What if there was a "cure"? Part 2

[Cecilie1200]

I don't know if homosexuality is a mental illness. It was classified that way for years. I don't know the reasoning that was behind changing it.

It was removed because it isn't a mental illness and the old prejudice-based catagorization was removed after the Kinsey Report was released.

sorry it no longer exists for you.

The DSM IV does still list gender dysphasia, though.

First of all, Mensa Girl, the Kinsey Report came out in 1948 (male) and 1953 (female). The DSM was changed in 1973. So no, it wasn't because the Kinsey Report was released. Second of all, Kinsey's reports were so much insane, unscientific, agenda-driven bullshit, which everyone but you and a handful of other morons knows.

 

[Cecilie1200]

It was removed because it isn't a mental illness and the old prejudice-based catagorization was removed after the Kinsey Report was released.

Kinsey's stuff is junk. Like the estimate you hear thrown around all the time about 10% being homosexual. No way that's a reliable estimate. If you go to Kinsey Reports: Encyclopedia II - Kinsey Reports - Criticism you can see what statistcians thought of his methodology. A quote:

"In 1948, the same year as the original publication, a committee of the American Statistical Association, including notable statisticians such as John Tukey condemned the sampling procedure. Tukey was perhaps the most vocal critic, saying "A random selection of three people would have been better than a group of 300 chosen by Mr. Kinsey" [1]. Criticism principally revolved around the perceived over-representation of some groups in the sample: 25% were, or had been, prison inmates, and 5% were male prostitutes. A related criticism, by some of the leading psychologists of the day, notably Abraham Maslow was that he did not consider the bias created by the data representing only those who were willing to participate."

There's some discussion of how others claimed to have "cleaned up" Kinsey's sample. But you can't do that. You have to have a legitimate probability sample to make estimates like Kinsey made to begin with.

Oh, wouldn't it be nice if the worst thing about Kinsey's "research" was that it concentrated so heavily on prison inmates! Unfortunately, there's also the fact that Kinsey actually encouraged pedophiles to molest children and then send him reports about the results. Yeah, THERE'S the sample group we want to measure average human sexuality against.

 

[Gurdari]

From my conversations with the big guy (Gunny ), i think I'm ok to start this up again. I think this is proof that the moderation on this board is fair and if you just talk with them before going nuts you can sometimes get things fixed without the drama.

So... can we please try to have this discussion again, but keep the focus on the possibilities and ethics of it and not your personal opinions about me and my motivation for starting the discussion? I would be very appreciative.

That said...

What if there were a medical solution for homosexuality? This could take many forms. Maybe it could cure an adult, or maybe it could be done pre-natally. Maybe it would only a short term fix and required ongoing therapy to make "stick". In any case what I'm talking about would be voluntary for an adult or at the discretion of a parent for a child.

So... would you be in favor of any or all of these methods and why or why not?

Discuss.

Well, making that available for those people who desired seems okay. You'd be essentially allowing freedom to choose... as for injecting your unborn child with hormones or whatever, to make sure they weren't gay... tougher.

Then again, we could respect each other more and then it wouldn't matter who was hetero or not. I will start holding my breath.

 

[mattskramer]

Some people are not happy to be gay. For them it is a problem. Some people don't like their noses, or their love handles or their natural hair color.

I agree. Your comment is a simple enough answer to the question. People who think that they have a problem, because they are sexually attracted to people of the same sex, will likely take the “cure” (for lack of a better term). Other people, who see no problem with their sexual preference toward people of the same sex, will not seek this "cure". It is as simple as that. I don’t see an issue with this topic.

 

[Amanda]

Some people are not happy to be gay. For them it is a problem. Some people don't like their noses, or their love handles or their natural hair color.

I agree. Your comment is a simple enough answer to the question. People who think that they have a problem, because they are sexually attracted to people of the same sex, will likely take the “cure” (for lack of a better term). Other people, who see no problem with their sexual preference toward people of the same sex, will not seek this "cure". It is as simple as that. I don’t see an issue with this topic.

Which is sort of the point, isn't it?

Some people are happy to let others have choices, others have agendas they will push even if it means others don't get to have choices.

I don't find it comforting to know they are out there ready to save people from themselves.