This is Bullshit, even most of the first year psych majors at the college I go to will say it's bullshit.

an account from someone who tried to cure their Gayness


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDn7cEgxvtg


and a couple of Australians making fun of Conversion Therapists


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVKr2UoTtEI

I have teh psych skillz, and yes utter **** in craptacular fashion. I actually loled when I saw the rubber band bit in the sketch, conditioning ftl.

So homosexuality is a disease now?

A question to the men in white coats out there.

Would it be possible to “cure” someone of sexuality as a whole?

Would this just cause them to lose interest in their gender of choice, cause them to still be interested just not in a way related to intercourse, or drive them to other behavior ala Jeff Dahmer?

Would a castration “cure” lead to more deviant behavior or less?

Also if anyone can point me to a paper on this topic that doesn’t require accesses to an academic database I would appreciate it.

Theres definitely research out there on it. Will try have a look later. I believe eunachs(sp?) become almost non sexual beings I think. You can brainwash people to extreme levels as well. Quite a while ago they invented a treatment for people with multiple personalities, which involved actually destroying the personalities but they decided it was unfair as you couldnt really know which was the real personality. Or if any were any less real than others. I think it was a case study of a woman called Eve.

This is Bullshit, even most of the first year psych majors at the college I go to will say it's bullshit.

an account from someone who tried to cure their Gayness


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDn7cEgxvtg


and a couple of Australians making fun of Conversion Therapists


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVKr2UoTtEI

LOL I'm a first year psych major and yeah it's utter BS. You don't need psych though, just logic. I'd higly doubt someone could "cure" me of my heterosexuality and make me start fucking other guys. By that logic I assume it's the same for gays.

The only correct answer is "You can't 'cure' someone of something that is not a disorder". Whether it can be altered or not is irrelevant. Whether there is a genetic component or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is whether homosexuality is somehow inherently problematic (I say 'inherently' because obviously, being homosexual can be problematic due to persecution and discrimination) -- whether it is a bad thing; and except for insecure assholes and religious nutjobs, no one seems to argue that it is so; nor have I ever heard a single cogent argument to that effect; nor can I imagine one will ever be made.

The ONLY reason that it's "problematic" in our current society is due to religion. Oh, if only those religious nutsucks out there realized that there is really no biblical basis for the castigation of gays:

Unless, of course, you say that you cannot wear blended fabrics, that slavery is perfectly okay as long as you don't kill your slave, that disabled people cannot work for God, that eating lobsters and crab is sin, that bats are a type of bird, and that the price of raping an unmarried virgin is that you have to marry her and give her daddy some money. Other than that, most of the biblical verses "about" homosexuality are vague, dealing with prostitution, or completely made-up.

Some analysis:

Deuteronomy 23:17-- There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. (KJV)

The word being translated as "sodomite" is Qadesh. This means temple prostitute. Is is also worth noting that "sodomite" used to refer to anything besides missionary position sex that was for procreation. That means that getting a bj'er used to be called sodomy. So was doggy-style.

Sodom and Gomorrah-- Sodom was not destroyed due to homosexuality. If you actually study the passages, as well as numerous later commentaries within the bible itself, it was destroyed because they DID NOT TREAT VISITORS WELL. Jude is the only book that mentions possible "homosexuality" in Sodom, but it never actually says that. It says that they died for wanting "heteras sarkas", meaning other flesh, as in they wanted do stuff with angels. Nowhere else in the bible does it ever bring this up, and instead says that the people of Sodom were mean, didn't treat people well, and were not giving to those who needed it.

Another interesting point. The "know" that the people of Sodom asked about (to "know the angels) does not mean sex. The word is "yada", and it means the same thing that it meant in Seinfeld.

Dagon

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Petter: I agree quite strongly that you can't cure something that isn't a problem, but looking at homosexuality as a strictly evolutionary asset, it does seem to be as a "problem" of sorts. Clearly one who cannot reproduce is "inferior" in terms of carrying on their genes. I don't advocate for a second the idea of "curing" homosexuality, but I think people often get caught up in being politically correct, and overlook what could be an interesting topic to study in quite a few different ways. This is a bit beside the point, but something I that I think is rarely looked at. I'd bet that most people who want to "cure" homosexuality have never met anyone gay or lesbian.


The ONLY reason that it's "problematic" in our current society is due to religion. Oh, if only those religious nutsucks out there realized that there is really no biblical basis for the castigation of gays.

I really don't think it's the ONLY reason. I am about as far from a religious apologist as you can get (see the god debate thread), but I get the sense that a large number of people are opposed to homosexuality because it makes them insecure. "Gay" isn't only a pejorative in highly religious circles. That said, I think many or most are indoctrinated into thinking homosexuality is immoral and/or sinful by religious organizations (particularly when young).

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Okay, am I the one who has their dislike of Westboro and associates octupled by their post?

P.S. If this has attracted on of you Westboro types, please publish my letter drawing comparisons between Christianity and Islam and looking at research into homosexuality done on homosexuals who have donated their cadavers to science. It's taken you almost a year and you're being very inefficient.

while it seems silly to try and "cure" homosexuality, there is definitely some merit to the idea of changing a persons sexuality. In the cases of pedophilia or bestiality, for example, while quite different from homosexuality are really just different sexual orientation.

Also, Gypsy, you referred to Homosexuality as being an evolutionary trait, is there any evidence that this is so? I am of the belief that sexuality is not predetermined before birth but "learned" during the early stages of development on a subconcious level. Before people start jumping all over me in regards to this, I have absolutely nothing against homosexuality of any sort, but am very curious as to the nature of sexual orientation and sexual desire in general.

jaroge; it has been proven that castrated paedophiles no longer desire sexual interaction with children although to have it done they have to volunteer :)

as a lesbian i find the whole 'homosexual rehabilitation' distressing. there have been perfectly healthy young people who have been sent to one of these facilities to be brainwashed against their natural feelings and end up becoming emotionally weird.

watch the film 'but i'm a cheerleader'.

jaroge; it has been proven that castrated paedophiles no longer desire sexual interaction with children although to have it done they have to volunteer :)

as a lesbian i find the whole 'homosexual rehabilitation' distressing. there have been perfectly healthy young people who have been sent to one of these facilities to be brainwashed against their natural feelings and end up becoming emotionally weird.

watch the film 'but i'm a cheerleader'.

I am not really sure what your point is, however, where has it been "proven" that castrated pedophiles no longer desire children? I would be very interested to see that study. If that is true, that is great, but I suspect that even if I were castrated, I would still long for sex with a woman, I fail to see why it would be any different for a pedophile. Do you find it distressing for people to try and rehabilitate pedophiles and necrophiles as well? or is it that your sexual orientation makes you touchy on the subject. This is not meant to be a slight against you.

Since castration would wreak havoc on your sex hormone production, I think it is almost inevitable that your libido would be (negatively) affected.

This is Bullshit, even most of the first year psych majors at the college I go to will say it's bullshit.[/URL]

I hope you realize that this statement proves jack ****.

Only because first year psych majors don't believe it doesn't mean it cannot happen.

First of all, it is unlikely that homosexuality is genetic. No one should need convincing of this. Natural selection anyone? Some Charles Darwin maybe? A trait which is not favorable for reproduction or survival (in this case reproduction) is likely to 'die out' (so to speak) with the passage of time.

Secondly, homosexuality can be caused environmentally. For example, people with homosexual experiences in childhood and in puberty can become gay. [url=http://www.familyresearchinst.org/Default.aspx?tabid=75][1] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVKr2UoTtEI)

On the other hand, I will agree that it *is* possible to be born gay (although I don't think it could possibly be genetic). I have heard of instances where certain children are born gay due to the environment in the mother's womb (for example, the mother could be allergic to elevated levels of testosterone).

Anyways, so what was the point of me writing the above? It is, theoretically, possible to be 'cured' of homosexuality... as long as it is a psychological problem and not a biological (environment in womb) one.