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- Path: sparky!uunet!biosci!agate!darkstar.UCSC.EDU!orchid.UCSC.EDU!stephen
- From: stephen@orchid.UCSC.EDU (x4604 (Hauskins))
- Newsgroups: ca.politics,ba.politics
- Subject: Re: More Evidence That Homosexuality... (too long)
- Summary: Problems with interpretations.
- Message-ID: <1ee73sINNqtb@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>
- Date: 18 Nov 92 19:55:40 GMT
- References: <13214@optilink.UUCP> <197503@ipl.jpl.nasa.gov> <102464@bu.edu>
- Organization: Santa Cruz
- Lines: 129
- NNTP-Posting-Host: orchid.ucsc.edu
-
- Here is my interpretation (IMHO) of the first paragraph presented
- by Clayton Cramer in his post that revolves around the same issue.
-
- >Clayton's Post-
-
- > In a study of forty-four sexually abused boys, Rogers and
- > Terry (1984) found that those who had experienced homo-
- > sexual abuse displayed confusion and anxiety over their
- > sexual identity.
-
- This seems reasonable, since childern would be incapable of
- making a clear analysis of what has happened to them. They are
- also in a mental conflict which arises out of socialization to
- what are considered the norms for sexual activity.
-
- > The authors theorize that this confusion
- > stemmed from the boys' concern over both the reasons for
- > their selection as a victim, such as the possibility that
- > latent homosexual qualities were recognized by the abuser,
- > and their inadequate resistance to the abuse.
-
- Now this could have several meanings- latent homosexual qualiites,
- in other words, interest in sex and interest in other males, somewhat
- normal for childern and young boys. And an abuser who saw their
- interest and acted on it. Now inadequate resistance could mean
- a few things- their curiousity was greater than their mental
- resistance, or they were physically unable to resist.
-
- Also in the above part they seem to indicate that there are other
- reasons for the confusion that boys experience, but they only tell
- us one. So when I look at the one indicated 'latent homosexual
- qualities' it almost appears as though they are saying this is
- what the boys reported to them as feelings they were having.
-
- Does this mean that these boys are exhibiting the desire for and
- interest in homosexual relationships? And does it mean that the
- abuser was able to detect and see these desires? And so what
- we actually have are boys who may have the desire already, and
- abusers who see and act on it.
-
- > Gundlach (1977) reports that ten of eighteen women abused as girls
- > by strangers, and sixteen of seventeen of those abused by
- > family members, had chosen a homosexual lifestyle.
-
- Well this is fairly straight forward in meaning and it may simply indicate
- a manifestation of fear in women who were abused by males. This manifestation
- causes them to feel secure and comfortable in relationships with other
- women. Also note the age of this part 1977- there have been many studies
- since that have in fact demostrated problems with older studies because of
- the bias in the researchers and poor study methodologies.
-
- > Along similar lines, Bess and Janssen (1982) note that three
- > of the five molested male psychiatric patients whom they
- > interviewed had an ego-dystonic homosexual orientation
- > -- that is, homosexuality was not the orientation they
- > wanted. (Ego-syntonic homosexuality, by contrast, is
- > an orientation the person enjoys and wants.) It is curious,
- > however, that sexual experiences with a man might lead both
- > boys and girls to a homosexual orientation later in life.
-
- Note here they say 'psychiatric patients', these are people who
- have problems 'sexual' and probably others, stemming from what
- we do not know... since they did expand on the scope of mental
- problems that these 'patients' were exhibiting. Note in the previous
- paragraph when they researchers were commenting on the women they
- made no mention of them as 'psychiatric patients'.
-
- > If the mechanism for girls is that they develop a dislike
- > for sexual activity with those of the same sex as their
- > abuser, one would expect that the same mechanism would
- > cause seuxally abused boys to develop an even stronger
- > heterosexual orientation than the rest of the population.
- > As yet, there is no explanation for this apparent
- > contradiction.[Jeffrey J. Haugaard and N. Dickon Reppuci,
- > _The Sexual Abuse of Children: A Comprehensive Guide to
- > Current Knowledge and Intervention Strategies_, (San
- > Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers: 1989), 71.]
-
- > What's interesting about this passage is the admission that
- > there appears to be a connection between child sexual abuse
- > and adult homosexuality, and yet, the authors can't come up
- > with a model to explain it -- but that doesn't prevent them
- > from acknowledging that a correlation exists.
- >--
- >Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer My opinions, all mine!
-
- So they made an 'admission' that there appears to be a connection
- between child sexual abuse and adult homosexuality? It appears to
- me what they are doing is reporting findings about their test subjects
- and what they did to deal with their sexual abuse as childern. As far
- as the lack of a model goes, they were refering to the contradiction
- as outlined in the above part of the passage.
-
- I also find interesting that the researchers used 'latent homosexual
- qualities' that either or both victim and abuser, acknowledged or
- saw, respectively. What this seems to indicate is that as far as
- boys were concerned, that they may have had latent (hidden) desires
- for homosexual activity.
-
- My conclusion from the paragraph posted by Clayton Cramer.
-
- Sexual abuse does not lead to homosexuality in adults. Bold statement,
- yes, becuase if we read the above very carefully we see that there are
- indications that the boys involved may have already had inclinations
- towards being homosexual. Why? well you will notice that not all abused
- boys ( abused by males ) become homosexual. With the girls we see that
- they strongly polarized away from heterosexual adult relationships, becuase
- of the feeling of security and haven within a relationship with another
- women. And women face a different type of abuse it ranges from sexual to
- mental to societal. They are treated as inferior to men, and men who
- abuse girls are looking for a sense of power and identity for their own
- failed egos and mentality. These men will also attack boys for many of
- the same reasons. And there is no doubt that there exist men who wish
- to have sex with boys because of a myriad of other reasons relating to
- issues of self worth and self control combined with a low self esteem.
- And because they are Pedophiles, not heterosexual, not homosexual, not
- asexual.
-
- Can sexual abuse disrupt sexual maturation processes? Of course, and it
- doesn't matter if you started out with an inclination towards being
- heterosexual or homosexual.
-
- What we need to see and realize is what the initial inclination of the child is
- sexually. It is the subjection to sexual abuse that causes distortion and
- disruption of the sexual identity process, and in that lies the mental
- and emotional problems of the victim. We must also remember that many of the
- subjects involved in clinical studies tend to have a wide scope of mental
- and emotional problems that have stemmed from many other sources besides
- sexual abuse.
-