Gay Conversn Therapy's Disturbg 19th-Century Origs | HISTORY

Contents:

• WHAT WOULD SIGMUND FRD SAY ABOUT GAY-NVERSN THERAPY?
• ANNA FRD, PAPA SIGMUND AND GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• LUCIAN FRD’S GAY RELATNSHIPS EXPLORED NEW EXHIBN
• GAY CONVERSN THERAPY’S DISTURBG 19TH-CENTURY ORIGS
• THE COLORFUL MORN HISTORY OF GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

WHAT WOULD SIGMUND FRD SAY ABOUT GAY-NVERSN THERAPY?

Sigmund believed that homosexualy men is nrotic but not particularly problematic. ) beatg a child who had ma a mistake over which she had no ntrol (Anna and her homosexualy? Fact, a lot pots towards him havg more than jt “iendly” relatnships wh his male iends and judgg by letter rrponnce unvered wh for example Wilhelm Flis appears the relatnship was passnate, timate and most probably of homosexual nature.

In a letter wrten as a rponse to an acquatance that shared that he had dreamed of Frd naked he rpond, “You probably image that I have secrets que other than those I have rerved for myself, or you believe that (my secret) is nnected wh a special sorrow, whereas I feel pable of handlg everythg and am pleased wh the rultant greater pennce that om havg overe my homosexualy, ’’. ’’Today s monly unrstood that victims of sexual abe, when not havg addrsed and rolved the trma, tend to higher equenci pass on the vlence to the next first and favore dghter Anna showed signs of distrs and mental illns which later gave her the scriptn of a “jealo, prsed, masochistic, anorectic, latent-homosexual teenager”. ” He lgered on the homonym until I grasped his meang, my face turng red.

ANNA FRD, PAPA SIGMUND AND GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

It was a few days after I had left for my sophomore year of llege. Two months earlier, my son had told our immediate fay that he was gay, but he had been reluctant to share this more wily. On the other hand, that same year Frd: A Life for Our Tim, Peter Gay (a Yale-affiliated historian wh no profsnal allegiance to Frd’s ias) lled that particular psychoanalysis “a most irregular proceedg, ” and Frd’s cisn to analyze Anna, “a lculated floutg of the l he had la down wh such force and precisn.

Both Gay and Young-Behl named the analys primary topic: Anna’s masturbatn fantasi, which were equent, vlent, and masochistic.

In the beatg fantasi that she discsed wh her father she played the role of a male (albe a male a homoerotic relatnship wh another male). Sigmund Frd may have analyzed his gay dghter out of fear. ” This is om Frd’s New Introductory Lectur on Psychoanalysis, 1932, Chapter 5 (eded by Jam Strachey) and quoted the 1965 Frd: Dictnary of Psychoanalysis, eded by Nandor Fodor and Frank Gaynor (Fawcett Publitns).

LUCIAN FRD’S GAY RELATNSHIPS EXPLORED NEW EXHIBN

[12] Diagnosg a female homosexual patient, Frd says "[a]fter her disappotment [wh her father], therefore, this girl had entirely repudiated her wish for a child, the love of a man, and womanhood altogether.... She changed to a man, and took her mother place of her father as her love-object" ("The Psychogenis of a Case of Homosexualy a Woman, " Sexualy and the Psychology of Love, ed.

[13] Frd wr “Some Nrotic Mechanisms Jealoy, Paranoia, and Homosexualy” (1922), “We subsequently disvered, as another powerful motive urgg towards homosexual object-choice, regard for the father or fear of him…. ” Frd: New Introductory Lectur on Psychoanalysis, 1932, Chapter 5, quoted Frd: Dictnary of Psychoanalysis, eded by Nandor Fodor and Frank Gaynor. Sigmund Frd, who is named as the father of psychoanalysis, was surprisgly open md regards to homosexualy and bisexualy.

GAY CONVERSN THERAPY’S DISTURBG 19TH-CENTURY ORIGS

Frd’s theory suggts that heterosexualy needs a certa amount of homosexualy to velop rrectly, but that this part is more sublimal. Moreover, homosexualy as well needs an unrlyg heterosexual part to velop (Kirby, 2008). The letter to a worried mother om a homosexual son beme famo for the fact that Frd dited that there is nothg to be ashamed of wh beg homosexual.

Even more fascatg than the fact that he was very forward wh his opn about homosexualy was durg which time he had wrten this exact letter. 1935 Europe was the risg time of the Nazi regime, which strictly enforced anti-homosexual laws and regulatns.

THE COLORFUL MORN HISTORY OF GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

Frd was one of the first scientists who were tryg to unrstand not only human sexualy general, but also homosexualy om a standpot that did not see as eher curable or perversn. The ncerned mother asked Frd if there was a possibily to cure her son of beg a homosexual, which Frd very clearly dismissed wh sayg that there was no real cure and therapy would also not offer a very high chance of beg helpful.

It should be clarified, Frd did not see homosexualy as equal to heterosexualy, but more as an unsirable sexual aspect which veloped early life. He did not e psychoanalysis to cure homosexualy, but to help the client easg the problems arisg om beg homosexual a heterosexual society.

As much open md as Frd seemed to be for his time, many did and still do unrstand his tentns and ias wrong, g for anti-homosexual psychoanalysis theori. As Andrew Kirby scrib an article, “Taken out of ntext, Frd n be portrayed as eher vilently anti-homosexual or as a closeted iend of gays; this ntradictn has been ed to promote both sis of a polarised bate on the theory and treatment of homosexualy” (2008).