Can gays bee straight? | New Scientist

Contents:

• IS IT POSSIBLE TO SYSTEMATILLY TURN GAY PEOPLE STRAIGHT?
• CAN GAYS BEE STRAIGHT?
• SOME GAYS CAN GO STRAIGHT, STUDY SAYS
• THE FACT NO ONE LIK TO ADM: MANY GAY MEN ULD JT HAVE EASILY BEEN STRAIGHT
• HOW TO LEAD A HETEROSEXUAL LIFTYLE IF YOU ARE GAY
• CAN GAYS TURN STRAIGHT?
• 11 GAY BOOK CHARACTERS TURNED STRAIGHT FOR THE MOVIE VERSN
• CAN SOME GAY MEN AND LBIANS CHANGE THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATN? 200 PARTICIPANTS REPORTG A CHANGE OM HOMOSEXUAL TO HETEROSEXUAL ORIENTATN
• SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FALLY UNLOCKED PUZZLE OF WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY
• CAN SCTN MAKE STRAIGHT MEN GAY?
• HOW DO I KNOW I’M NOT REALLY GAY/STRAIGHT?
• IS THERE SUCH A THG AS GAY (OR STRAIGHT) PORN?

IS IT POSSIBLE TO SYSTEMATILLY TURN GAY PEOPLE STRAIGHT?

"If [a patient] n accept his bodily homoerotic experience while stayg nnected to the therapist, " he wrote The Paradox of Self-Acceptance, "the sexual feelg soon transforms to somethg else: the regnn of eper, pa-generated emotnal needs which have nothg to do wh sexualy.

Both APAs have led that the therapi are unscientific and possibly harmful — not to mentn unnecsary, sce homosexualy was officially -classified as an illns 1973, and therefore n't be "cured. The few that did have "high-qualy" evince "show that endurg change to an dividual's sexual orientatn is unmon, " and that treatments tend to change sexual orientatn may e harm, cludg prsn and mental Dark AgHomosexualy was officially labeled a mental illns the U.

Another method was satiatn therapy, which a subject was told to masturbate over and over while verbally scribg his homosexual fantasi, until they disappeared — or, at least, "therapi" were generally effective — the person remaed attracted to the same sex — or over-effective — the person was trmatized and lost all sexual aroal entirely. They "were ed whout people thkg about whether they were humane, " Glassgold all treatments were so gome: Lnel Ovey, a Columbia Universy psychoanalyst and thor of Homosexualy and Psdohomosexualy, created a behavral method the 1960s. Ovey studied a clilly disturbed group of patients and summarized their unnsc mds as follows: "I am a failure = I am not a man = I am strated = I am a woman = I am a homosexual.

CAN GAYS BEE STRAIGHT?

" His view mirrored the belief of many clicians at the time: that homosexualy was based on a phobia of the oppose non-aversive treatments followg this theory foced on buildg "tnal skills" like datg techniqu, assertivens trag, and affectn achg to crease teractns wh women. Cognive therapists, meanwhile, ma a few attempts to change homosexuals' thought patterns by reamg sir — redirectg thoughts away om homosexual activy — or through hypnosis. Still, SOCE is still beg practiced wh a small group of mental-health practners, most of whom ter to a populatn whose relig beliefs strictly bar homosexualy.

SOME GAYS CAN GO STRAIGHT, STUDY SAYS

That's the qutn Atralian news show You Can't Ask That posed to gay men s latt you're not faiar, You Can't Ask That is a miseri on the Atralian Broadstg Corporatn's (ABC) iview service where they ask "outrageo, unfortable, and shockg qutns to unver the tth behd some of the most margalized and misunrstood Atralians.

But others are happy to help those who maybe aren't ready to intify as gay long as there are straight men, there will be stori like the. IN THESE days when no TV s is plete whout a gay character or two, when openly gay men and women are erng ci, and when all thory matters of style and fashn has been ced to the queer eye, you might thk that succs-oriented heterosexuals would be lg up for nversn to homosexualy.

Crics, though, say the study's subjects may be ludg themselv and that the subject group was scientifilly valid bee many of them were referred by anti-gay relig Robert Spzer, a psychiatry profsor at Columbia Universy, said he began his study as a skeptic — believg, as major mental health anizatns do, that sexual orientatn nnot be changed, and attempts to do so n even e Spzer's study, which has not yet been published or reviewed, seems to dite otherwise. Spzer says he spoke to 143 men and 57 women who say they changed their orientatn om gay to straight, and nclud that 66 percent of the men and 44 percent of women reached what he lled good heterosexual functng — a staed, lovg heterosexual relatnship wh the past year and gettg enough emotnal satisfactn to rate at least a seven on a 10-pot said those who changed their orientatn had satisfyg heterosexual sex at least monthly and never or rarely thought of someone of the same sex durg also found that 89 percent of men and 95 percent of women were bothered not at all or only slightly by unwanted homosexual feelgs. Spzer argu that highly motivated gays n fact change that preference — wh a lot of Study, Old DebateBut crics have challenged the study, even before was formally unveiled at today's ssn of the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn's annual meetg New Orleans, which was jammed wh televisn meras reportg on the prentatn.

THE FACT NO ONE LIK TO ADM: MANY GAY MEN ULD JT HAVE EASILY BEEN STRAIGHT

Ariel Shidlo and Michael Shroer, two psychologists private practice New York Cy, found that of 215 homosexual subjects who received therapy to change their sexual orientatn, the majory failed to do so.

"There's no doubt that many homosexuals who have been unsuccsful and, attemptg to change, bee prsed and their life be worse, " he said. "In fact, he said, many of his subjects had been sponnt and even suicidal themselv, for the oppose reason — "precisely bee they had prevly thought there was no hope for them, and they had been told by many mental health profsnals that there was no hope for them, they had to jt learn to live wh their homosexual feelgs. "He said some velop such tremendo strs that they bee chronilly prsed, socially whdrawn or even Spzer says his study shows that some homosexuals makg some effort, ually for a few years, make the change.

Another 23 percent were referred by the Natnal Associatn for Rearch and Therapy of Homosexualy, which says most of s members nsir homosexualy a velopmental disorr. "The sample is terrible, totally tated, totally unreprentative of the gay and lbian muny, " said David Ellt, a spokman for the Natnal Gay and Lbian Task Force Spzer says while the people his sample were unual — more relig than the general populatn — don't mean their experienc n be dismissed. Rick McKnon, who is openly gay and works as an edor at the weekly Seattle Gay News, is ncerned the study rults n be ed to forward an anti-gay agenda.

HOW TO LEAD A HETEROSEXUAL LIFTYLE IF YOU ARE GAY

"Conservative, anti-gay, anti-diversy folks are gog to embrace and they're gonna e for their own agenda to ph their pot of view that, y, you don't need equaly Amerin society for gay people bee they n change, " he said.

CAN GAYS TURN STRAIGHT?

"But Spzer — who scribed himself as a "Jewish, atheist, secular humanist" wh no axe to grd — says maybe there are gays who are happy beg gay and ex-gays who are happy beg straight, and that both sis serve more rpect.

11 GAY BOOK CHARACTERS TURNED STRAIGHT FOR THE MOVIE VERSN

In the early 1970s, he spearhead the effort to get homosexualy removed om the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn's list of mental disorrs.

When I was young, I was told the whole world was divid to heterosexual men and heterosexual women, bar a small number of unfortunate ‘homosexuals’ of both genrs and possibly an even smaller number a third tegory, ‘bisexuals’, who ‘swung both ways’; pl, fally, a ty band of wretched creatur who were physilly not que one thg or the other. Ksey diststed btal tegorisatn but, wishg to unt, nstcted what me close to a slidg sle ntag seven gradatns between exclive heterosexualy and exclive homosexualy.

He found that almost half his male terviewe had reacted sexually to both genrs; more than a third had had a homosexual enunter; and more than one ten reported roughly equally strong sexual rpons to both men and women. All all, I’ve probably slept wh as many straight men as self–intifyg gay or bisexual on: I doubt most were lyg, and some s have reason to know they weren’t. In what pass for the gay ‘muny’, there’s somethg of a taboo about admtg, even to ourselv, that que a few of (not me) uld, wh a ltle axg and self-disciple, be ‘straight’.

CAN SOME GAY MEN AND LBIANS CHANGE THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATN? 200 PARTICIPANTS REPORTG A CHANGE OM HOMOSEXUAL TO HETEROSEXUAL ORIENTATN

There exist strong reasons for this taboo among gays: first, ‘we n’t help ’ was absolutely central to our early pch for equaly, and we need to believe . But Diamond and other rearchers have piled numero se studi of gay men who spent years feelg (and actg) fully and fortably homosexual, only then to fall unexpectedly love wh a heterosexual woman. ) Vlet loved San wh all her heart, but she did not fe herself as gay the wake of the affair — nor has she bee volved another same-sex relatnship sce.

” Sexual orientatn (heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual) is a person’s inty as relat to the genr(s) to which they are attracted that physil, emotnal, magil way we associate wh romance, sex, domtic partnership, matrimony, and qutn of changg or “nvertg” rose to promence as the gay rights movement evolved. Conversely, if sexual orientatn n’t be changed that weighs favor of grantg gay people protected-class legal stat, as we do for other groups intifiable by thgs they n’t change (e.

SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FALLY UNLOCKED PUZZLE OF WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY

Bee if ’s a choice that also weighs agast creatg laws to protect gay qutn, then, is twofold: 1]is sexual orientatn nate, and 2]n be changed? E., how a person be gay), here is what our leadg profsnal stutns have nclud:Amerin Psychologil Associatn: “There is no nsens among scientists about the exact reasons that an dividual velops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lbian orientatn. It's a big fantasy for many gay men to fd a straight guy and have him fall love wh you to where he out so that you n be together.

One thg I'll say is that both s, the formerly married guy is very good-lookg and mascule and the gay partner much ls Anonymoreply 22June 3, 2020 9:12 PM. I was cur bee is a fairly mon theme the stori you'll fd someplace like Nifty Archive, which for better or worse, do provi a wdow to gay men's Anonymoreply 3November 2, 2015 2:42 AM.

I serly doubt they were genuely straight, but I've been wh guys who were married to women and I know plenty of other gay men who have, tooby Anonymoreply 7November 2, 2015 3:01 AM.

CAN SCTN MAKE STRAIGHT MEN GAY?

Of urse I've been attracted to dividual straight guys that I wished were gay but I've never had this fantasy about "turng straight guys.

[quote]One thg I'll say is that both s, the formerly married guy is very good-lookg and mascule and the gay partner much ls Jt go away, you self loathg Anonymoreply 10November 2, 2015 3:15 AM. If a married man is seekg gay sex, falls love wh another man, and leav his wife - he was always gay and jt not g to terms wh .

When characters are gay or lbian - or have had some signifint same-sex experienc - screenwrers sometim sistep those facets of their stori entirely when to the big third chapter Jam Jon' World War II novel, origally published 1962, picts a green-behd-the ears Corporal Fife bunkg a shelter tent next to Private Bead, a fellow member of Charlie Company, durg a ray night. “Well, dont you get the ia I am, eher, ” Fife had urty of Giant BombThe tle character Mel Gibson's directorial but, also played by Gibson, was origally gay Isabelle Holland's 1972 novel.

HOW DO I KNOW I’M NOT REALLY GAY/STRAIGHT?

"The fact that the (McLeod) character was gay was prohibive sellg the book, " Holland's book agent Lisa Callamaro told the Los Angel Tim urty of The Tim UKIan Flemg's seventh 007 book has Psy Galore nng an outf of lbian t burglars.

In sectn 16 of the novella, Holly Golightly (played by Audrey Hepburn on film) referred to him as a "M"—which was unrstood the gay unrworld at the time as slang for male urty of Hero ComplexWrer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons' archetypil Batman character had a soft spot for his partner crime, Ne Owl, although was never explic ( is, however, the subject of much fan speculatn). The tails of the Illois boys' relatnship have been highly ntted for years, although Lln screenwrer Tony Khner stated an terview that, after the six years he spent workg on the script for Steven Spielberg, "there is some reason to speculate that Lln might have been bisexual or gay.

IS THERE SUCH A THG AS GAY (OR STRAIGHT) PORN?

” Many people, cludg sex rearchers and scientists, believe that sexual orientatn is like a sle wh entirely gay on one end and entirely straight on the other. Posn statements of the major mental health anizatns the Uned Stat state that there is no scientific evince that a homosexual sexual orientatn n be changed by psychotherapy, often referred to as "reparative therapy.

" This study tted the hypothis that some dividuals whose sexual orientatn is predomantly homosexual n, wh some form of reparative therapy, bee predomantly heterosexual.

The participants were 200 self-selected dividuals (143 mal, 57 femal) who reported at least some mimal change om homosexual to heterosexual orientatn that lasted at least 5 years. They were terviewed by telephone, g a stctured terview that asssed same sex attractn, fantasy, yearng, and overt homosexual behavr. The majory of participants gave reports of change om a predomantly or exclively homosexual orientatn before therapy to a predomantly or exclively heterosexual orientatn the past year.