footnoted references that almost never properly substantiate their case."

2.       A common tactic is to reference studies "that are trivial or out-of-date, while ignoring more important, recent, larger, better, and superceding research."

3.       "A substantial portion of the authorities cited [through footnotes] will be themselves."

4.       "The most common pattern is by far the simplest: the overwhelming mountain of contrary evidence is simply never mentioned."

"The malfeasance is relentless," Satinover concluded. "It is appalling beyond imagination."

Other Speakers

During the luncheon, Dr. Dean Byrd offered a rousing address.

"As I reviewed the brief history of NARTH," he said, "it is nothing short of amazing what has been accomplished." To continue this forward momentum, he said, NARTH members should get more involved in the public sphere; work within the national associations, and remember to continually remind those who would silence them, that "diversity includes me."

Dr. Byrd then read from a letter he wrote to the American Psychological Association:

"In your addresses and written messages, you have repeatedly focused on the importance of diversity. Even in the recent Monitor, you noted that APA has demonstrated 'a lack of sensitivity or downright rudeness' toward marginalized groups. While it is not my intent to be offensive, it seems that your response to APA members who are members of NARTH reflects that insensitivity of which you are so critical.

"Client autonomy is central to NARTH's mission. NARTH's official position is that homosexuality is an adaptation. For some men and women, this adaptation is distressful and unsatisfying. NARTH supports an individual's right to either claim a homosexual identity or to pursue change in their adaptation in accordance with the ethical principle of client self-determination.

"Though not all of the patients that NARTH members treat are religious, many are. Is it not a blatant disregard for their religious values and an affront to real diversity to marginalize these individuals by failing to acknowledge their right to choose how they will adapt sexually?

"The focus of NARTH's attention is a 'marginalized group within a marginalized group'--those who feel that homosexual attractions are not who they are and seek help in reconciling their unwanted sexual attractions with their value systems. Would you or APA not find a place at the table for such individuals or would you add to their distress by refusing to acknowledge that they exist? Would you deny the importance of client autonomy and client self-determination?"

"APA's continuous messages of respect for diversity rings hollow if it does not represent different worldviews....either you support client autonomy or you do not; either you support client self-determination or you do not; either your actions reflect diversity, or they do not.

"NARTH members and supporters have impressive publication records in respected journals such as Professional Psychology, Archives of Sexual Behavior, Psychological Reports, Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy and the Journal of Law and Family Studies.

"Listen to one NARTH supporter," he concluded, "and tell me who you think he is. He said: 'I am here as the champion of one's right to choose....It is my fervent belief that freedom of choice should govern one's sexual orientation...If homosexuals choose to transform their sexuality into heterosexuality, that resolve and decision is theirs and theirs alone, and should not be tampered with by any special interest group.' This statement was made by Dr. Robert Perloff -- a former APA President."

Also during the luncheon, attorney Scott Lively noted that NARTH's critics are supported by tens of millions of dollars from foundations on the left, which effectively permits them to "steer the culture through grants." In an effort to begin reversing that trend, he recently created the Pro-Family Endowment, with one of its initial grants being made to NARTH.

On Sunday, Dr. Norman Goldwasser offered an address describing the use of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) therapy to help clients overcome the effects of trauma and to actualize their heterosexual potential. Dr. Goldwasser says he had had considerable success using the technique with same-sex attracted clients.

Also offering an address was Nancy Heche, Ph.D., the mother of actress Anne Heche, a former lesbian. In a warm, inspirational and emotionally stirring speech, Dr. Heche offered support for families who have suffered from the discovery of a loved one's same-sex attractions.

On Friday, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi offers a Men's Track workshop for in-depth training of psychotherapists, while a Women's Track training workshop was offered by Mary Beth Patton, M.A., L.P.C., Janelle Hallman, M.A., L.P.C., and Cynthia Winn, M.A., M.F.T.

Other speeches and roundtable discussions were offered by Alan Chambers of Exodus, Dr. Julie Harren, Dr. Jerry Harris, Dr. Ryan Howes, Konstantin Mascher (from Germany), Dr. Christopher Rosik, attorney Arthur Goldberg, Dr. James Phelan, and Dr. Richard Potts.

References

Bailey, J. Michael, and K.J. Zucker. 1995. Childhood Sex-Typed Behavior and Sexual

Orientation: A Conceptual Analysis and Quantitative Review. Developmental Psychology

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Genetic Influence

We now test whether genetic influence on sexual orientation is expressed. Here, we use the data in its dyadic form. If genetic influence were expressed in these data, MZ twins should have the highest concordance for same-sex erotic preference, and unrelated and half-siblings the lowest.

Table 5 is based on pairs in which at least one respondent reports a same-sex romantic attraction (N=527 pairs).

 

 

 

Table 5: Concordance of same-sex romantic attraction by type of pair and gender for sibling pairs in which at least one sibling reports same-sex romantic attraction
	All		Male		Female
Type of pair	N	%	N	%	N	%
Monozygotic Twins	45	6.7	26	7.7	19	5.3
Dizygotic Twins	83	7.2	48	4.2	35	11.4
Full Siblings	183	5.5	89	4.5	94	6.4
Other	216	4.2	110	2.7	106	5.7
All	527	5.3	273	4.0	254	6.7
P (Fisher.s exact test)	.630		.564		.651

 

 

Table 5 shows that there is no evidence for strong genetic influence on same-sex preference in this sample. Among MZ twins, 6.7 % are concordant. DZ twin pairs are 7.2% concordant. Fullsiblings are 5.5 % concordant. Clearly, the observed concordance rates do not correspond to degrees of genetic similarity. None of the comparisons between MZ twins and others in table 5 are even remotely significant17. If same-sex romantic attraction has a genetic component, it is massively overwhelmed by other factors. As argued above, it is more likely that any genetic influence, if present, can only be expressed in specific and circumscribed social structures.

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 16 Table 4 shows odds ratios and associated 95% confidence intervals from a logistic regression with population weights. Standard errors are corrected for the sample design. The sample for table 4 is restricted to non-twins for whom self-reported total number of full siblings corresponds to the number of full siblings living in the household. Twins were excluded to avoid confounding with the opposite-sex twin effect reported above. Repeating the same analysis shown in table 4 for the full sample or various subsets, and with different operationalizations of sibship structure, such as the various indices specified in the literature (Blanchard 1997), did not yield a birth order effect.

17 Nevertheless, there is evidence of familial similarity across all pairs of related siblings . the probability that any randomly matched pair would be concordant under independence is less than 1%. Note also that for males (but not for females) the differences are in the expected direction (concordance rates increase with increasing relatedness). The percentage point differences are so small, however, that we would require a very large sample of twins to obtain statistical significance. The sample size needed for a two-sample comparison with the proportions estimated for male MZ and DZ twins from Add Health is approximately 795 twin pairs for each group. If prevalence and concordance rates reported in this paper approximate the true values, this requires approximately an 8 % sample of the entire relevant population in the US, a sampling strategy that may assure statistical significance for some social or psychological factors as well. Neither of these factors, however, is likely to play an important role in the etiology of same-sex attraction.

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The single social structure we observe that is consistent with an argument for genetic expression is that of restricted gender socialization associated with first-born OS twin pairs.

Discussion

The findings presented in this paper confirm some findings from previous research and stand in marked contrast to most previous research in a number of respects. First, we find no evidence for intrauterine transfer of hormone effects on social behavior. Second, we find no support for genetic influences on same-sex preference net of social structural constraints. Third, we find no evidence for a speculative evolutionary model of homosexual preference. Finally, we find substantial indirect evidence in support of a socialization model at the individual level. Here we consider why our results differ from previous work. Subsequently, we consider the significance of these results for understanding the etiology of same-sex attraction.

Substantially higher concordance for homosexual orientation has been reported in previous research. We believe that previous work is largely incorrect as a result of reliance on nonrepresentative samples, for example, readers of gay publications, and reliance on indirect evidence. Specifically, while some studies obtained reports on sexual orientation from both siblings, others relied on one individual.s report on his or her sibling.s sexual orientation. These data structures are clearly associated with potential bias on the dependent variable. Kendler et al. (2000), however, report substantially higher concordance rates for self-reported sexual orientation

among adults in a study that overcomes some of these obvious methodological flaws. In this instance, the inflation of concordance may be a product of an interaction between small sample size and subtle selection dynamics. Specifically, their sibling and twin response rates were low.18

If individuals jointly participate in a study, and self-selection dynamics are present, as they likely are in this case, then concordance on traits other than willingness to participate in a study is to be expected. Consequently, we consider their concordance rates for same-sex orientation to be higher than would be expected under study designs less susceptible to self-selection.

In this study, we consider adolescent same-sex romantic attraction. The proportion of adolescents reporting same-sex attraction is significantly higher than the proportion reporting same-sex sexual experience. While it is possible that genetic expression on attraction is weak, whereas genetic expression on behavior is stronger, it seems more likely that the obverse should be true. Much of what we know about the etiology of adult homosexuality is derived from life stories of selfidentified homosexuals. These narratives often identify early same-sex romantic attraction as a constituent element in identity-formation. In addition to attraction, opportunity has to present itself. Since opportunity is clearly socially structured, our expectation is that social influences should be stronger for behavior than attraction.Whether a strong pathway between adolescent same-sex romantic attraction and self-identified homosexual identity exists, or whether it is the product of narrative demands for coherent lifestories, is unclear. There is clearly a strong association in our data between attraction and behavior, but the number of adolescents involved in homosexual relationships is too small in our sample to assess genetic influence statistically with any confidence. However, if the previous hypothesis were correct, it would suggest that socialization experiences might shape desire, but

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18 Kendler et al. (2000) do not report the final response rate for their samples. From their sample description (p. 1844) we calculate a response rate of 18% for twin pairs, and 14% for the sample of siblings. The difference in concordance between MZ and DZ twins is not statistically significant (p=.203, own calculations based on data given in Kendler et al., table 1, p. 1845). In fact, inference about whether the proportion of concordant pairs among a population of MZ twins is .32 rather than .13 (the concordance reported for DZ twins) requires a sample size of at least 51 pairs, while Kendler et al. have data for only 19 pairs.

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pathway from attraction to behavior. This study shows that for OS twins, in the absence of strong gender socialization, the proportion of male adolescents with same-sex attraction is twice as high as observed in the population as a whole. If there is genetic influence on same sex romantic preference, it expresses itself within a narrow and circumscribed social context characterized by equality. But this is exactly where one

would expect such expression, where social and cultural constraints governing sexual identity and orientation are least developed, and consequently, least constraining. Our findings reject simple genetic influence models. They are entirely consistent with a more general model that identifies the specific social structural contexts in which one would expect to observe genetic influence, for this, and an array of other outcome variables.

Social scientists not long ago left individual-level causes of sexual attraction and behavior to the biologists, choosing instead to focus on the striking cross-cultural differences in the organization of sexual expression. This article considers how such individual variation that we do observe could be organized. We test an old, and simple idea: culturally gender-neutral socialization experiences are likely to be associated with less patterned (for that culture) expressions of gender identity, of which sexual attraction is a key element. We find support for this idea: only in families with OS twins without an older same-sex sibling do we observe a substantially increased probability of same-sex attraction for males. For females, the observed rate in these contexts is roughly one-half the national norm. It is possible that some other subtle unmeasured dynamic is

going on, but as we can rule out simple genetic, hormonal, or evolutionary arguments, the main emphasis must point to socialization experiences. Here, we identify just one structure for socialization effects.

In general, social scientists hostile to the idea of genetic influence on social behavior should keep in mind the simple truism that without opportunity, genetic expression on behavior is impossible. Some stark examples should suffice: genetic expression for alcoholism is impossible in cultures without alcohol, population groups without food cannot express a genetic predisposition for obesity. Of course, examples of the complete elimination of opportunity for genetic expression are few and far between. Social structure may eliminate the possibility of genetic expression for some groups, but not all. This fact alone suggests one, perhaps paradoxical, reason why we observe an effect for male, but not female, OS twins. Against this background, therefore, the scope conditions of the findings reported in this article are also relatively clear. If there are no

main effects for genetics, we would not expect to observe genetic expression on romantic attraction except in cultures, like ours, where socialization regimes insist on the close linkage between cultural ideals of masculinity and femininity and sexual expression. In contrast, if there are genetic main effects, they would visible redominantly in cultures where such linkage is absent. Nonetheless, the idea that genetic influence, if present, should be insensitive to social categories in its expression is simply wrong. One should look to social structure to understand observed outcomes . especially for those that are thought to be shaped in some way by genetic inheritance.

 

Table 3: Significance tests for select comparisons of results reported in table 2
	Opposite-sex Twins		Same-sex DZ Twins
Compared to respondents who have a.	Female	Male	Female	Male
Same-sex dizygotic twin	.567	.027	-	-
Same-sex monozygotic twin	.328	.033	.652	.956
Opposite-sex full sibling	.186	.000	.414	.235
Same-sex full sibling	.293	.000	.631	.350
Other	.057	.018	.350	.960
Entire genetic sample	.141	.000	.134	.708
Compared to .
Full non-genetic sample	.435	.000	.483	.807
Non-genetic sample, 1 sibling	.204	.000	.925	.681

 

 

Socialization Effect

Male adolescents who have a female twin are more likely to report a same-sex attraction than any other group in these data (16.8 %, table 1, row 1)14. Female adolescents with a male twin, while not different from others, are significantly less likely to report a same-sex attraction than their male counterparts. This result points toward gender-specific differences in socialization.

Specifically, negative sanctioning of behavior that suggests femininity and/or homosexuality is a stronger component of male socialization than comparable  sanctioning of masculinity for female socialization. Girls wear pants but boys don.t wear skirts.

Table 3 reports significance tests for selected comparisons of the proportions reported in table 2.

13 The literature reviewed above dealt mostly with self-identified homosexuality. In the light of cultural and social variation in identity formation, focusing on same-sex romantic attraction rather than self-identification, should help separating biological effects from social influence. In any event, same-sex romantic attraction is a strong predictor of subsequent behavior. In our sample, adolescents who report same-sex attraction in wave 2 are much more likely than others to report same-sex dating, romantic, and sexual contact in the third wave (for males, 8.8 % compared to 1.6 %, p=0.0001, N=7174; for females, 9.5 % compared to 1.7 %, p=0.0001, N=7490).

14 When including respondents with more than one sibling, results do not change (for females, P=0.481; for males, P=0.027). For this analysis, respondents were classified hierarchically in the order shown (thus, a respondent who was in a pair of OS twins and a pair of SS full siblings is classified as an OS twin).

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shows the probability that the proportion of teens with same-sex romantic attraction among females with a male twin equals the proportion of teens with same-sex romantic attraction among females with a SSDZ twin (.567).

The observed difference in same-sex romantic attraction between male SSDZ and OS twins (table 2, row 1 (16.8%), table 2, row 2 (9.8%), a 7 point percentage difference, P=0.027) cannot be explained by the genetic model. Males with a female twin are more than twice as likely to report a same-sex romantic attraction than males with a full sister (table 2, rows 1 (16.8%), and 4 (7.3%), P<0.000). Males in OS twin pairs are more likely to report same-sex attraction than males in the full non-genetic sample, and males with one-sibling in the non-genetic sample (rows 8 and 9 in table 2, P<0.000 for both comparisons).

Still, these results are compatible with both the social influence and intrauterine hormone transfer hypotheses, although prior evidence for the effect of shared intrauterine environment suggests masculinization of females rather than feminization of males. Here, we observe the obverse. We now disentangle social influence from hormonal influence.

Older siblings and same-sex romantic attraction

Hormonal transfer should be insensitive to birth order. If the observed prevalence of same-sex orientation among males in OS twin pairs is an outcome of a socialization process, the presence of older siblings should have an effect on OS twins. sexual orientation. Specifically, equality norms put constraints on the extent to which parents and others engage in gender-socializing behavior towards opposite-sex twins. If opposite-sex twins have older same-sex siblings, gendersocializing  mechanisms in the family may be locked-in. Parents will be more likely to negatively sanction gender-atypical behavior among OS twins if those twins have older siblings who are discouraged from gender-atypical behavior. Similarly, gender markers (clothes, toys, and rituals) may already exist in the repertoire of such families and be applied to OS twins. Consequently, older siblings should reduce the prevalence of homosexual attraction for opposite-sex twins under a social influence model. If the hormonal transfer hypothesis holds, no such reduction should be observed.

Among male opposite-sex twins, the proportion reporting a same-sex romantic attraction is twice as high among those without older brothers (18.7 %) than among those with older brothers (8.8 %). No such difference obtains for female opposite-sex twins, who are unlikely to report a samesex attraction whether they have older sisters or not (5.1 % versus 5.7 %). If differences between OS twins and others were based on prenatal hormonal transfers, older brothers should not decrease the likelihood of reporting same-sex romantic attraction. Based on the evolutionary dynamics model, in contrast, individuals with older siblings should be more likely to report samesex attraction. We now turn to this hypothesis.

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15 Arguably, a chi-square test is inappropriate because the data violate the assumption of independent observations

(siblings are not sampled independent from each other). If same-sex romantic attraction was determined by genes, and

observations are paired with respect to their genes, one set of genes is .duplicated. in the proportions calculated for

same-sex pairs in table 2. Thus, the comparison of OS twins with SSMZ twins is .conservative. with respect to the

social influence hypothesis, since each gene set enters the calculations only once for OS pairs but twice for the SSMZ

pairs, thus concordance should be higher for SSMZ pairs.

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Birth Order Effect

As noted earlier, a speculative evolutionary theory suggests that that homosexuality increases fitness for individuals with many older siblings. The idea is that individuals sacrifice their specific interests in order to maximize group success. In this case, the theory suggests that younger brothers, unable to compete with their older bothers for access to women, help the family unit by engaging in cooperative raising of their elder brothers. children, at the same time, shifting the focus of their erotic interests to men. Under this model, engagement in co-operative raising of older siblings. offspring may be more likely to succeed (in increasing group fitness) than attempts at procreation. Thus, the proportion of individuals reporting homosexual orientation should increase with number of older (full) siblings. This hypothesis is addressed in table 4. As expected,

we find no association between same-sex attraction and number of older siblings, older brothers, or older sisters16.

 

Table 4: Logistic regression of same-sex romantic attraction on number of older siblings
	All			Female			Male
	OR	95 % c. i.		OR	95 % c. i.		OR	95 % c. i.
N of older siblings
1	.91	.71	1.17	.80	.50	1.26	1.00	.78	1.30
2	.86	.59	1.25	.80	.50	1.29	.90	.53	1.90
3 or more	.72	.37	1.41	.67	.22	2.01	.78	.29	2.10
Prob. > F (Design-based)	.57			.60			.94
N of older brothers
1	.96	.76	1.24	.84	.58	1.21	1.06	.76	1.49
2 or more	.66	.37	1.14	.64	.28	1.49	.64	.29	1.44
Prob. > F (Design-based)	.30			.52			.39
N of older sisters
1	.88	.68	1.15	.91	.58	1.42	.88	.64	1.20
2 or more	1.00	.59	1.71	.81	.32	2.05	1.18	.64	2.16
Prob. > F (Design-based)	.65			.83			.58

them to prefer females as romantic partners. Because the expression of same-sex erotic attraction appears to be independent of traits governing the expression of culturally induced images of femininity and masculinity, the mechanism linking hormone imbalance to same sex preference appears extremely weak.

One version of the hormone transfer hypothesis focuses on the .masculinization. of females and predicts increased levels of same-sex attraction among female, but not male opposite-sex twins.

We test this hypothesis and find no support for it. A less restrictive version, which allows for a .feminization. of males, appears at first glance to be inseparable from the socialization hypothesis. This is not the case. In this article, we design a test to isolate the socialization effect.

Specifically, we consider same-sex romantic attraction for OS twins with an older same-sex sibling. The socialization hypothesis suggests that if a same-sex older sibling is present in the household, parents and other socialization agents would have already established scripts for gendered upbringing (Huston 1983). These scripts provide models for interaction with the twin of the same sex. The hormone transfer hypothesis is falsified if we show that OS twins with an older same-sex sibling do not report same-sex preferences that are different from the other sibling pairs, since the effects of hormone transfers should be insensitive to birth-order. This is the case in our data. Table 1 summarizes the predictions arising from the models reported above.

 

Table 1: Social Influence, Genetic Influence, Hormone Transfer, and Evolutionary Dynamics Predictions for Adolescent Same-Sex Romantic Attraction.

 

	Social influence model	Genetic influence model	Hormone transfer model	Evolutionary dynamics model
OS twins are more likely to express same-sex attraction than others	+	-	+	-
OS twins with older SS siblings are not more likely than others to express same-sex attraction	+	-	-	-
Likelihood of same-sex attraction increases with number of older brothers for males	-	-	-	+
Concordance of same-sex attraction among sibling pairs increases with genetic similarity is higher than DZ twins or full-siblings	-	+	-	-

 

 

Data and Design

Data for this study were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative, school-based study of adolescents in the 7th .12th grades. Data from the first wave, a self-administered in-school survey conducted in 1994-1995, were used to generate a nationally representative core sample of students and several special samples for a second and third wave of interviewing. A genetic sample of twins and siblings living in the same household was drawn from the 90,118 respondents of the first in-school survey. The genetic sample comprises 5512 persons making up 3139 pairs of siblings. Both siblings in each pair were interviewed in a second, in-home survey. The genetic sample consists of 289 pairs of MZ twins,

495 pairs of DZ twins, 1251 pairs of full siblings, 442 pairs of half siblings, and 662 pairs of nonrelated siblings. The majority of same-sex twins were determined to be MZ or DZ based on their self-reported confusability of appearance (averaged over both twins. self-report). When selfreport data on appearance was missing, MZ or DZ classification was made from the mother.s report of confusability of appearance, or on the basis of molecular genetic markers12.

Including the special samples, 20,745 adolescents were interviewed in the second wave in 1994- 95, which solicited information on socio-economic background, demographic variables, health status and health risk behavior, self-esteem and depression, sexual activity, romantic relationships and friendships, as well as academics, expectations for the future, and employment. Over 79% of eligible respondents completed the follow-up second wave interviews. With the exception of seniors, all respondents were eligible for a follow-up survey in 1996, resulting in 14,738 interviews. The response rate for the third wave was over 80%.

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12 For details on the design of the National Longitudinal Study for Adolescent Health, see P.S. Bearman, J. Jones, J.R. Udry. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health: Research Design. URL:

http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth

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For the present study, same-sex romantic attraction was based on the question: .Have you ever had a romantic attraction to a female (male)?. Both in-home surveys used ACASI technology (Audio computer-assisted self-administered interviewing) for sensitive questions about sexual and non-normative behavior, including the question about same-sex romantic attraction. ACASI technology has been shown to yield more accurate responses to sensitive questions than standard interview technique (Turner et al. 1998). The proportion of adolescents reporting a same-sex relationship or homosexual activity is small in this sample (3.4 % and 0.84 % respectively).

Consequently, we focus on same-sex romantic attraction.13

Results

Table 2 reports the proportion of adolescents reporting same-sex attraction, by gender and sibling classification. Overall, 8.6 % of the full sample reported a same-sex romantic attraction in the first and/or second in-home survey, 7.8 % for female adolescents and 9.4 % for males (N=20,729; 26 respondents had missing data on both waves). We first consider support for the social influence model that hypothesizes that opposite-sex twins should be subject to a different socialization regime than same-sex twins or opposite-sex full siblings. To allow for unambiguous classification, rows 1-7 exclude respondents who contribute more than one pair to the genetic sample (94 % of persons in the genetic sample are part of only one pair). Row 9 reports prevalence for a comparable group in the non-genetic sample, and row 8 for the entire nongenetic sample. The genetic and non-genetic samples are not significantly different from each other with respect to prevalence of same-sex attraction.

 

Table 2: Same-sex romantic attraction by sibling classification and gender
		Female		Male
		N	% with attraction	N	% with attraction
Genetic sample
1	Opposite-sex twin	190	5.3	185	16.8
2	Same-sex twin, dizygotic	259	6.6	276	9.8
3	Same-sex twin, monozygotic	264	7.6	262	9.9
4	Opposite-sex full sibling	423	8.3	427	7.3
5	Same-sex full sibling	601	7.5	596	7.9
6	Other (non-related, half sibling)	855	9.6	832	10.6
7	Together	2592	8.1	2578	9.7
	χ2	5.9 (df=5) (P=0.320)		16.4 (df=5) (P=0.006)
Non-genetic sample
8	All	7277	7.8	6954	9.4
9	Respondents with one sibling	2848	6.7	2954	9.0
Combined
10	Total	10480	7.8	10249	9.4

 

 

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are consistent with a genetic influence hypotheses. Even so, concordance estimates for sexual orientation vary widely. Hershberger (2001), for example, reports data from 8 twin studies, with concordance rates between 0% and 100 % for sexual orientation for MZ twins. In most cases, concordance for DZ twins is reported to be lower than for MZ twins, except for King and McDonald (1992), and Hershberger (1997) for males. In more recent studies, which work with larger samples usually drawn from twin registries, concordance between twin pairs, and differences in concordance rates between MZ and DZ twins, are substantially lower than reported in earlier literature (Pillard and Bailey 1998, Hershberger 2001). For example, in 1952 one study reported 100 % concordance on sexual orientation for 37 pairs of MZ twins and 15% concordance among 29 pairs of DZ twins (Kallmann 1952a,b). In contrast, Kendler et al. (2000) report 31% concordance for sexual orientation for MZ twins and 13 % for DZ twins with data from a national probability sample of twins in the US. Other recent studies with samples drawn

from twin registries show concordances of 20%-25% for MZ twin pairs (Hershberger 2001). As samples become more representative, concordance on sexual behavior, attraction, and orientation, as expected, declines. Concordance is not always considered. Other researchers working with these same data do not report concordance rates but instead report estimates of heritability. Here, (narrow) heritability (h2) is defined as the ratio of additive genetic variance over total phenotypic variance. Kirk et al.

(2000) calculate heritability for sexual orientation at 50-60 % for women and 31 % for men. In contrast, Pillard and Bailey (1998) find zero heritability for women. Hershberger (1997) uses data from the Minnesota twin registry, which show no heritability for men but substantial heritability for women. Thus, heritability estimates for sexual orientation reported in the literature also vary widely. This inconsistency of results makes inference basically impossible. About the only finding that many researchers, including  social scientists (Peplau et al. 1994, Whisman 1996), agree on is that female homosexuality follows a different pattern than male homosexuality. It is unclear, however, what this pattern looks like, i.e. whether female sexuality is more (or less) .biological..

The problems with measuring heritability are substantial.5 It was originally conceived to compare the effects of selective breeding with environmental modification in agricultural experiments. Outside an experimental context, separating additive genetic variance of a trait from non-additive variance is difficult, if not impossible (McGuire 1995). Furthermore, differences between MZ twins and DZ twins in the impact of shared environments on behavioral outcomes may inflate estimates of heritability6. Consequently, behavior genetic models are more likely to overestimate

_________________________________________________

5 McGuire (1995) argues that heritability estimates are strictly valid only for the specific conditions under which they were derived. Specifically, phenotypic variance depends as much on the environment as on genes, more precisely, it is produced by gene-environment interaction. This, in addition to small sample sizes, may explain the wide variation in h2 estimates across samples, times, places. Incidentally, heritability estimates have no relationship to the nature versus nature question. For example, an instinct, which by definition is genetically determined, would show zero heritability (no trait variance in the population). Furthermore, h2 does not tell us anything about the etiology of a trait. One early twin study of prevalence of tuberculosis showed, for example, a correlation of 87.3 for MZ twins and 30.2 for DZ twins, which could be interpretable as a sign for high heritability (McGuire 1995). Yet we know that TB is caused by bacteria, and that environmental factors play a large role in its epidemiology, although obviously, genetic

predisposition to environmental factors could play a significant role in disease acquisition.

6 To pick just one example, the friendship networks of MZ and DZ twins are remarkably different; with MZ twins evidencing significantly greater overlap than same-sex DZ twins, especially with respect to alters who consider them as friends. Since adolescent behavior is associated with peer group structure, even subtle differences in friendship networks, not typically considered in behavior-genetic models, will have a significant impact on estimates of heritability.

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than underestimate heritability. This problem is compounded by small samples and reliance on largely inadequate statistical methods (Jaccard and Dodge n.d.).7

Equally problematic, no twin study of sexual orientation except for Kendler et al. (2000) has, to our knowledge, worked with a probability sample. All early studies were based on clinical samples, convenience samples, or prisoners and other captive populations that are clearly biased.

Even for the twin registry studies, which avoid selecting on the dependent variable, biases are well known. MZ twins are much more likely to participate in twin studies than DZ twins (McGuire 1995, Lykken, McGue and Tellegen 1987), and males are more likely to enroll than are females (Hershberger 2001). Kendler and Eaves (19xx) report that twins who are more alike tend to volunteer for twin studies. Finally, participants in surveys about sexuality may be more educated, have more liberal attitudes, be more novelty-seeking, and experience earlier sexual debut (Dunne et al. 1997) than eligible non-participants. In contrast, our respondents, drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) show no evidence of bias across a wide array of characteristics that may be associated with sexual behavior.

Even more problematic, data on pair concordance is most often derived from reports of only one person. One available test of the accuracy of such reports casts doubt on the validity of measures based on indirect reports. There is a less than 50 % chance that heterosexual twins will know that their co-twin is not heterosexual. More importantly, non-heterosexual persons are more likely than others to misidentify their heterosexual siblings as homosexual. This is also true for twins who were .absolutely certain. of the sexual orientation of their co-twin (Kirk, Bailey, and Martin 1999). In contrast, we consider data on attraction from direct self-report of each individual in the

sibling pair.

Potentially stronger support for the hypothesis that there is genetic influence on romantic samesex preferences come from studies (Hamer et al. 1993; Hu et al. 1995) which purport to provide evidence from molecular analysis of the X chromosome of male relatives of male homosexuals for an X-linked gene at position Xq28 associated with homosexuality. Recent work by Rice et al. (1999), however, suggests that there is little foundation for the Xq28 linkage hypothesis. Specifically, they find no support for the presence of a gene influencing sexual orientation at Xq28. This suggests that if there is a gene for sexual orientation, it is elsewhere on the chromosome. Considering all of the previous evidence for genetic influence on sexual orientation, one should be cautious in reaching the conclusion that there are such effects. Evidence from social surveys is often contaminated by strong selection effects and biological studies have failed

to identify a genetic marker for homosexuality. Given the striking cross-cultural variation in erotic preference, genetic expression, if present, must be very strongly conditioned by the sociocultural environment.

Evolutionary Dynamics

As noted above, if concordance rates do not parallel degree of genetic similarity, a simple genetic influence model should be rejected. Net of empirical evidence, many observers are troubled by the idea that simple evolutionary dynamics ought to limit the role that genetics could play in shaping same-sex attraction. Simply put, homosexuals are less likely to have children than others, and this simple fact ought to lead to a rejection of genetic determination of sexual orientation. The critique of genetic influence on this basis is relatively weak, and easily handled within an

__________________________________________________

7 Using an established method in behavior genetics, the DeFries-Fulker model, Jaccard and Dodge (n.d). calculate substantial heritability for caring for tropical fish (28 %), and frequency of various behaviors such as purchasing folk music in the past year (46 %), chewing gum (58 %), and riding a taxi (38 %).

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evolutionary framework. Miller (2000), for example, posits that homosexuality may be a

.polygenetic. trait, that is, a trait influenced by a number of different genes, which, individually, result in greater fitness, and, only collectively result in homosexual orientation. Specifically, the idea is that these genes shift male brain development in a .female direction,. resulting in .greater sensitivity, tendermindedness, kindness, empathy. and therefore, .better fathers. as well.. Thus, the greater reproductive success of men whose genotype includes some of these genes, and the adverse effect on the reproductive success of men with all of them, cancel each other out, leading

to an evolutionary equilibrium that allows for homosexuality. This model suggests a link between gender identity and sexual attraction. At first glance, research findings showing a strong correlation of childhood gender-nonconformity and same-sex attraction

lend credence to this theory (Bell, Weinberg, and Hammersmith 1982; Dunne et al. 2000; Bailey and Zucker 1995). Among others, Bem (2000) suggests that childhood gender non-conformity represents the .developmental pathway. for the genetic expression of homosexual orientation. The evidence for this connection, though, is quite weak. The few prospective studies in this area focus on small clinical samples of extremely feminine boys, many of whom were diagnosed with gender-identity disorder (Green 1987). The vast majority of girls who display gender-atypical behavior grow up to become heterosexuals (Peplau et al. 1999).

Retrospective assessment of childhood behavior, the method that most studies use, is deeply problematic and likely to lead to overestimating the association between childhood behavior and adult identity simple because of the demands of narrative (Ross 1980; Bearman and Stovel 2000).

The association between childhood gender-atypical behavior and adult homosexuality, in this view, are created at the individual level in the form of life stories that have to make sense in the context of a culture that insists on equating gender and sexual identity.8

A second evolutionary theory about fitness and sexual orientation hypothesizes that homosexual orientation may increase .fitness. if it prevents later-born sons of large sibships to engage in unproductive competition with their older siblings (Miller 2000). The literature suggests some support for this idea, on first glance. Specifically, a relationship between birth order, or, more precisely, number of older brothers, and sexual orientation of males has been reported in a series of papers (Blanchard 1997; Blanchard and Bogaert 1996a,b; Purcell, Blanchard, and Zucker 2000; Bogaert 2000). No such effect was found for females. But the evidence and mechanism

proposed are extremely weak. These studies work with non-representative samples, and/or indirect reports on siblings. sexual orientation and suffer from the same biases as noted above in considering the genetic influence literature. Furthermore, the mechanism by which such an effect is thought to be activated seems somewhat far-fetched. Specifically, mothers are hypothesized to carry a .biological memory. (in the form of a H-Y Antigen) of how many sons they have carried, which leads to changes in the intra-uterine environment that activate .feminization. of younger sons (Blanchard and Klassen 1997, Miller 2000).

In this article, we test the second evolutionary model directly and find no support for an

association between birth-order and same-sex attraction. The first model, the idea that

homosexuality is a polygenetic trait cannot be tested with our data. Nevertheless, we show that concordance rates do not correspond to the general genetic model, and this fact alone falsifies the idea that there could be genetic influence in the absence of a social structural interaction.

_______________________________________________________

8 Riesman and Schwartz (1988) speculate that the observed decline in the proportion of lesbians who assume male roles and identities (.butch.) may be associated with the advent of an alternative narrative of identity for lesbians, namely, feminism.

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Hormonal influences on sexual orientation

A number of researchers have proposed that same-sex preferences may be driven by hormonal imbalances resulting from exchange of hormones in utero. The logical chain involved is thin. The basic argument is that in rodents, sex hormones have been shown to transfer between fetuses in utero resulting in the expression of sexually dimorphic traits (Boklage 1985). This finding has given rise to the idea that opposite sex human twins will be affected in utero by the transfer of their siblings. hormones (Miller 1998, 1994; Dempsey et al. 1999; McFadden 1993; Rodgers et al. 1998). Specifically, at mid-term pregnancy, amniotic fluid shows large differences in testosterone levels between male and female fetuses. Since hormones are thought to cross the placenta and enter mothers. blood, a transfer of testosterone from a male twin to his twin sister in

utero is possible, leading to a .masculinization. of females. No reverse effect (.feminization. of males) is expected, as male and female fetuses do not differ with respect to the level of .female. hormones such as estrogen or progesterone (Miller 1998).9

Working through the argument, and starting with the first element, we find that the evidence for hormone transfer in humans is, at best, weak. Dempsey, Townsend, and Richards (1999) report that OS female twins have larger dental crowns (a male trait) than either SS female twins or singletons, whereas OS male twins dental crowns are not different than SS male twins or singletons. Males and females emit noises out of their ears. These noises, which we do not hear, are called spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAEs) report that OS female twins emit half the average of SOAEs as SS female twins or singletons, suggesting that uterine exposure to androgens has masculinized their auditory systems (McFadden 1993). Both studies suggest some

.masculinization. of females, but not .feminization. of males, as expected.

With respect to more obviously social behaviors, gender stereotyped toy play, sensation seeking, and responses to public opinion questionnaires, the support for the intrauterine transfer hypothesis is weak (Rodgers et al 1998). Henderson and Berenbaum (1997) report no differences between OS twins and SS twins among 7-12 year olds in play behavior with gendered or neutral stereotyped toys. Miller (1994) reports that OS female twins age 3-8 play behavior did not differ from that of female SS twins. As with Resnick et al (1993) who report increased sensation seeking (a male trait) among female OS twins, but no .feminizing. effect for male OS twins, all of these studies are based on small-N convenience samples.10

No reliable evidence from human twin studies has shown intrauterine hormone transfer effects on males. Considering the second step in the argument, it is not exactly clear how such hormonal transfers would express themselves with respect to sexual preference.11 While some male homosexuals exhibit hyper-feminine traits, many male homosexuals exhibit hyper-masculine traits. Masculinity, in this context, is not a singularly heterosexual characteristic. Likewise, even if females were .masculinized. by androgen washing in utero, it is not clear why this would lead

________________________________________________

9 Huston (1983) describes findings from a number of studies exploring the effect on children of high doses of

progesteron or estrogen given to mothers with difficult pregnancies. Compared to control groups, either no effect was shown, or the differences between exposed and unexposed children did not follow the predicted pattern of, say, a propensity for feminine behavior, skills, or personality in boys.

10 Loehlin and Martin (2000) examine three variables that usually show gender differences (being worried, being reserved, and rule-breaking) for a large sample of twins from the Australian twin registry. The authors conclude that hormonal effects may too small to detect for even large samples; that previous obtained results, if any, may reflect postnatal socialization effects or may be due to sample fluctuation or measurement error.

11 The idea that prenatal exposure to sex hormones is associated with sexual behavior is derived from experiments with rats and guinea pigs which show hormone-induced sex-atypical behavior. For a critical review of the literature which interprets these findings as a socialization effect, see Fausto-Sterling (1995). A critical view on the comparison of rodents and humans with respect to sexual behavior and .orientation. is also found in Byne (1995), among others.

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

WORKING PAPERS

OPPOSITE-SEX TWINS AND ADOLESCENT SAME-SEX ATTRACTION

Peter S. Bearman

Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy

Columbia University

and

Hannah Brückner

Department of Sociology

Yale University

October 2001

ISERP WORKING PAPER 01-04

 

 

Data for this paper are drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add

Health), a program project designed by J. Richard Udry and Peter Bearman, and funded by a grant

HD31921 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the Carolina

Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with cooperative funding

participation by the following agencies: The National Cancer Institute; The National Institute of

Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication

Disorders; the National Institute on Drug Abuse; the National Institute of General Medical Sciences;

the National Institute of Mental health; the Office of AIDS Research, NIH; the Office of Director,

NIH; The National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HHS;

Office of Minority Health, Centers for Disease Control and prevention, HHS, Office of the Assistant

Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, HHS; and the National Science Foundation. We thank Ivan

Chase, Roger Gould, Michael Sobel, J. Richard Udry, Duncan Watts, and Harrison White for their

helpful comments. Authorship order is alphabetical. Address all correspondence to Peter Bearman,

Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, 814 IAB. 420 W 118th Street, Columbia

University, NY, NY. psb17@Columbia.edu.

 

 

Abstract

We consider social, genetic, evolutionary, and hormonal transfer hypotheses for same-sex romantic preferences of adolescent (N=5,552) sibling pairs drawn from a nationally

representative sample. We show that male but not female opposite-sex twins disproportionately report same-sex attraction; and that the pattern of concordance of same-sex preference among siblings is inconsistent with a simple genetic influence model. Our results provide substantial support for the role of social influences, reject the hormone transfer model, reject a speculative evolutionary theory, and are consistent with a general model that allows for genetic expression of same-sex attraction under specific, highly circumscribed, social conditions.

Keywords: Social influence, genetic influence, twin studies, same-sex preferences, and

socialization.

 

Three general frameworks compete for attention in the crowded field of understanding the etiology of human same-sex romantic attraction. The first account stresses social influences, the second genetic influences, and the third hormonal influences. The three foci seldom meet, net of those articles which, often with rhetorical flourish, call for either the elimination of one or the other approaches, or alternatively for broad integration of social and biological factors in the explanation of human behavior writ large1. In this article, we do something different: we empirically test social, genetic, evolutionary, and hormonal imbalance hypotheses for adolescent same-sex romantic preferences2. Adjudicating between these models requires unusual data structures, typically not available to researchers. We consider same-sex attraction for a large nationally representative sample of adolescent. The design allows us to test hypotheses about

genetic and intrauterine hormone transfer effects, and to consider the impact of social influence on adolescent same sex romantic attraction.

Social scientists have largely abandoned empirical work focusing on the individual determinants of same-sex attraction, in part because most studies have failed to provide evidence that supports the idea that social, psychological, or social-psychological factors play a role in shaping individual variation in sexual expression and attraction (Herdt 1996). In contrast, behavioral geneticists and biologists have recently embraced empirical studies on the etiology of same-sex romantic preference, in part because work in this tradition has appeared to be successful. Chapters on the biological causes of sexual orientation are now routinely included in textbooks on sexuality (D.Augelli and Patterson 2001; Davidson and Moore 2001, Cabaj and Stein 1996, Ellis and Ebertz 1997), and the general consensus is that .biology plays an important role in the

development of male and female sexual orientation. (Hershberger 1997:43). Oddly, despite the popularity of the idea, the evidence for genetic and/or hormonal effects on same-sex orientation is inconclusive at best. The most publicized genetic findings, for example, the discovery of a marker for homosexuality in men, (Hamer et al. 1993) has not been replicated, and studies purporting to establish a genetic or hormonal foundation to human sexual orientation tend to have serious methodological flaws (Stein 1999; Byne 1995; McGuire 1995).

If they have given up the empirical focus on individual variation in sexual orientation, social scientists have not surrendered empirical focus on cross-cultural variation in sexuality. Indeed, social scientists tend to argue that sexual preference is socially constructed, pointing towards ethnographic studies which show significant variation across time and cultures in what is regarded as homosexual behavior, who engages in it, and how this behavior is normatively regulated (Herdt 1996, Risman and Schwartz 1988, Troiden 1988). The empirical evidence for these ideas is both consistent and striking; so much so that if one could say that studies of the determinants of individual variation in sexual orientation are largely absent, there has been a veritable growth industry in studies of the constructed nature of sexuality. In contrast, biologists,

behavioral geneticists and evolutionists have had a difficult time operating empirically at the macro-level. Few non-social scientists try to make sense out of the welter of forms of sexual expression found across human societies.

Even though social scientists have basically ceded individual variation in sexual preference to the biologists and retreated to the macro-level, and biologists have not aspired to explaining macro-

________________________________________________

1 The most recent expression of this debate can be found in the August 2001 American Sociological Review, on the biological limits of gender construction, cf. commentary and response by Miller and Costello, Kennelly, Merz, and Lorber, Risman, and replies by Udry and Firebaugh, pp. 592-621.

2 The term .preferences. is often interpreted as signifying .choice., as versus .orientation. which is often interpreted as signifying a fixed characteristic. In this article we use these two words interchangeably. Fireworks aside, it is a false debate and it is not our intention to signal through word-choice a position on the .choice. versus .constraint. debate on the etiology of same-sex orientation, preference, attraction, or behavior.

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level variation, social scientists and geneticists alike stress the obvious point that neither genes, nor hormones, nor specific social situations determine sexual behavior by themselves. Rather, the extent to which same-sex and opposite-sex desires are expressed in the individual is seen to be a complex interplay of biological, social, and situational factors (McGuire 1995; Parker and De Cecco 1995; Risman and Schwartz 1988). This is easy enough to say, and one could hardly disagree, but in this article we show how social science can be meaningfully brought back into the empirical debate about the etiology of same-sex preferences at the individual-level.

Specifically, we identify a specific social structure that posits limits to a specific aspect of gender socialization and thus allows for a more frequent expression of same-sex preference.

To anticipate the main findings reported below, we show that adolescent male opposite-sex (hereafter, OS) twins are twice as likely as expected to report same-sex attraction; and that the pattern of concordance (similarity across pairs) of same-sex preference for sibling pairs does not suggest genetic influence independent of social context. Our data falsify the hormone transfer hypothesis, by isolating a single condition that eliminates the OS twin effect we observe – the presence of an older same-sex sibling. We also consider and reject a speculative evolutionary theory that rests on observing birth-order effects on same-sex orientation. In contrast, our results support the hypothesis that less-gendered socialization in early childhood and pre-adolescence shapes subsequent same-sex romantic preferences.

Below, we review the four main theoretical models for same-sex romantic preference, and the evidence for each model. We identify the findings that would support or allow us to reject each hypothesis. We then describe our data, before turning to presentation of results. Social influences on sexual orientation It is commonly accepted that sexual expression varies from society to society; and that sexual socialization, as with culinary, dress, ritual and linguistic socialization, varies across cultures (Parker and Easton 1998, Herdt 1996). Consequently, sexual preference is seen as the product of specific social and historical forces that link in different ways diverse social processes organizing

gender identity, desire, scripted behaviors, and other cognitive and affective elements into a single framework. Because sexual expression varies so remarkably across cultures, it is obvious that what is considered erotic, the expression of erotic desires, and the organization of erotic practices, is the consequence of specific socialization experiences. It follows that variation within a society with respect to sexual preference (for example, same-sex preference in a society organized around opposite-sex eroticism) is seen by social scientists as the consequence of differential socialization experiences.

In contemporary American society, sex-role socialization in early childhood and pre-adolescence has been hypothesized to be associated with adolescent and adult romantic sex-preferences. As noted above, the traditional social science model . the attempt to discover specific aspects of childhood socialization that impacts same-sex preferences has been largely discredited, and consequently, abandoned (Risman and Schwartz 1988; Terry 1999). These studies did show that in contexts with strong sanctions against same-sex preference, gender socialization is deeply entangled with heterosexual orientation (Sedgwick 1991; Terry 1999). Specifically, social biases

for heterosexual erotic expression lead parents and others in interaction with children to subtly encourage gender-appropriate behaviors and to negatively sanction gender-inappropriate behaviors through reliance on gendered socialization scripts that shape response to children.s imaginative play, dress, and interactive style (Huston 1983).

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The precise mechanisms for how such socialization affects later expression of sexual preferences are poorly specified in the literature. Strongly held norms against same-sex erotic interest are thought to induce parents to sanction behavior that is culturally associated with homosexuality. Although children of both genders are encouraged to behave in a sex-typical manner, stereotypically masculine behavior from girls is more often accepted than feminine behavior from boys3. Even at very young ages, peers ostracize or ignore males who prefer female-typed toys or games. Female .tomboys,. on the other hand, may be more accepted by both other girls and boys and even acquire leadership roles in play groups (Huston 1983). While poorly understood theoretically, it is possible to test for gender socialization effects. In this article we consider the hypothesis that parents. (and other socialization agents.) interactions with OS twins are less scripted with respect to gender socialization. Specifically, because OS twins are

similar, except for gender, parents are hypothesized to treat them similarly. Less gendered upbringing, should, if the social influence hypothesis is correct, be associated with increased rates of same-sex erotic preference, especially for males. On the other hand, the socialization hypothesis is falsified if OS twins. same-sex romantic preference rates are comparable to other populations. One simple model is that through subtle interactions, social norms work to limit the organization and articulation of same-sex erotic preferences. In the absence of social structural (or cultural) constraint, same-sex erotic preference rates revert to a .baseline rate., in the same way that objects placed in a vacuum become weightless. Here, this weightlessness, whether expressing itself as higher or lower rates of same sex erotic preference, may be seen as the .residual genetic. effect, given that the social shaping processes are eliminated. More plausible is the idea that genetic expression is activated only under strongly circumscribed social structural conditions4. In contrast to other theories considered below, we assume that the close connection between gender identity and sexual identity is socially constructed.

Genetic influence on sexual orientation A number of previous studies, most prominently, twin studies, have argued that there is a genetic component to same-sex romantic preferences. In this context it is helpful to understand what support for the genetic influence hypothesis would look like. Fundamentally, such support depends on concordance rates for same-sex preferences across sibling pairs. Monozygotic (MZ)

twins concordance should be higher than dizygotic (DZ) twins. Likewise, DZ twins concordance should be comparable to full-siblings (who are genetically similar, except for age). Concordance for DZ twins and full-siblings should be greater than unrelated pairs or stepsiblings. A summary statement is that if concordance rates do not parallel degree of genetic similarity, a simple genetic influence model should be rejected.

Against this background, most family studies report findings that support a general genetic  influence model, that is, they show that monozygotic twins report higher concordance for homosexuality than dizygotic twins, that brothers of homosexual subjects are more likely to be homosexual than brothers of heterosexual subjects, and that concordance rates for sibling pairs

3 In the 1980 Diagnostic and Statistics Manual published by the American Psychiatric Association, the first issue that did not include an entry for homosexuality and the first to include an entry for Gender Identity Disorder (p. 265-6), girls are diagnosed with this disorder only if they (mistakenly) insist on being anatomically male. In contrast, boys having a preference for cross-dressing or a .compelling desire to participate in the games and pastimes of girls. Are considered to have the disorder (Sedgwick 1991). While the development of gender identity and sexual preference may well happen independent from each other in the course of childhood and adolescence (Savin-Williams 1998, Sedgwick 1991, Whisman 1996), in the minds of parents, therapists, and peers, they go together. For boys and for their social

environment, heterosexuality symbolizes masculinity.

4 The distinction between these two formulations may seem opaque. The first assumes a baseline predisposition, the second a pure interaction effect, that is, no main effect for genes.

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Doctorate Degree Awarded for Thesis Defending Pedophilia

Doctorate Degree Awarded for Thesis Defending Pedophilia

LONDON, December 3, 2004  - Richard Yuill, awarded a doctorate degree from Glasgow University this week, argued in his doctoral thesis that sex between children and adults is sometimes a positive experience for the children.

The assumption has been challenged by sex abuse experts, who say the work could add fuel to the arguments of pedophiles who say that their abusive acts are consensual, and that they are not harming anyone.

"The conclusions are that in such relationships I think you've got the good, the bad and the ugly, and that's where I stand on that," Yuill said, as reported by the UK's ultra-liberal newspaper, The Guardian.

"Whatever his intention, one of the things we know about sexual offenders is that they seize on this kind of thing and use it to support their position," said Warwick University senior lecturer in social work, Chris Harrison.

Yuill, who referred to himself as a "boylover" in his interviews with pedophiles, says his work could challenge the UK law that prohibits sexual relations between adults and children under 16 years of age. Sex abuse experts and those who created the law say children are incapable of offering consent to sexual relations with an adult.

"The only thing I'm reporting is that the research findings do not concur with that overall picture," Yuill said. "A number of respondents would concur with the law ... but others found positive experiences or at least what I'd call neutral."

Glasgow University defended its decision to award the thesis. It argued that there was nothing criminal in Yuill's views.

Read Guardian coverage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/child/story/0,7369,1364313,00.html

 

 

Normalizing Pedophilia Continues: UK Police Chief Says 13-Year-Old in Porn Not Child Porn

By John-Henry Westen

LONDON, November 20, 2006  - Terry Grange, the leading officer on child protection of the UK's Association of Chief Police Officers' has ignited controversy by commenting in an interview with The Sunday Times that pornography featuring children at 13 years of age should not be considered child porn.  Grange also said that the term "pedophiles" should only apply to adults who have sex with 12 and under.

Grange's comments match those of the pedophilia party launched recently, with court approval, in the Netherlands.  The 'Charity, Freedom and Diversity' (NVD) party of the Netherlands formed last Spring introduced itself to Dutch politics as a champion of children's rights.  In a press release, the NVD's spokesman and co-founder, Ad van den Berg said among their goals is lowering the age of consent for sexual activity from 16 to 12 and eventually eliminating it completely.

Grange told the Sunday Times: "Child porn is 12 and under."  On pedophilia he said: "For me, that sort of thing, paedophilia, is [with] prepubescent children."

In the UK where the age of consent for sexual activity is 16, Grange says, "It is much more of an issue for me if a child is under 13.  I think the closer they get to 16 the more it becomes a grey area and I think everyone in the field of dealing with sexual health and sexual activity acknowledges that."

He added: "I don't actually personally adhere to the 15-year-old being with a 20-year-old boyfriend being paedophilia, or even if the boyfriend is 30."

The ACPO incident is the latest in the ongoing normalization of pedophilia, which has picked up steam since homosexual 'marriage' has been mainstreamed. 

In comments this weekend, Romeo and Juliet director Franco Zeffirelli made positive remarks about homosexual sexual contact with young boys.   In the context of noting that as a boy he was sexually abused by a priest, Zeffirelli said, "(Homosexual experiences) are not always bad for boys. I don't think they make you homosexual. Sexual choice is made for you early on in life anyway - if you like girls, you like girls."

LifeSiteNews.com reported in June on a poll which found 11% of Canadians did not consider pedophilia immoral.

In 2001, leading Canadian film-makers were promoting the pedophiliac film Fat Girl which featured nude scenes with a thirteen year old.  And in 2004 Nicole Kidman starred in the movie Birth which included a scene which made it appear as if she bathed in the nude with a boy of 10 with whom she was sexually interested.

Also in 2004, Glasgow University awarded a student a doctoral degree for his thesis defending pedophilia. 

 

 

The truth about 'gay' pedophilia

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52330
http://tinyurl.com/n6tcp

Posted: October 7, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Olivia St. John

Liberals are experts at framing debates in their favor. Since the Foley fiasco hit the news, the emphasis has been on evils lurking within the Republican Party.

Incredibly, political editor Brian E. Crowley of the Palm Beach Post opined, "Rumors that Foley is gay have swirled around him for years. … But on Friday, whether Foley was a homosexual or a heterosexual no longer seemed to matter."

Really? Why would that be considered inconsequential? Could it be because the Democrat Party embraces legalizing homosexual marriage and inserting homosexual material into public school textbooks designed for children as young as grammar school, as demonstrated in recent efforts by the California Legislature to indoctrinate students? That is the real story behind this media blitz that Democrats want Americans to miss.

While the leftist media focuses on the political ramifications surrounding Foley in an effort to gain points for liberal candidates in the upcoming election, the fact that a homosexual rather than a heterosexual preyed on a young male is being oddly overlooked. Few people are talking about it. And the question is "Why not?" The answer is important because to ignore it is to dismiss the real plight of many homosexuals today and their impact upon our culture, our children and our political scene.

Foley admits that he is a homosexual. Dare the question be asked whether homosexuals commit higher rates of molestation than heterosexuals do? Or are the thought police hard at work silencing the possible implications?

English professor Karla Jay, Ph.D., and well-educated journalist Allen Young, both homosexual activists, conducted the first major survey on homosexuality in America in 1979. Their work is still cited in academic studies and involved over 5,000 homosexuals from all walks of life. Titled "The Gay Report," the study published data on underage sex, disease, gross promiscuity, suicidal tendencies and more.

One cannot help but applaud the honesty of these two homosexuals in publishing the results of their study, which documented that "23 percent of respondents admitted to having had sex with youths aged 13-15, while 19 percent felt positive about sexual activity within this age group." Tragically, 50 percent of the males in their survey experienced their first sexual encounter at age 15 or less.

In spite of the fact that two gay researchers produced "The Gay Report," radical homosexual activists dismiss it as outdated. This is ironic considering they so often cite the much older 1948 "10 percent of society is gay" statistic from the oft-disputed Alfred Kinsey study.

But out of courtesy for their concerns, are there other esteemed elites drawing the same conclusions? Contrary to the homosexual assertion that heterosexual molestations outnumber those committed by homosexuals, Yale and Harvard-connected psychiatrist Jeffrey Satinover states that "careful studies show that pedophilia is far more common among homosexuals than heterosexuals." Satinover adds, "The greater absolute number of heterosexual cases reflects the fact that heterosexual males outnumber homosexual males by approximately 36 to 1. Heterosexual child molestation cases outnumber homosexual cases by only 11 to 1, implying that pedophilia is more than three times more common among homosexuals."

So considering the fact that this type of sexual interest is shown by studies to occur more often in homosexual populations, is it any surprise that Mark Foley admitted he himself was molested as a teenager by a clergyman?

According to a report by Gregory Rogers featured on the website for the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, such issues raise "immediate questions … should gay priests be allowed access to Sunday Schools or youth groups?" Instead of asking that question, however, the liberal cohorts shift the spotlight off the homosexuals themselves and onto the church as a whole, just as they're now doing with the Republicans even though they themselves have a stained record in this regard.

While pointing their fingers at Republicans, who may have overlooked gross evil while focusing on political gain, liberals overlook a tremendous evil themselves by ignoring the truth about homosexual behavior. They fail to speak out for the innocent children caught in the path of a rabid homosexual agenda fueled by wounded people who refuse to change.

As David Kupelian states in his groundbreaking best seller "The Marketing of Evil," "The end game is not only to bring about the complete acceptance of homosexuality, including same-sex marriage, but also to prohibit and even criminalize public criticism of homosexuality."

And all of this at the expense of our children.

 

 

Pre nego sto bila sta kazem o Dr. Nicholasu Cummingsu preporucujem da prvo skinete njegov intervju sa ovog sajta:
http://drhelen.blogspot.com/2006_03_12_drhelen_archive.html

Deo koji se odnosi na intervju nosi naziv:

Podcast on the APA, "Destructive Trends in Mental Health and Politics"

To je i ujedno naziv knjige koja je potresla Ameriku. Velicina intervjua iznosi oko 17,8 mb, i preporucujem da ga skinete sa opcije za ipod, a za one koji imaju dilup takodje postoji opcija za skidanje

Who Is Dr. Nicholas Cummings?

Former APA President, Nicholas A. Cummings, PhD, is a member of the legendary "Dirty Dozen," a group of practitioners that fought for professionalism, licensure and third-party reimbursement. He implemented the first comprehensive psychotherapy insurance and pushed for the freedom of choice legislation that led to third party reimbursement of psychologists. Cummings founded the National Council of Schools of Professional Psychology and the National Academies of Practice-- two institutions that shaped the professional school movement and the psychologist as behavioral primary-care physician.

Dr. Cummings started the first practitioner-managed behavioral health delivery system in the United States. American Biodyne was innovative, successful, and ahead of its time. He is recognized as the foremost expert on the delivery of mental health care. Nick Cummings is a life long advocate for professional psychology and practice

Dr. Cummings is president of the Foundation for Behavioral Health, and chair of the boards of The Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Foundation and the University Alliance for Behavioral Care Inc. Dr. Cummings was born in Salinas, California and earned his PhD in clinical psychology from Adelphi University. Presently, Dr. Cummings is on the Board of Directors of The National Alliance of Professional Psychology Providers.

E sada zasto sam prvo dao intervju pa onda njegovu biografiju. Ako ukucate njegovo ime u google naicicete na podatke o njemu kao coveku koji je najzasluzniji zasto se 1973 godine homoseksualizam ukida kao bolest od strane APA (Americke psihijatrijske asocijacije). Slusajuci njegov intervju mozete doci do zakljucka da covek ne pripada konzervativcima ni tradicionalistima, vec kako sam kaze pripada liberalima.U intervju iznosi na koji nacin je ukinuta odluka iz 1973 godine, ali govori i o tome sta se danas desava u APA i drugim slicnim organizacijama koji trpe ogroman uticaj od strane raznih homoseksualnih pokreta, a narocito politicara. Govori o tome kako psihijatrija i psihologija dozivljavaju krizu jer su postali opasan instrument u rukama mocnika. Najbolje da sami cujete. Verujte mi ni malo nije dosadno.

Takodje, ko ima priliku da nabavi knjigu preporucujem mu da je procita.

Is Psychology Losing Its Way?
By Dr. Warren Throckmorton
December 21, 2005

A recent book edited by eminent psychologists Rogers Wright and Nicholas Cummings delivers a stunning indictment of the mental health professions. Destructive Trends in Mental Health: The Well-Intentioned Path to Harm documents and critiques the ascent of social activism over open-minded scientific inquiry and quality mental health care in the current mental health establishment. This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about mental health care in this country.

The book casts a critical eye on muchof the social activism of the psychological and psychiatric professional associations over the past thirty years. However, Drs. Wright and Cummings cannot be dismissed as disgruntled conservatives. Their deeds validate their claim to be “lifelong liberal activists.” For instance, while president of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Cummings supported the development of the first task force championing the mental health needs of gays, lesbians and bisexuals.

In addition tobeingpersonally involved in social activism, the authors have been keen and pragmatic observers of the mental health professions over the past 40 years. My own contact with Nick Cummings made a lasting impact on me. I first met Dr. Cummingsin 1986 when American Biodyne, the first real managed behavioral health care company in America, came to Ohio as a manager of the state employee behavioral health care program. I just started my counseling private practice in Portsmouth, Ohio, and wanted to get on board the managed care train. Biodyne did something very novel for a managed care company: all therapists in the preferred network were required to be trained by the company leaders, including the president and founder, Nick Cummings. In all my years of education, both in school and post-grad, I have never listened to a better trainer than Nick Cummings. He believed mental health therapy could be a powerful influence in a person's life but it was never to be used to gratify the therapist or to promote a political agenda. That same theme permeates this book. Drs. Cummings and Wright believe that modern psychology has been overthrown by forces of social activism and as a consequence faces irrelevance.

As one example, Cummings and Wright demonstrate how political support for gay activism has led to stifling of client self-determination. Consider this quote from the book regarding sexual identity therapy:

"In the current climate, it is inevitable that conflict arises among the various subgroups in the marketplace. For example, gay groups within the APA [American Psychological Association] have repeatedly tried to persuade the association to adopt ethical standards that prohibit therapists from offering psychotherapeutic services designed to ameliorate "gayness" on the basis that such efforts are unsuccessful and harmful to the consumer. Psychologists who do not agree are termed homophobic. Such efforts are especially troubling because they abrogate the patient's right tochoose the therapistand determine therapeutic goals. They also deny the reality of data demonstrating that psychotherapy can be effective in changing sexual preferences in patients who have a desire to do so." (From the introduction, page xxx).

Sexual identity therapy is not the only political hot potato tackled by theauthors. They demonstrate how politically correct posturing can serve to obscure research findings. For instance, co-editor Wright cites research by Cummings suggesting that positive male figures in the lives of children are significantly related to a decrease in the number of children requiring medication for behavior problems. However, he laments that such research results are frequently stifled or even dismissed because they offend feminist sensibilities.

Drs. Wright and Cummings express concern over the professional consequences of psychology’s misadventures into social activism. They paint a picture of psychologists being unable to support themselves as psychologists because the profession has become enamored with producing position statements about social change. Mental health care in America is adequate but barely so. Any practicing counselorknows how difficult it is to find quality services anywhere outside of the metropolitan areas of this country. Cummings and Wright predict that psychology’s preoccupation with social activism threatens to make it irrelevant as a force for quality and affordable health care for all people.

So how is the current leadership of the APA reacting to the critique of Cummings and Wright? Not well. It appears the former APA luminaries are getting a cold shoulder from the current leadership. At a recent meeting of National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, Dr. Wright noted that the APA adopted a "strategic decision not to respond" to their book to avoid giving it undue attention. Furthermore, the APA initially prohibited its member-publications from even reviewing the book. Observed Dr. Wright: "So much for diversity and open-mindedness."

In my opinion, the current APA leadership will ignore these warnings at their peril. When it comes to trends in mental health care, Nick Cummings has rarely been wrong in his predictions. I don't think he is wrong this time.

Warren Throckmorton, PhD is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Fellow for Psychology and Public Policy in The Center for Vision and Values at Grove City (PA) College. Dr. Throckmorton is past-president of the American Mental Health Counselors Association and is the producer of the documentary, I Do Exist about sexual identity formation. His columns have been published by over 80 newspapers nationwide and can be contacted through his website at www.drthrockmorton.com.

Charles W. Socarides

O njemu pozete procitati na sledecem sajtu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Socarides

A evo ga i clanak:

How America Went Gay

by Charles W. Socarides, M.D.

Charles W. Socarides, M.D., is clinical professor of psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in New York. He is president of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, and author of Homosexuality: A Freedom Too Far (Adam Margrave Books, Phoenix, Arizona).

For more than 20 years, I and a few of my colleagues in the field of psychoanalysis have felt like an embattled minority, because we have continued to insist, against today's conventional wisdom, that gays aren't born that way. We know that obligatory homosexuals are caught up in unconscious adaptations to early childhood abuse and neglect and that, with insight into their earliest beginnings, they can change. This "adaptation" I speak of is a polite term for men going through the motions of mating not with the opposite sex but with one another.

For most of this century, most of us in the helping professions considered this behavior aberrant. Not only was it "off the track"; the people caught up in it were suffering, which is why we called it a pathology. We had patients, early in their therapy, who would seek out one sex partner after another-total strangers-on a single night, then come limping into our offices the next day to tell us how they were hurting themselves. Since we were in the business of helping people learn how not to keep hurting themselves, many of us thought we were quietly doing God's work.

Now, in the opinion of those who make up the so-called cultural elite, our view is "out of date." The elite say we hurt people more than we help them, and that we belong in one of the century's dustbins. They have managed to sell this idea to a great many Americans, thereby making homosexuality fashionable and raising formerly aberrant behavior to the status of an "alternate lifestyle."

You see this view expressed in some places you would least expect. The Pope says same-sex sex is wrong, but a good many of his own priests in this country (some of whom are gay themselves) say the Pope is wrong. Indeed, in much of academe and in many secondary school classrooms gays are said to lead a new vanguard, the wave of the future in a world that will be more demographically secure when it has fewer "breeders" (which is what some gay activists call heterosexuals these days).

How did this change come about? Well, the revolution did not just happen. It has been orchestrated by a small band of very bright men and women-most of them gays and lesbians-in a cultural campaign that has been going on since a few intellectuals laid down the ideological underpinnings for the entire tie-dyed, try-anything-sexual Woodstock generation. In various ways, Theodore Reich, Alfred Kinsey, Fritz Perls, Norman O. Brown, Herbert Marcuse and Paul Goodman preached a new countercultural gospel: "If it feels good, do it."

It was all part of a plan, as one gay publication put it, "to make the whole world gay." I am not making this up. You can read an account of the campaign in Dennis Altman's The Homosexualization of America. In 1982 Altman, himself gay, reported with an air of elation that more and more Americans were thinking like gays and acting like gays. There were engaged, that is, "in numbers of short-lived sexual adventures either in place of or alongside long-term relationships." Altman cited the heterosexual equivalents of gay saunas and the emergence of the swinging singles scene as proofs that "promiscuity and 'impersonal sex' are determined more by social possibilities than by inherent differences between homosexuals and heterosexuals, or even between men and women."

Heady stuff. Gays said they could "reinvent human nature, reinvent themselves." To do this, these reinventors had to clear away one major obstacle. No, they didn't go after the nation's clergy. They targeted the members of a worldly priesthood, the psychiatric community, and neutralized them with a radical redefinition of homosexuality itself. In 1972 and 1973 they co-opted the leadership of the American Psychiatric Association and, through a series of political maneuvers, lies and outright flim-flams, they "cured" homosexuality overnight-by fiat. They got the A.P.A. to say that same-sex sex was "not a disorder." It was merely "a condition"-as neutral as lefthandedness.

This amounted to a full approval of homosexuality. Those of us who did not go along with the political redefinition were soon silenced at our own professional meetings. Our lectures were canceled inside academe and our research papers turned down in the learned journals. Worse things followed in the culture at large. Television and movie producers began to do stories promoting homosexuality as a legitimate lifestyle. A gay review board told Hollywood how it should deal or not deal with homosexuality. Mainstream publishers turned down books that objected to the gay revolution. Gays and lesbians influenced sex education in our nation's schools, and gay and lesbian libbers seized wide control of faculty committees in our nations' colleges. State legislatures nullified laws against sodomy.

If the print media paid any attention at all, they tended to hail the gay revolution, possibly because many of the reporters on gay issues were themselves gay and open advocates for the movement. And those reporters who were not gay seemed too intimidated by groupthink to expose what was going on in their own newsrooms.

And now, what happens to those of us who stand up and object? Gay activists have already anticipated that. They have created a kind of conventional wisdom: that we suffer from homophobia, a disease that has actually been invented by gays projecting their own fear on society. And we are bigots besides, because, they say, we fail to deal with gays compassionately. Gays are now no different than people born black or Hispanic or physically challenged. Since gays are born that way and have no choice about their sexual orientation, anyone who calls same-sex sex an aberration is now a bigot. Un-American, too. Astoundingly now, college freshmen come home for their first Thanksgiving to announce, "Hey, Mom! Hey, Dad! We've taken the high moral ground. We've joined the gay revolution."

My wife, Clare, who has an unerring aptitude for getting to the heart of things, said one day recently in passing, "I think everybody's being brainwashed." That gave me a start. I know "brainwashing" is a term that has been used and overused. But my wife's casual observation only reminded me of a brilliant tract I had read several years ago and then forgotten. It was called After the Ball: How America Will Conquer its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 1990's, by Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen.

That book turned out to be the blueprint gay activists would use in their campaign to normalize the abnormal through a variety of brainwashing techniques once catalogued by Robert Jay Lifton in his seminal work, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of Brainwashing in China.

In their book Kirk and Madsen urged that gay activists adopt the very strategies that helped change the political face of the largest nation on earth. The authors knew the techniques had worked in China. All they needed was enough media-and enough money-to put them to work in the United States. And they did. These activists got the media and the money to radicalize America-by processes known as desensitization, jamming and conversion.

They would desensitize the public by selling the notion that gays were "just like everyone else." This would make the engine of prejudice run out of steam, i.e., lull straights into an attitude of indifference.

They would jam the public by shaming them into a kind of guilt at their own "bigotry." Kirk and Madsen wrote:

All normal persons feel shame when they perceive that they are not thinking, feeling, or acting like one of the pack....The trick is to get the bigot into the position of feeling a conflicting twinge of shame...when his homohatred surfaces. Thus, propagandistic advertisement can depict homophobic and homohating bigots as crude loudmouths....It can show them being criticized, hated, shunned. It can depict gays experiencing horrific suffering as the direct result of homohatred-suffering of which even most bigots would be ashamed to be the cause.

The best thing about this technique, according to Kirk and Madsen: The bigot did not even have to believe he was a loathsome creature:

Rather, our effect is achieved without reference to facts, logic, or proof. Just as the bigot became such, without any say in the matter, through repeated infralogical emotional conditioning, his bigotry can be alloyed in exactly the same way, whether he is conscious of the attack or not. In short, jamming succeeds insofar as it inserts even a slight frisson of doubt and shame into the previously unalloyed, self-righteous pleasure. The approach can be quite useful and effective-if our message can get the massive exposure upon which all else depends.

Finally-this was the process they called conversion-Kirk and Madsen predicted a mass public change of heart would follow, even among bigots, "if we can actually make them like us." They wrote, "Conversion aims at just this...conversion of the average American's emotions, mind, and will, through a planned psychological attack, in the form of propaganda fed to the nation via the media."

In the movie "Philadelphia" we see the shaming technique and the conversion process working at the highest media level. We saw Tom Hank's character suffering (because he was gay and had AIDS) at the hands of bigots in his Philadelphia law firm. Not only were we ashamed of the homophobic behavior of the villainous straight lawyers in the firm; we felt nothing but sympathy for the suffering Hanks. (Members of the Motion Picture Academy felt so much sympathy they gave Hanks an Oscar.) Our feelings helped fulfill Kirk and Madsen's strategy: "to make Americans hold us in warm regard, whether they like it or not."

Few dared speak out against "Philadelphia" as an example of the kind of propaganda Kirk and Madsen had called for. By then, four years after the publication of the Kirk-Madsen blueprint, the American public had already been programmed. Homosexuality was now simply "an alternate lifestyle." Best of all, because of the persuaders embedded in thousands of media messages, society's acceptance of homosexuality seemed one of those spontaneous, historic turnings in time-yes, a kind of conversion. Nobody quite knew how it happened, but the nation had changed. We had become more sophisticated, more loving toward all, even toward those "afflicted" with the malady-excuse me, condition.

By 1992 the President of the United States said it was time that people who were openly gay and lesbian should not be ousted from the nation's armed forces. In 1993 the nation's media celebrated a huge outpouring of gay pride in Washington, D.C. Television viewers chanted along with half a million marchers, "Two, four, six, eight! Being gay is really great." We felt good about ourselves. We were patriotic Americans. We had abolished one more form of discrimination, wiped out one of society's most enduring afflictions: homophobia. Best of all, we knew now that gay was good, gay was free.

Excuse me. Gay is not good. Gay is not decidedly free. How do I know this? For more than 40 years, I have been in solidarity with hundreds of homosexuals, my patients, and I have spent most of my professional life engaged in exercising a kind of "pastoral care" on their behalf. But I do not help them by telling them they are O.K. when they are not O.K. Nor do I endorse their "new claim to self-definition and self-respect." Tell me: Have we dumped the idea that a man's self-esteem comes from something inside himself (sometimes called character) and from having a good education, a good job and a good family-and replaced that notion with this, that he has an affinity to love (and have sex with) other men?

In point of fact, many of my patients had character; they had an education; they were respected ad men and actuaries and actors. But they were still in pain-for one reason and one reason alone. They were caught up in this mysterious compulsion to have sex with other men. They were not free. They were not happy. And they wanted to see if they could change.

Over the years, I found that those of my patients who really wanted to change could do so, by attaining the insight that comes with a good psychoanalysis. Others found other therapies that helped them get to the bottom of their compulsions, all of which involved high motivation and hard work. Difficult as their therapeutic trips were, hundreds and thousands of homosexuals changed their ways. Many of my own formerly homosexual patients-about a third of them-are married today and happily so, with children. One-third may not sound like a very good average. But it is just about the same success rate you will find at the best treatment centers for alcoholics, like Hazelden in Minnesota and the Betty Ford Clinic in California.

Another third of my patients remain homosexual but not part of the gay scene. Now, after therapy, they still have same-sex sex, but they have more control over their impulses because now they understand the roots of their need for same-sex sex. Some of these are even beginning to turn on to the opposite sex. I add this third to my own success rate-so that I can tell people in all honesty that my batting average is .667 out of more than a thousand "at bats."

Of course, I could bat .997 if I told all my patients in pain that their homosexuality was "a special call" and "a liberation." That would endear me to everyone, but it would not help them. It would be a lie-despite recent pieces of pseudo-science bolstering the fantasy that gays are "born that way." The media put its immediate blessing on this "research," but we were oversold. Now we are getting reports, even in such gay publications as The Journal of Homosexuality, that the gay-gene studies and the gay-brain studies do not stand up to critical analysis. (The author of one so-called "gay-gene theory" is under investigation by the National Institutes of Health for scientific fraud.)

I was not surprised to hear this. My long clinical experience and a sizable body of psychoanalysis research dating all the way back to Freud tell me that most men caught up in same-sex sex are reacting, at an unconscious level, to something amiss with their earliest upbringing- overcontrolling mothers and abdicating fathers. Through long observation I have also learned that the supposedly liberated homosexual is never really free. In his multiple, same-sex adventures, even the most effeminate gay was looking to incorporate the manhood of others, because he was in a compulsive, never-ending search for the masculinity that was never allowed to build and grow in early childhood.

When I tried to explain these dynamics to the writer who helped me put together a kind of popular catechism on homosexuality, I found he had a hard time understanding what this "incorporation" meant. He said, "Your patient would be more manly if he took in the penis of another man? Sounds a little dumb. Would I run faster if I ate the flesh of a deer?"

I told him, "You have to understand that we are talking about feelings that come from deep in the unconscious mind. They are very primitive. In fact, if you have ever read any Indian lore, you may remember that Indians would, in fact, eat the flesh of a deer in order to become faster afoot. To us, that is a very primitive idea. But it had a mythic significance for a young Iroquois brave. And Madison Avenue still makes use of such mythic meanings. The ad people sell us things based on the notion that we will become what we eat or drink or possess." The point I was making was this: We do not understand same-sex sex until we realize that the dynamics involved are unconscious.

This is one reason why psychoanalysis is the tool that gets us to the heart of everything. Once my patients have achieved an insight into these dynamics-and realized there is no moral fault involved in their longtime and mysterious need-they have moved rather quickly on the road to recovery. Their consequent gratitude to me is overwhelming. And why shouldn't it be? They were formerly caught up in compulsions they could not understand, compulsions they could not control. Now they are in charge of their own lives.

Their former promiscuity may have looked a lot like "liberation." But it was not true freedom. It was a kind of slavery. And it was not a lifestyle. With the onset of AIDS, as the playwright and gay militant Larry Kramer said in a 1993 interview, it turned out to be a death style. I have had some patients tell me, "Doctor, if I weren't in therapy, I'd be dead."

Testimonials from my recovered patients make me feel my work is worthwhile-despite regular demands from the gay rights community for my silence. What would they have me do? Pack my bags, find a new profession, lock up a lifetime of research and analysis, hide my truth under a bushel? It is not my psychoanalytic duty to tell people they are marvelous when they are out of control, much less ask disingenuous rhetorical questions like, "What kind of God would afflict people with an 'objective disorder' in the disposition of their hearts?"

Giving God the credit for their gayness is a persistent refrain in much gay literature today, and I am saddened to see people of evident good will become unwitting parties to the blasphemy. Gays ascribe their condition to God, but he should not have to take that rap, any more than he should be blamed for the existence of other man-made maladies-like war, for instance, which has proven to be very unhealthy for humans and for all other living things. God does not make war. Men do.

And, when homosexuality takes on all the aspects of a political movement, it, too, becomes a war, the kind of war in which the first casualty is truth, and the spoils turn out to be our own children. An exaggeration? Well, what are we to think when militant homosexuals seek to lower the age of consensual sexual intercourse between homosexual men and young boys to the age of 14 (as they did in Hawaii in 1993) or 16 (as they tried to do in England in 1994)? In the Washington March for Gay Pride in 1993, they chanted, "We're here. We're queer. And we're coming after your children."

What more do we need to know?

http://www.springerlink.com/content/al4574p6203628w0/

Childhood Family Correlates of Heterosexual and Homosexual Marriages: A National Cohort Study of Two Million Danes

Morten Frisch¹  and Anders Hviid¹

(1)	Department of Epidemiology Research, Danish Epidemiology Science Center, Statens Serum Institut, 5 Artillerivej, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark

Published online: 13 October 2006

Abstract  Children who experience parental divorce are less likely to marry heterosexually than those growing up in intact families; however, little is known about other childhood factors affecting marital choices. We studied childhood correlates of first marriages (heterosexual since 1970, homosexual since 1989) in a national cohort of 2 million 18–49 year-old Danes. In multivariate analyses, persons born in the capital area were significantly less likely to marry heterosexually, but more likely to marry homosexually, than their rural-born peers. Heterosexual marriage was significantly linked to having young parents, small age differences between parents, stable parental relationships, large sibships, and late birth order. For men, homosexual marriage was associated with having older mothers, divorced parents, absent fathers, and being the youngest child. For women, maternal death during adolescence and being the only or youngest child or the only girl in the family increased the likelihood of homosexual marriage. Our study provides population-based, prospective evidence that childhood family experiences are important determinants of heterosexual and homosexual marriage decisions in adulthood.

Keywords  Heterosexuality - Homosexuality - Marriage - Cohort studies - Childhood - Denmark

 

New Evidence Found for Childhood Family Factors Influencing Sexual Orientation

 

("Childhood Family Correlates of Heterosexual and Homosexual Marriages: A National Cohort Study of Two Million Danes," by Morten Frisch and Anders Hviid, Archives of Sexual Behavior Oct 13, 2006;

A major study is about to be published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal, Archives of Sexual Behavior, which provides striking new evidence for the influence of childhood family factors on sexual-orientation development.

The study used a population-based sample of 2,000,355 native-born Danes between the ages of 18 and 49. Denmark -- a country noted for its tolerance of a wide variety of alternative lifestyles, including homosexual partnerships -- was the first country to legalize gay marriage. The researchers assessed detailed marriage records for all Danish-born men and women marrying a same-sex partner from the years 1989 through 2001.

With access to the "virtually complete registry coverage of the entire Danish population," the study sample therefore lacked the problematic selection bias that has plagued many previous studies on sexual orientation.

Parental Influences on Sexual Orientation Development

The authors conclude: "Our study provides population-based, prospective evidence that childhood family experiences are important determinants of heterosexual and homosexual marriage decisions in adulthood."

Assuming that people who marry heterosexually are almost always heterosexual -- especially in a country where homosexuality carries little stigma, and gay marriage is legal -- and people who marry homosexually can be presumed to be homosexual, the study's findings offer intriguing evidence about family factors separating homosexual from heterosexual persons.

The following are findings from this new data:

1.       Men who marry homosexually are more likely to have been raised in a family with unstable parental relationships -- particularly, absent or unknown fathers and divorced parents.

2.       Findings on women who marry homosexually were less pronounced, but were still associated with a childhood marked by a broken family. The rates of same-sex marriage "were elevated among women who experienced maternal death during adolescence, women with short duration of parental marriage, and women with long duration of mother-absent cohabitation with father."

3.       Men and women with "unknown fathers" were significantly less likely to marry a person of the opposite sex than were their peers with known fathers.

4.       Men who experienced parental death during childhood or adolescence "had significantly lower heterosexual marriage rates than peers whose parents were both alive on their 18th birthday. The younger the age of the father's death, the lower was the likelihood of heterosexual marriage."

5.       "The shorter the duration of parental marriage, the higher was the likelihood of homosexual marriage...homosexual marriage rates were 36% and 26% higher among men and women, respectively, who experienced parental divorce after less than six years of marriage, than among peers whose parents remained married for all 18 years of childhood and adolescence."

6.       "Men whose parents divorced before their 6th birthday were 39% more likely to marry homosexually than peers from intact parental marriages."

7.       "Men whose cohabitation with both parents ended before age 18 years had significantly (55% -76%) higher rates of homosexual marriage than men who cohabited with both parents until 18 years."

8.       The mother's age was directly linked to the likelihood of homosexual marriage among men -- the older the mother, the more likely her son was to marry another man. Also, "only children" were more likely to be homosexual.

9.       Persons born in large cities were significantly more likely to marry a same-sex partner -- suggesting that cultural factors might also affect the development of sexual orientation.

"Whatever ingredients determine a person's sexual preferences and marital choices," conclude the study's authors, "our population-based study shows that parental interactions are important."

 

 

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