Date: Sun, 29 Jan 1995 13:38:53 -0500 From: David B. O'Donnell To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS Subject: New Book, Old Myths: "Homosexuality: A Guide for Parents and Teachers" [ Send all responses to James.Butler@EDUC.UTAS.EDU.AU only. Any responses to the list or list-owners will be returned to you. ] Is anyone familiar with the British Psychiatrist Joan Gomez? Our university library's meagre queer studies section has recently been graced with the addition of her __Homosexuality: A Guide for Parents and Teachers__ (1994: London, Robert Hale). I don't recall seeing this horror of pseudo-science discussed on any lists before. It is, though, worth being aware of this book. While packaged as a sympathetic guide for the caring and concerned, it is likely destined to be a minor classic in the literature of homophobia, sub-genre absurd. Perhaps even the cover signals her intentions. It features a male symbol, a female symbol, and a male symbol in a citrusy hot pink (a lovely accent color, really) with the arrow turned into the circle (perhaps suggesting penetration or at least one of those ubiquitous "No _____" signs). Dr. Gomez re-roasts all the old etiological chestnuts: absent father, over-bearing father, weak father, over-bearing mother, poor body image, excessive physical beauty (male only), corruptingly role models, and loneliness. In her search to explain "whether a less aggressively masculine type of male might be more likely to turn towards homosexuality," since "Gays, after all, have some feminine characteristics: sympathy and interest in the arts and often in cooking and homemaking " (p. 10), she leaves no stone unturned, even entertaining seriously that use of the birth control pill since the 1960s has led to estrogen "getting into the drinking water and feminizing the population" (p.10). This despite the fact that EVERYBODY KNOWS chic and affluent gays always drink mineral water. But wait, there's more. We learn: * "Gay lifestyles lead to an increased likelihood of all the sexually transmitted diseases" (p. 16); * Rats turn to homosexual behaviour when overpopulation is a problem: "It is comparable to the greater population of gays in large cities, such as ancient Rome or modern Bangkok" (p. 17); * "It seems sad that some homosexual men today bemoan the fact that they cannot 'marry' in the disreputable Roman fashion" [__History of Sexuality, Vol. 4__??] (p. 19) * "Some [gays] may sublimate their creative and other emotional potential into academia or, less often, scientific or practical skills. Some of the most inspiring teachers are homosexuals of this group, but others remain embittered and frustrated, and most will be lonely, at times" (p. 27) * "Pale colours and soft materials, such as silk shirts and corduroy are favoured away from work, rather than the austere grey/black of the conventional male. The gay man spends care and money on his clothes, whether elegantly formal or comfortably casual" (p. 47) [Well I used to, but all that's changed since I started ordering from that beefcake catalogue company, CONVENTIONAL MALE. ] * "If you go into a gay bar. . . overtures are marde within a few minutes' conversation, with the explicit expectation that the encounter will include sex" (p. 94) * "The fabric of the gay lifestyle, at any rate up to thirty-five, is made of casual encounters involving sex with a stranger" (p. 104). [As opposed to fabric of austere grey and black, I suppose] * About how young men get into the lifestyle: "Once tried, the more sophisticated lifestyle with clothes, holidays, concerts, and theatre, and perhaps a yacht, is difficult to abandon" (pp. 94-95). [ I think Dr. Gomez has young gays confused with the Duchess of York here....but given the colours she wears, perhaps it's an understandable mistake!] * The big item missing from the homosexual act is the absence of creativity. In heterosex, there is the possibility, risk, or hope of generating a new human being, plus a huge ongoing responsibility. . . .Homosexual intercourse, by contrast, is a mere pastime" (p. 113). [And on a rainy Saturday afternoon when the ABC isn't broadcasting an opera, what else could you do?] Well, you get the idea. Three things make this book particularly alarming to me. First, it has a superficial tone of unctuous concern that may lead some among its target audience of parents and teachers actually to buy and believe it. Second, it was purchased by a UNIVERSITY library. Not only is this a lamentable squandering of scarce resources, but, in a hostile environment like this state, young persons in inital stages of coming out may form erroneous impressions based on clandestine reading of this piece. And finally, it was published in 1994. A quarter-century ago, I could have believed such things would make their way into print. Somebody must be reading and believing these things. Well, move over Midge Decter. I guess homophobia and hypocricy can make strange bedfellows in 1995 as well as 1971.