Homosexuality(part3)

As a historic evidence Carl F Worden mentions three cases that Anna Freud, Sigmund’s daughter, reported of recovery of gay persons in 1940; he also mentions many gays and lesbian who have decided and succeeded in changing their sexual orientation and many of them have married with each other and are raising families; then he asks “if homosexuality is so natural and people are born into it, why can this “recovery” be possible?” It has always been claimed by those who oppose homosexuality that a special kind of event in gay persons’ lives or the way they have been brought up has played the major role for them to go this way. Eric Marcus talks about how he became the target of labeling with the word faggot one summer (2). Later in the same page he talks about a handsome and confident student who “did [. . .] help dispel all the myths [he] had grown up with[…]”, which shows the role of an unpleasant event and education in forming his sexuality at the same time. There is no doubt that education is a major factor in forming person’s sexual orientation. Alfred Kinsey developed a seven-point rating for sexual orientation. Every body is placed in one point of this scale with zero for completely heterosexuals and seven for completely homosexuals (Marcus 5). Considering this scale we can easily see how education can play a crucial role in determining the sexuality of those who are somewhere in the middle of the scale. In fact what is happening today is quite the opposite. Those who are in the middle of the scale find it hard to decide which way to go, because they are left to themselves to decide. They are oscillating between two extremes without knowing which one to choose. Biological factors or nature and psychological environment or nurture combine to influence our actions, thoughts and feelings. We are the most genetically indeterminate of all animals. The decisive role of education has been shown in training identical twins who are literally the same biologically. Education can yield unbelievable results when used properly from childhood. When we don’t agree ourselves on what is wrong and what is right, we cannot have a consistent education and any kind of training loses most of its credibility this way. This is what is happening today .My point here is that we cannot go where we are going with this excuse that education hasn’t done much in this area. What has happened for years has had a confusing effect on homosexuals instead of helping them. We should be honest with others and ourselves. The first step in treating an illness is recognizing it ; if we don’t truly believe something as an illness, we will never do our best to cure it. What has happened for centuries was to reject homosexuals and treat them as untouchables. They were regarded so corrupt to deal with. Now we have the same attitude but only from a different kind. We are not helping them, but this time because we don’t look at it as a problem. The feelings of disgust and abhorrence towards gay people should change to sympathy and help. This will have the effect of allowing them to talk about their problem and seek help and makes others willing to help them instead of rejecting them. We cannot expect them to change without giving them their due social and medical helps.
(posted by Farid)
Posted:Friday, April 11, 2003 |