Abnormal, Wrong, Unnatural and Perverse
Try not to laugh, because this really is serious:
And it only gets worse.
No, really. Benjamin Unger testified about ... well ... right.
The classic examples of sublimation as ego defense are pretty straightforward; becoming a boxer because one likes to fight, and prizefighting makes that behavior acceptable; Freud went even further to suggest some surgeons of his day undertook that profession because they enjoyed cutting other people open.
This, however, is the twenty-first century, and as conversion therapies for homosexuality draw more and more attention, we see that it is really nothing more than a massive, sublimated sex fantasy.
In what Universe is sexual molestation considered therapeutic?
When the Gay Fray arrived at my doorstep over twenty years ago, we were asked to declare that homosexuality was abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse.
And where are we now, in 2015? Oranges, baby powder, handcuffs and duct tape.
Because, you know, these are essential elements of molesting homosexuals for their own therapeutic benefit.
We've known about rape culture for a long time, but look how far people are willing to take it in the name of religious freedom.
Or, you know, why is it that the most damaging anti-gay bigots so often turn out to be closet cases?
____________________
Notes:
Shapiro, Lila. "'Oranges, Baby Powder, Handcuffs And Duct Tape': Inside The Trial That May End The Gay 'Cure'". The Huffington Post. 12 June 2015. HuffingtonPost.com. 12 June 2015. http://huff.to/1I9dc8B
Try not to laugh, because this really is serious:
JONAH, or Jews Offering New Alternatives For Healing, is a counseling center that offers a controversial service. Through a variety of "scientific" techniques referred to by the vaguely Orwellian name of "Psycho-Educational Model for Healing Homosexuality," JONAH claims to help gay men become straight. For the next several weeks, a jury in New Jersey, where JONAH is based, will hear―at times in excruciating detail―about the practices that constitute this ostensible treatment. "Many of these processes involve nudity," David Dinielli, a lawyer for the Southern Poverty Law Center who is representing the plaintiffs, said at the outset of the trial. "Some involve cuddling between older counselors and young men, and some involve various props such as oranges, baby powder, handcuffs and duct tape."
No, this is not a gay spin-off of Fifty Shades of Grey. Welcome to the bizarro world of conversion therapy―and to a case that is shaping up to be its death knell.
The case, Ferguson v. JONAH, stems from a 2012 lawsuit filed by Unger, three other young men and two of their mothers. The plaintiffs have accused JONAH of fraudulently claiming its services could "cure" a person's sexual orientation. Although the mainstream mental health establishment firmly supports the plaintiffs' view that sexuality can't be changed through therapy, the defense argues that the plaintiffs left too soon to achieve the promised results. Unger was told his treatment would take two to four years. After a year, more depressed and anxious than when he started, and just as attracted to men, he dropped out. Charles LiMandri, the defense attorney, compared him and the other plaintiffs to unsuccessful dieters who drop out of Weight Watchers.
(Shapiro↱)
No, this is not a gay spin-off of Fifty Shades of Grey. Welcome to the bizarro world of conversion therapy―and to a case that is shaping up to be its death knell.
The case, Ferguson v. JONAH, stems from a 2012 lawsuit filed by Unger, three other young men and two of their mothers. The plaintiffs have accused JONAH of fraudulently claiming its services could "cure" a person's sexual orientation. Although the mainstream mental health establishment firmly supports the plaintiffs' view that sexuality can't be changed through therapy, the defense argues that the plaintiffs left too soon to achieve the promised results. Unger was told his treatment would take two to four years. After a year, more depressed and anxious than when he started, and just as attracted to men, he dropped out. Charles LiMandri, the defense attorney, compared him and the other plaintiffs to unsuccessful dieters who drop out of Weight Watchers.
(Shapiro↱)
And it only gets worse.
No, really. Benjamin Unger testified about ... well ... right.
For the first two days of the trial, Unger sat in the witness box and recounted the details of his experience. He recalled beating an effigy of his mother with a tennis racquet until his hands were bleeding. He recalled his therapist, Alan Downing, a named defendant in the suit, asking him to undress during a therapy session. (Unger said he took his shirt off, but fled when Downing asked him to remove his pants.) And he recalled Downing asking him in detail about his erections. According to Unger, Downing asserted that Unger's erections were caused not by an ongoing attraction to men but by a sort of unconscious memory of past attractions. Eliciting an audible gasp from the courtroom, Unger testified that Downing likened these erections to what happens when "your nephew sits on your lap."
The classic examples of sublimation as ego defense are pretty straightforward; becoming a boxer because one likes to fight, and prizefighting makes that behavior acceptable; Freud went even further to suggest some surgeons of his day undertook that profession because they enjoyed cutting other people open.
This, however, is the twenty-first century, and as conversion therapies for homosexuality draw more and more attention, we see that it is really nothing more than a massive, sublimated sex fantasy.
In what Universe is sexual molestation considered therapeutic?
Four states have already banned licensed therapists from offering the service to minors, and many more are considering similar laws. Last month, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) introduced legislation known as the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, which is based in part on the lawsuit against JONAH. If passed, the law would classify conversion therapy as a fraudulent practice that would be illegal under the Federal Trade Commission Act. The law would also ban all advertising that claims the therapy can successfully change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.
Before the trial even began, the judge for the case, Peter Bariso Jr. of the Hudson County Superior Court, issued a damning ruling: Five out of six of JONAH's proposed expert witnesses are barred from testifying at the trial because their opinions are based on the belief that homosexuality is a mental disorder. "The theory that homosexuality is a disorder," Bariso wrote, "is not novel but―like the notion that the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it―instead is outdated and refuted."
Before the trial even began, the judge for the case, Peter Bariso Jr. of the Hudson County Superior Court, issued a damning ruling: Five out of six of JONAH's proposed expert witnesses are barred from testifying at the trial because their opinions are based on the belief that homosexuality is a mental disorder. "The theory that homosexuality is a disorder," Bariso wrote, "is not novel but―like the notion that the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it―instead is outdated and refuted."
When the Gay Fray arrived at my doorstep over twenty years ago, we were asked to declare that homosexuality was abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse.
And where are we now, in 2015? Oranges, baby powder, handcuffs and duct tape.
Because, you know, these are essential elements of molesting homosexuals for their own therapeutic benefit.
We've known about rape culture for a long time, but look how far people are willing to take it in the name of religious freedom.
Or, you know, why is it that the most damaging anti-gay bigots so often turn out to be closet cases?
____________________
Notes:
Shapiro, Lila. "'Oranges, Baby Powder, Handcuffs And Duct Tape': Inside The Trial That May End The Gay 'Cure'". The Huffington Post. 12 June 2015. HuffingtonPost.com. 12 June 2015. http://huff.to/1I9dc8B