Histsex archives April 2000 I

HISTSEX ARCHIVES: 1-18 April 2000

NB During this month there were various server problems, thus the chronological sequence is not consistent and some messages may appear twice.

From: "Rikki Wilde" <rikki.wilde@student.adelaide.edu.au>

Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 00:43:37 GMT

Subject: gay men lesbians and psychology/psychiatry

Hi everyone, this is just to intoduce myself and call on your expertise. My

name is Rikki Wilde, I am a graduate student at the University of Adelaide,

South Australia and I am currently engaged in writing a PhD thesis about HIV/AIDS,

gender and sexuality, theory and cultural significations.

I have a particular interest at the moment in the stories of gay men and women

and their experiences with psychiatry and psychology. I have read the pioneering

work of the gay historian Martin Duberman and his memoirs, "Cures". I wonder

if anyone could tell me about academic journal articles concerning pschiatry

and homosexuality, especially from history or cultural studies perspective?

I have been reading lately about Irving Bieber and Charles Socarides and aversion

therapy. Many thanks in advance, Rikki Wilde.

___________________________________________________________________

Date: Sun, 2 Apr 2000 21:04:00 -0700 (PDT)

From: Lisa Diguardi <diguardi@yahoo.com>

Subject: Re: gay men lesbians and psychology/psychiatry

If you haven't already, check www.haworthpressinc.com.

The Journal of Homosexuality has had many articles on

psychology, and Vol 36 Number 1 1998 has a great

article on the history of reparative therapy. They

also have a journal called Journal of Gay and Lesbian

Psychotherapy.

-Lisa

___________________________________________________________________From: "Lesley Hall"<lesleyah@primex.co.uk>

Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 09:28:43 gmt

Subject: Re: gay men lesbians and psychology/psychiatry

Rikki Wilde wrote

>I have a particular interest at the moment in the stories of gay men and women

>and their experiences with psychiatry and psychology.

Professor Michael King of the Royal Free Hospital has recently received funding

to investigate psychiatric 'treatment' of gay men and women in the UK post-World

War II. I must mention this list to him!

Lesley Hall

lesleyah@primex.co.uk

homepage: http://homepages.primex.co.uk/~lesleyah

___________________________________________________________________Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2000 11:11:10 +0100

From: cristina santos <cristina@sonata.fe.uc.pt>

Subject: Re: gay men lesbians and psychology/psychiatry

Rikki Wilde wrote:

>I have a particular interest at the moment in the stories of gay men and

women

>and their experiences with psychiatry and psychology.

You'll probably know this one, but just in case take a look at the web page

of The Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists (AGLP)

http://www.aglp.org/

And, please, do keep us informed on the results of your research!

Best wishes,

Cris

Ana Cristina Santos

Centre for Social Studies

Apartado 3087

3001-401 Coimbra - Portugal

Phone 00 351 239855583

___________________________________________________________________

Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2000 18:31:56 +0200

From: "Erik O. Ruendal" <erik@ruendal.tue.bawue.de>

Subject: Der Arbeitskreis fuer interdisziplinaere Maennerforschung (AIM Gender)

Histsex:For historians of sexuality - http://homepages.primex.co.uk/~lesleyah

Sorry for cross-postings and the German-only text. There is information

in English available on the web-site.

Best wishes, Erik Ruendal.

Der Arbeitskreis fuer interdisziplinaere Maennerforschung (AIM

Gender) stellt sich vor:

Maennlichkeit, maennliche Macht, Maennerbuende - in allen kultur-,

geschichts- und sozialwissenschaftlichen Disziplinen nehmen die

Bemuehungen zu, die Kategorie _gender_ in ihrer doppelten Bedeutung

zu untersuchen. Im Juli 1999 ist in Stuttgart ein Arbeitskreis

entstanden, der sich die interdiziplinaere Vernetzung der disparaten

Forschungsprojekte - zunaechst vor allem im deutschsprachigen Raum -

zum Ziel gemacht hat. Er ist offen fuer interessierte

Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler der Kultur-, Geschichts-

und Sozialwissenschaften und strebt eine Kooperation mit schon

bestehenden Netzwerken in diesen Faechern zur Geschlechterforschung

an. Die foermliche Konstitution des Arbeitskreises soll anlaesslich

eines thematisch offenen, mehrtaegigen Kolloquiums im Fruehjahr 2001

in Stuttgart erfolgen.

Wer Interesse an der Mitwirkung hat, kann sich mit PD Dr. Martin

Dinges, Institut fuer Geschichte der Medizin der Robert Bosch

Stiftung, Straussweg 17, D-70184 Stuttgart in Verbindung setzen.

Email: Martin.Dinges@igm-bosch.de

Die Homepage des Arbeitskreises koennen Sie unter

http://www.ruendal.de/aim/gender.html

besuchen.

Mit freundlichen Gruessen, Erik Ruendal.

___________________________________________________________________

From: "Rictor Norton" <norton@rictor.freeserve.co.uk>

Subject: Re: gay men lesbians and psychology/psychiatry

Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 14:17:46 +0100

The Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association approved over

the weekend of 18/19 March 2000 the following position statement by its

Commission on Psychotherapy by Psychiatrists (COPP):

American Psychiatric Association

Commission on Psychotherapy by Psychiatrists (COPP)

Position Statement on Therapies Focused on Attempts to Change Sexual

Orientation (Reparative or Conversion Therapies)

Preamble

In December of 1998, the Board of Trustees issued a position statement

that the American Psychiatric Association opposes any psychiatric

treatment, such as "reparative" or conversion therapy, which is based

upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or

based upon the a priori assumption that a patient should change his/her

sexual homosexual orientation (Appendix 1). In doing so, the APA

joined many other professional organizations that either oppose or are

critical of "reparative" therapies, including the American Academy of

Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American

Psychological Association, The American Counseling Association, and the

National Association of Social Workers (1).

The following Position Statement expands and elaborates upon the

statement issued by the Board of Trustees in order to further address

public and professional concerns about therapies designed to change a

patient's sexual orientation or sexual identity. It augments rather

than replaces the 1998 statement.

Position Statement

In the past, defining homosexuality as an illness buttressed society's

moral opprobrium of same-sex relationships (2). In the current social

climate, claiming homosexuality is a mental disorder stems from efforts

to discredit the growing social acceptance of homosexuality as a normal

variant of human sexuality. Consequently, the issue of changing sexual

orientation has become highly politicized. The integration of gays and

lesbians into the mainstream of American society is opposed by those

who fear that such an integration is morally wrong and harmful to the

social fabric. The political and moral debates surrounding this issue

have obscured the scientific data by calling into question the motives

and even the character of individuals on both sides of the issue. This

document attempts to shed some light on this heated issue.

The validity, efficacy and ethics of clinical attempts to change an

individual's sexual orientation have been challenged (3,4,5,6). To

date, there are no scientifically rigorous outcome studies to determine

either the actual efficacy or harm of reparative treatments. There is

sparse scientific data about selection criteria, risks versus benefits

of the treatment, and long-term outcomes of reparative therapies. The

literature consists of anecdotal reports of individuals who have

claimed to change, people who claim that attempts to change were

harmful to them, and others who claimed to have changed and then later

recanted those claims (7,8,9).

With little data about patients, it is possible to evaluate the

theories which rationalize the conduct of "reparative" or conversion

therapies. Firstly, they are at odds with the scientific position of

the American Psychiatric Association which has maintained, since 1973,

that homosexuality per se, is not a mental disorder. The theories of

"reparative" therapists define homosexuality as either a developmental

arrest, a severe form of psychopathology, or some combination of both

(10-15). In recent years, noted practitioners of "reparative therapy"

have openly integrated older psychoanalytic theories that pathologize

homosexuality with traditional religious beliefs condemning

homosexuality (16,17,18).

The earliest scientific criticisms of the early theories and religious

beliefs informing "reparative" or conversion therapies came primarily

from sexology researchers (19-27). Later, criticisms emerged from

psychoanalytic sources as well (28-39). There has also been an

increasing body of religious thought arguing against traditional,

biblical interpretations that condemn homosexuality and which underlie

religious types of "reparative" therapy (40-46).

Recommendations:

1. APA affirms its 1973 position that homosexuality per se is not a

diagnosable mental disorder. Recent publicized efforts to

repathologize homosexuality by claiming that it can be cured are often

guided not by rigorous scientific or psychiatric research, but

sometimes by religious and political forces opposed to a full civil

rights for gay men and lesbians. APA recommends that the APA respond

quickly and appropriately as a scientific organization when claims that

homosexuality is a curable illness are made by political or religious

groups.

2. As a general principle, a therapist should not determine the goal of

treatment either coercively or through subtle influence.

Psychotherapeutic modalities to convert or "repair" homosexuality are

based on developmental theories whose scientific validity is

questionable. Furthermore, anecdotal reports of "cures" are

counterbalanced by anecdotal claims of psychological harm. In the last

four decades, "reparative" therapists have not produced any rigorous

scientific research to substantiate their claims of cure. Until there

is such research available, APA recommends that ethical practitioners

refrain from attempts to change individuals' sexual orientation,

keeping in mind the medical dictum to First, do no harm.

3. The "reparative" therapy literature uses theories that make it

difficult to formulate scientific selection criteria for their

treatment modality. This literature not only ignores the impact of

social stigma in motivating efforts to cure homosexuality, it is a

literature that actively stigmatizes homosexuality as well.

"Reparative" therapy literature also tends to overstate the treatment's

accomplishments while neglecting any potential risks to patients. APA

encourages and supports research in the NIMH and the academic research

community to further determine "reparative" therapy's risks versus its

benefits.

References

(1) National Association for Research and Treatment of Homosexuality,

(1999), American Counseling Association Passes Resolution to Oppose

Reparative Therapy. NARTH Website

(http://www.narth.com/docs/acaresolution.html).

(2) Bayer, R. (1981), Homosexuality and American Psychiatry; The

Politics of Diagnosis. New York: Basic Books.

(3) Haldeman, D. (1991), Sexual orientation conversion therapy for gay

men and lesbians: A scientific examination. In Homosexuality:

Research Implications for Public Policy, ed. J. C. Gonsiorek & J. D.

Weinrich. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, pp. 149-161.

(4) Haldeman, D. (1994), The practice and ethics of sexual orientation

conversion therapy. J. of Consulting and Clin. Psychol., 62(2):221-227.

(5) Brown, L. S. (1996), Ethical concerns with sexual minority

patients. In: Textbook of Homosexuality and Mental Health. ed. R.

Cabaj & T. Stein. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press, pp.

897-916.

(6) Drescher, J. (1997), What needs changing? Some questions raised by

reparative therapy practices. New York State Psychiatric Society

Bulletin, 40(1):8-10.

(7) Duberman, M. (1991), Cures: A Gay Man's Odyssey. New York: Dutton.

(8) White, M. (1994), Stranger at the Gate: To be Gay and Christian in

America. New York: Simon & Schuster.

(9) Isay, R. (1996), Becoming Gay: The Journey to Self-Acceptance. New

York: Pantheon.

(10) Freud, S. (1905), Three essays on the theory of sexuality.

Standard Edition, 7:123-246. London: Hogarth Press, 1953.

(11) Rado, S. (1940), A critical examination of the concept of

bisexuality. Psychosomatic Medicine, 2:459-467. Reprinted in Sexual

Inversion: The Multiple Roots of Homosexuality, ed. J. Marmor. New

York: Basic Books, 1965, pp. 175-189.

(12) Bieber, I., Dain, H., Dince, P., Drellich, M., Grand, H.,

Gundlach, R., Kremer, M., Rifkin, A., Wilbur, C., & Bieber T. (1962),

Homosexuality: A Psychoanalytic Study. New York: Basic Books.

(13) Socarides, C. (1968), The Overt Homosexual. New York: Grune &

Stratton.

(14) Ovesey, L. (1969), Homosexuality and Pseudohomosexuality. New

York: Science House.

(15) Hatterer, L. (1970), Changing Homosexuality in the Male. New

York: McGraw Hill.

(16) Moberly, E. (1983), Homosexuality: A New Christian Ethic.

Cambridge, UK: James Clarke & Co.

(17) Harvey, J. (1987), The Homosexual Person: New Thinking in

Pastoral Care. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius.

(18) Nicolosi, J. (1991), Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality: A

New Clinical Approach. Northvale, NJ: Aronson.

(19) Kinsey, A., Pomeroy, W., & Martin, C. (1948), Sexual Behavior in

the Human Male. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders.

(20) Kinsey, A., Pomeroy, W., & Martin, C. and Gebhard, P. (1953),

Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders.

(21) Ford, C. & Beach, F. (1951), Patterns of Sexual Behavior. New

York: Harper.

(22) Hooker, E. (1957), The adjustment of the male overt homosexual. J

Proj Tech, 21:18-31.

(23) Bell, A .& Weinberg, M. (1978), Homosexualities: A Study of

Diversity Among Men and Women. New York: Simon and Schuster.

24) Bell, A., Weinberg, M. & Hammersmith S. (1981), Sexual Preference:

Its Development in Men and Women. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University

Press.

(25) LeVay, S. (1991), A difference in hypothalamic structure between

heterosexual and homosexual men. Science, 253:1034-1037.

(26) Hamer, D., Hu, S., Magnuson, V., Hu, N. & Pattatucci, A. (1993), A

linkage between DNA markers on the X-chromosome and male sexual

orientation. Science, 261:321-327.

(27) Bem, D. (1996), Exotic becomes erotic: A developmental theory of

sexual orientation. Psychol. Review, 103(2):320-335.

28) Marmor, J., ed. (1965), Sexual Inversion: The Multiple Roots of

Homosexuality. New York: Basic Books.

(29) Mitchell, S. (1978), Psychodynamics, homosexuality, and the

question of pathology. Psychiatry, 41:254-263.

(30) Marmor, J., ed. (1980), Homosexual Behavior: A Modern

Reappraisal. New York: Basic Books.

(31) Mitchell, S. (1981), The psychoanalytic treatment of

homosexuality: Some technical considerations. Int. Rev. Psycho-Anal.,

8:63-80.

(32) Morgenthaler, F. (1984), Homosexuality Heterosexuality Perversion,

trans. A. Aebi. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press, 1988.

(33) Lewes, K. (1988), The Psychoanalytic Theory of Male Homosexuality.

New York: Simon and Schuster. Reissued as Psychoanalysis and Male

Homosexuality (1995), Northvale, NJ: Aronson.

(34) Friedman, R.C. (1988), Male Homosexuality: A Contemporary

Psychoanalytic Perspective. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

(35) Isay, R. (1989), Being Homosexual: Gay Men and Their Development.

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

(36) O'Connor, N. & Ryan, J. (1993), Wild Desires and Mistaken

Identities: Lesbianism & Psychoanalysis. New York: Columbia

University.

(37) Domenici, T. & Lesser, R., eds. (1995) Disorienting Sexuality:

Psychoanalytic Reappraisals of Sexual Identities. New York: Routledge.

(38) Magee, M. & Miller, D. (1997), Lesbian Lives: Psychoanalytic

Narratives Old and New. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.

(39) Drescher, J. (1998) Psychoanalytic Therapy and The Gay Man.

Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.

(40) Boswell, J. (1980), Christianity, Social Tolerance and

Homosexuality. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

(41) McNeil, J. (1993), The Church and the Homosexual, Fourth Edition.

Boston, MA: Beacon.

(42) Pronk, P. (1993), Against Nature: Types of Moral Argumentation

Regarding Homosexuality. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans.

(43) Boswell, J. (1994), Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe. New

York: Villard Books.

(44) Helminiak, D. (1994), What the Bible Really Says About

Homosexuality. San Francisco, CA: Alamo Press.

(45) Gomes, P. J. (1996). The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind

and Heart. New York: Avon.

(46) Carrol, W. (1997), On being gay and an American Baptist minister.

The InSpiriter, Spring, pp. 6-7,11.

Appendix 1

APA Position Statement on Psychiatric Treatment and Sexual Orientation

December 11, 1998

The Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association removed

homosexuality from the DSM in 1973 after reviewing the evidence that it

was not a mental disorder. In 1987, ego-dystonic homosexuality was not

included in the DSM-III-R after a similar review.

The American Psychiatric Association does not currently have a formal

position statement on treatments that attempt to change a persons

sexual orientation, also known as reparative or conversion therapy.

There is an APA 1997 Fact Sheet on Homosexual and Bisexual Issues which

states that there is no published scientific evidence supporting the

efficacy of reparative therapy as a treatment to change

ones sexual orientation.

The potential risks of reparative therapy are great, including

depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior, since therapist

alignment with societal prejudices against homosexuality may reinforce

self-hatred already experienced by the patient. Many patients who have

undergone reparative therapy relate that they were inaccurately told

that homosexuals are lonely, unhappy individuals who never achieve

acceptance or satisfaction. The possibility that the person might

achieve happiness and satisfying interpersonal relationships as a gay

man or lesbian is not presented, nor are alternative approaches to

dealing the effects of societal stigmatization discussed. The APA

recognizes that in the course of ongoing psychiatric treatment there

may be appropriate clinical indications for attempting to change sexual

behaviors.

Several major professional organizations including the American

Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers

and the American Academy of Pediatrics have all made statements against

reparative therapy because of concerns for the harm caused to patients.

The American Psychiatric Association has already taken clear stands

against discrimination, prejudice and unethical treatment on a variety

of issues including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Therefore, the American Psychiatric Association opposes any psychiatric

treatment, such as reparative or conversion therapy which is based upon

the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based

upon the a priori assumption that the patient should change his/her

sexual homosexual orientation.

Rictor Norton

mailto:norton@rictor.freeserve.co.uk

http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/rcnorton.htm

___________________________________________________________________Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 18:18:00 +0100 (BST)

From: M Houlbrook <mhoulb@essex.ac.uk>

Subject: Introduction

I've been on the list for over a year and - although I've sent a couple of

postings - never got round to introducing myself.

I'm a doctoral research student at the University of Essex - in the

process of writing up. My thesis is an ethnography of the queer subculture

in London between 1918 and 1957. In particular I focus upon the regulation

and constitution of male social networks and the ways in which a range of

competing identities were structured around these spatial conflicts. I've

given a number of conference papers in this area and have a couple of

publications forthcoming: 'The Private World of Public Urinals: London

1918-57', London Journal 25 (1) June 2000 and 'For Whose Convenience? Gay

Guides, Cognitive Maps and the Construction of Queer London 1917-1967' in

S Gunn and B Morris, Boundaries, Identities and Urban Space 1700-2000

(Ashgate 2001 forthcoming).

Matt Houlbrook

University of Essex

___________________________________________________________________From: "Alejandro Levis" <ancient-andean@almapintada.com>

Subject: Re: Introduction - Ethnohistory of children's sexuality

Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 14:26:39 -0400

Hello all,

I'm about half way through my thesis at Antioch University in the USA. It is

entitled, "Playing in the garden of good and evil: An ethnohistory of

children's sexuality". Bolivia is my home. I suppose the topic began with

wondering why there are so many child rapes/abductions/murders in America. I

wondered how pre-western contact tribal cultures understood age grades,

maturity, and children's natural sexuality and if repression of their

sexuality might be implicated in the etiology of sexual violence towards

children.

And so, following Malinowski, Ford &Beach, Verrier Elwin and many others I

have been digging through old anthropological and travel literature looking

for clues. How did rape free cultures understand children's sexuality? I

have a website devoted to the topic at http://www.almapintada.com . There

you will find articles of the Bontoc Igorot, the Hill Maria, Amazonian

tribes, the Nuba, the Masai, the Irish, the Marquesan Islanders, a few

touches of Victorians, child marriage in India, child prostitution in

Victorian Singapore and so on. I usually post a new article about 3-4 times

a month as my thesis advances. Also lots of old photographs which I have

compressed down as much as possible but do take a few seconds to load, in

the next day or so I should have five pages of photos of Amazonian girls and

their cultural surroundings from Whiffen's 1915 expedition east of Iquitos,

Peru. The site has recently been declared as "Recommended" and "Top" on some

of the smaller search engines under Society/Sexuality.

Needless to say, anyone giving a neutral account of children's sexuality in

the present American milieau is heavily attacked. The debate often involves

urban legend, folk beliefs and pseudo-science. I am not pedophile or a child

molester but have certainly been accused of it since I began this topic. The

last listserve I joined got so bad with flames (from NGO chiefs and feminist

academics) that it had to be closed after I questioned the hysteria around

child pornography as a billion-dollar industry deserving hundreds of

millions of dollars of spending and draconian police state measures as

"solutions". I have solid research showing that it is barely a problem and

rather a thousends of year old phenomena.

So hopefully since this is a listserve for academics who are interested in

the History of Sexuality and can include ethnohistory of children's

sexuality as a topic for academic discussion.

M. Lewis

Antioch University

___________________________________________________________________

From: "Lesley Hall" <lesleyah@primex.co.uk>

Subject: Re: Public Urinals

Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 20:32:18 +0100

I've

>given a number of conference papers in this area and have a couple of

>publications forthcoming: 'The Private World of Public Urinals: London

>1918-57', London Journal 25 (1) June 2000

Dear Matt

Thanks for this intro. I'm fascinated to see your research topic as only

today I was asked by someone who is editing a memoir whether I knew of any

sources for pictures of public urinals during the period you mention! Have

you come across any visual material of this nature (or, indeed, has anyone

else on the list)?

Lesley

Lesley Hall

lesleyah@primex.co.uk

website http://homepages.primex.co.uk/~lesleyah

___________________________________________________________________Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 20:54:04 +0100

From: Ianthe <ianthe@duende.demon.co.uk>

Subject: Re: Public Urinals

In message <011201bf9da3$78ff71a0$d82f70c3@oemcomputer>, Lesley Hall

<lesleyah@primex.co.uk> writes

>Dear Matt

>Thanks for this intro. I'm fascinated to see your research topic as only

>today I was asked by someone who is editing a memoir whether I knew of any

>sources for pictures of public urinals during the period you mention! Have

>you come across any visual material of this nature (or, indeed, has anyone

>else on the list)?

The UK's Square Peg magazine had some pictures from a late 80s/early

90s gallery installation which recreated such. I guess if you got

the name of the artist and then asked around the London art world

someone might come up with a catalogue or some images from the

exhibition. Also Gilbert and George may well have done some art on

the subject.

Ianthe Duende

___________________________________________________________________

Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2000 15:43:27 -0500

From: "M.E. Buszek" <buszekme@chickmail.com>

Subject: Brooklyn Baths

Greetings, all!

I am writing with a question about gay bath houses in the 20th century. I am currently researching a painting by Paul Cadmus (-Coney Island-, 1934) for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Since Cadmus was well known for including both overt and covert "clues" in his early paintings about homosexuality in the public sphere, I am trying to be as thorough as possible in interpreting much of the painting's symbolism for such messages.

In -Coney Island-, Cadmus goes to great lengths to include in the composition a sign in the far distance for the "Washington Baths" off the Coney Island boardwalk. Does anyone on the list have any idea if Brooklyn, specifically Coney Island, was known for any gay--or simply all-male--bath houses pre-WWII, and if so whether the Washington Baths were among them?

Many thanks,

Maria-Elena Buszek

___________________________________________________________________

Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 13:56:26 -0700

From: Eric Grace <ericgrace@home.com>

Subject: Re: Brooklyn Baths

There is a ref. to Washington Baths and to Coney Island bathhouses and

cruising in: Gay New York by George Chauncey (BasicBooks, 1994)

Eric Grace

___________________________________________________________________

From: "Alejandro Levis" <ancient-andean@almapintada.com>

Subject: Re: Introduction - Ethnohistory of children's sexuality

Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 23:51:17 -0400

----- Original Message -----

From: "Alejandro Levis" <ancient-andean@almapintada.com>

To: "Histsex:For historians of sexuality" <histsex@listbot.com>

Sent: Monday, April 03, 2000 10:06 PM

Subject: Re: Introduction - Ethnohistory of children's sexuality

>> ----- Original Message -----

> From: "Hera Cook" <hera.cook@history.usyd.edu.au>

> To: "Histsex:For historians of sexuality" <histsex@listbot.com>

> Sent: Monday, April 03, 2000 8:07 PM

> Subject: Re: Introduction - Ethnohistory of children's sexuality

>> > Could you please justify your implicit claim that any or some of these

are

> rape

> > free cultures?

>> Sanday (1981) using the Standard Cross Cultural Survey (Murdock&White,

1969)

> studied 186 societies, 102 of which had information concerning the

incidence

> of rape. She categorized 49 societies of the 102 as, "Aggression against

> women in form of rape or raiding for wives is ABSENT" and 53 societies as

> "Raiding for wives and/or rape is PRESENT (Sanday pp. 256).

>> Suggs (1966 pp. 63) reports one incidence of gang rape in the Marquesas

> Islands, asociated with the Missionary School. This particular case,

beyond

> be exceedingly rare, was initiated by female peers. Elwin (1947) who spent

> twenty years with the Hill tribes of Central India, documented 2 cases of

> gang rape in the Muria group which took place as a form of punishment by

the

> communal peer group for the victim having broken sexual taboos . Beyond

> those two cases in 20 years, the society appears to be rape free.

>> One would think women who haven't heard of societies where rape is

> exceedingly rare or nearly absent, would be overjoyed to hear the news.

> Unfortunately this comment is most often greeted with disbelief and even

> derision. Why do Americans need to believe men in all cultures are

rapists?

>> Citations

>> Sanday, Peggy Reeves. 1981. Female power and male Dominance: On the

origins

> of sexual inequality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

>> Suggs, Robert C. 1966. Marquesan sexual behavior: An anthropological study

> of Polynesian practises. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.

>> Elwin, Verrier. 1947. The Muria and their ghotul.Oford: Oxford University

> Press.

>> Note: I have written Dr. Sanday asking her for a list of these cultures.

>> > > I questioned the hysteria around

> > > child pornography as a billion-dollar industry deserving hundreds of

> > > millions of dollars of spending and draconian police state measures as

> > > "solutions". I have solid research showing that it is barely a problem

> and

> > > rather a thousends of year old phenomena.

> >> > The inadequacy of the current societal response to child sexuality

cannot

> be

> > addressed by denying that many individuals have been deeply damaged by

> adults who

> > took advantage of their power to sexually or otherwise abuse them.

>> Who is denying it? Not I! Certainly no one that I know! I might ask where

> does children's power in western society come into the equation? My guess

> that they have been DEFINED as having none, just as women were DEFINED as

> having none.

>> >Acknowledging the reality of the 'problem' - abused

> > individuals' experience and their pain - is more likely to enable

society

> to

> > move away from a purely repressive response to children's sexuality than

> your

> > attempt to deny it exists.

>> Again, who is denying it? What I stated was that child pornography is a

very

> small problem. The research is not published but 1) Definition of child

> pornography used in the study was the FBI, federal law standard, and

> prepubertal children age; 2) nudity (naturist, Sally Mann etc.) per se was

> not counted; 3) There is not now, nor has their ever been a billion

dollar

> child porn industry (The Australian commission found the same). What there

> WAS was a couple of small publishers in the 70's and early 80's who

> published about 200 issues of such magazines as "Lollitots" and "Lolita

> Love". Pictures were reused between issues so that appox 5000 pictures

were

> published in this era, of these the majority were more along the lines of

> nudity. After illegalization (1984) whatever was being done with child

porn

> went underground until the advent of usenet. On Usenet child porn and

> erotica pictures are traded freely between a few score collectors. Post

> 1980 appox 3500 hard core child pornography images (many are video

captures

> from single videos) divided up into just over a hundred series have been

> circulated through usenet and www. That is approximately 5 victims per

year.

> Before you deny the truth of these figures I expect you to do some real

> first hand research because what most people cite (Rim Report etc.) is

pure

> bologni.

>> In 1999, 5 new sets appeared, two of which were very horrifying in a way

> that previous sets were not, in that they depicted drugged kids being

raped,

> something that rarely appeared previously. This year a number of new sets

> of images (about ten) have appeared that were highly visible in the South

> American press. Girls' mothers in Paraguay hired out their mostly native

> daughters to pose naked near some streams and waterfalls. None of these

> pictures showed exposed genitals. Subsequently the pictures were posted on

> the internet and everyone from Interpol to the Paraguayan Secret Police

got

> into the act. The papers republished the pictures with big black boxes

over

> faces, chests and hips. What is interesting is that not to long ago these

> same tribes' thought wearing clothing was obscene.

>> I don't deny the problem exists, and I do suggest that we should arrest

and

> lock these child rapers up forever. I also suggest that the focus on child

> porn is misguided and the focus should be where the problem really is: in

> the bosom of the western family and western socio-economics.

>> One would think that people would be joyous to hear that there are very

few

> children victimized by child pornographers. I know it was a great relief

> me. Once again, the research is greeted with denial, derision and

downright

> anger. Why do westerners NEED to believe in the billion dollar kiddy porn

> racket?

>> >I also do not believe that adult/child sexual contact

> > is acceptable in our society in any event.

>> I am agreeing with this statement and I think we can pass it by without

any

> discussion except to ask what you define as a "child" and is this

defintion

> valid cross-culturally?

>> Levis

___________________________________________________________________

Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2000 15:36:44 -0700

Subject: Re: Brooklyn Baths

From: "David Robinson" <dmrobins@U.Arizona.EDU>

Unfortunately, I don't have any information to provide in response to this

query.

But I just wanted to express my admiration and gratitude to Maria-Elena

Buszek. It's such a delight, and such a change, to see someone doing this

kind of work for a museum.

I went to see the huge John Singer Sargent exhibit when it was in

Washington, D.C., and noticed the conspicuous absence of any reference to

Singer's probable homosexuality, let alone to its relation to his art as a

whole or to particular paintings.

David Robinson

___________________________________________________________________ Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2000 18:29:56 -0500

From: "M.E. Buszek" <buszekme@chickmail.com>

Subject: Re: Brooklyn Baths

On Mon, 03 Apr 2000 15:36:44 David Robinson wrote:

>Unfortunately, I don't have any information to provide in response to this

>query.

>>But I just wanted to express my admiration and gratitude to Maria-Elena

>Buszek. It's such a delight, and such a change, to see someone doing this

>kind of work for a museum.

Many thanks...but the praise really isn't earned on my part! Although Cadmus was rather secretive about his personal life, he *was* openly gay *and* painted the public presence of the gay community decades before Stonewall...I just think it's a museum's RESPONSIBILITY to bring up such things, compulsory heterosexuality be damned!

(Although, one can usually only go *so far* in an institutional setting...after having sent my original draft of the essay to the head curator, her response was more or less: "Dear Lord, you use a variation on the word "homosexual" five times...The trustees *heads* will explode and we will be run out of town if we don't tone this down." So...I guess you can say some of us are approaching that responsibility with baby steps, realizing we have a long way to go...)

Waiting for arteries to burst at the words "gay bathhouse" in the next newsletter...(haha)

Maria-Elena Buszek

___________________________________________________________________Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2000 10:07:48 +1000

From: Hera Cook <hera.cook@history.usyd.edu.au>

Subject: Re: Introduction - Ethnohistory of children's sexuality

Hello,

I also believe that children's sexuality as presented by early ethnographers is a

valid topic for academic discussion.

You write -

> How did rape free cultures understand children's sexuality?

> I have a website devoted to the topic at http://www.almapintada.com . There

> you will find articles of the Bontoc Igorot, the Hill Maria, Amazonian

> tribes, the Nuba, the Masai, the Irish, the Marquesan Islanders, a few

> touches of Victorians, child marriage in India, child prostitution in

> Victorian Singapore and so on.

Could you please justify your implicit claim that any or some of these are rape

free cultures?

> I questioned the hysteria around

> child pornography as a billion-dollar industry deserving hundreds of

> millions of dollars of spending and draconian police state measures as

> "solutions". I have solid research showing that it is barely a problem and

> rather a thousends of year old phenomena.

The inadequacy of the current societal response to child sexuality cannot be

addressed by denying that many individuals have been deeply damaged by adults who

took advantage of their power to sexually or otherwise abuse them. However such

abuse is defined there is more than sufficient evidence to support the need to

take action to prevent it. Acknowledging the reality of the 'problem' - abused

individuals' experience and their pain - is more likely to enable society to

move away from a purely repressive response to children's sexuality than your

attempt to deny it exists. I also do not believe that adult/child sexual contact

is acceptable in our society in any event.

Hera

Hera Cook

History Department

MacCallum Building A17

University of Sydney

NSW 2006

Australia

Phone 61 2 9351 2862, Fax 61 2 9351 3918

___________________________________________________________________

Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 17:06:14 -0700 (PDT)

From: =?iso-8859-1?q?daniel=20marshall?= <teague76@yahoo.com>

Hello,

My name is Daniel Marshall and i have just started my

PhD in English with Cultural Studies at the University

of Melbourne. generally speaking, i am interested in

researching paedophilia and would be interested to

hear from anyone who has done any work on this.

currently i am working on a paper about gay male

internet porn and am keen to find more resources.

Daniel.

___________________________________________________________________From: "Alejandro Levis" <ancient-andean@almapintada.com>

Subject: Hera: Sanday's online article mentioning rape free societies

Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 23:12:07 -0400

Hera:

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~psanday/rapea.html

About half way down is a note on a modern rape-free society she studied in

Indonesia. Sanday has identified a number of these from early ethnographies.

My own concept, independently arrived at, is that there were societies and

cultures in which children/youth were not sexually victimized. My question

is: What were the characteristics of these cultures? Since rape and sexual

victimization of the young has long been ingrained in western societies, I

believe it is necessary to look at historical tribal cultures to reach an

understanding.

Levis

___________________________________________________________________From: "Alejandro Levis" <ancient-andean@almapintada.com>

Subject: Re: Introduction - Ethnohistory of children's sexuality

Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 01:25:17 -0400

Hera:

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~psanday/rapea.html

About half way down is a note on a modern rape-free society she studied in

Indonesia. Sanday has identified a number of these from early ethnographies.

My own concept, independently arrived at, is that there were societies and

cultures in which children/youth were not sexually victimized. My question

is: What were the characteristics of these cultures? Since rape and sexual

victimization of the young has long been ingrained in western societies, I

believe it is necessary to look at historical tribal cultures to reach an

understanding.

See:

Sanday, P.R. (l981). The socio-cultural context of rape:a cross-cultural

study. Journal of Social Issues, 37, 5-27.

Levis

PS I am having a hard time posting...... so if this duplicates please excuse

me for the spam.

___________________________________________________________________

Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2000 11:24:17 +0200

From: Gert Hekma <hekma@pscw.uva.nl>

Subject: Re: History of children's sexuality

Welcome mr Lewis

In my perspective, the theme of children's sexuality is an essential topic

for social and historical sciences, so the idea that it could not be

researched in other terms than sexual abuse (the US-congress had a

resolution to that effect) is utterly unscholarly. In my field of queer

studies, the work of Gilbert Herdt and others on male initiation among the

Melanesians has been important. Two weeks ago, the dissertation on ancient

greek "Eros dikaios" (title of the book) by Charles Hupperts was discussed

at my university (of Amsterdam). He concluded from poetry, vase paintings

and other sources that ideas on Greek pederasty were often wrong because,

according to him, not only men enjoyed pleasure with boys intercrurally,

but also men with men and boys with boys, and not only between the tighs.

The idea that Greek eros should have an educational function, stems from

Plato's Symposion, and seems to be more of a myth produced for the occasion

than social reality. Hupperts works at an English translation of his book.

Wish you success with your research!

Gert Hekma

___________________________________________________________________From: "Margaretta Jolly" <jolly@moa.u-net.com>

Subject: Queering Development

Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 12:22:59 +0100

I thought list members might be interested in this:

Margaretta

Queering Development, Challenging Dominant Models of Sexuality in

> Development

> Seminar Series, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

>> Call for speakers

>> Last term the Institute of Development Studies in Sussex organised a

> seminar

> series on 'Queering Development - challenging dominant models of sexuality

> in development.' Papers ranged from situating current queer politics in

> developing countries to exploring the broader implications of queer theory

> for development thinking. This is new terrain in the development field,

> and

> the seminars have been very stimulating and productive. (If you want to

> check out the seminar titles of last term, and some papers presented, and

> summaries of discussions, they can be found at

> http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/socpol/qd.html - this will be up by the end of

> today, but is not actually there at this moment. I also include a list of

> seminars given below.)

>> We are going to hold another such seminar series this term, and we are

> looking for speakers on related areas to present papers/give informal

> presentations. The series runs on a Friday lunchtime at 1pm, and the dates

> we have scheduled are May 19th, 26th, and June 2nd, 9th, 16th, and 23rd.

> Phil Gatter from South Bank University will be speaking on 'Global

> theories

> and sexualities' on May 19th, but other dates are still not fixed.

>> I would be very grateful for any offers of speakers, or suggestions of

> people working on related areas in the UK.

> Susie Jolly, IDS, idpn8@ids.ac.uk

> Last term's seminars:

> Constituting the Global Gay: Law, Subjectivity, and Sexuality in Southern

> Africa

> Oliver Phillipps, University of Keele

> Week 2: Thursday 20th January 5.00pm, IDS, Room 109

>> Why is development work so straight?

> Gilles Kleitz, IDS

> Week 3: Thursday 27th January 5.00pm, IDS, Room 109

>> What use is Queer theory to Gender and Development?

> Susie Jolly, IDS

> Week 4: Thursday 3rd February 5.00pm, IDS, Room 109

>> Ouch! Feminists 'wounded attachment' to the Third World sex worker

> Jo Doezema, IDS

> Week 5: Thursday 10th February 5.00pm, IDS, room 120

>> On the National Question:

> Imagined Masculinities, Enforced Sexualities and the African Renaissance

> Marc Mathuray, Hums, Univ. of Sussex

> Week 6: Thursday 17th February 5.00pm, IDS, room 120

>> Post-modernity, post-development and the appeal of the Queer:

> A Cuban case study

> David Forrest, CDE, Sussex

> Week 7: Thursday 24th February 5.00pm, IDS, room 120

>> Sexual Orientation Discrimination in the UK Labour Market

> Michele Calandrino, IDS

> Week 8: Thursday 2nd March 5.00pm, IDS, room 120

___________________________________________________________________Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2000 11:01:15 -0500

From: Frances Brenstein <fbernste@drew.edu>

Subject: History of sexuality syllabi

Colleagues,

I will be teaching a seminar on the history of sexuality in the fall and

would find it useful to take a look at other syllabi as I plan my own.

If anyone would be willing to post his/her own syllabi, or direct me

towards other websites that have relevant syllabi, I'd be grateful.

Sincerely yours,

Fran Bernstein

Dept. of History

Drew University

Madison, NJ 07940

___________________________________________________________________Subject: Re: Brooklyn Baths

Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 17:37:44 -0500

From: "Michael J. Murphy" <mjmurphy@artsci.wustl.edu>

Maria-Elena,

Last ear I wrote a paper on gay bathhouses in America in the early

twentieth century. Here is my bibliography; all sources have some mention

to gay baths. Hope you find it useful. If others have references to this

subject, I'd appreciate a heads up...so to speak.

Best,

Mike Murphy

Washington University, St. Louis

Bérubé, Allan. ³The History of Gay Bathhouses,² in Dangerous

Bedfellows, eds., Policing Public Sex, 187-220. Boston: South End, 1996.

Chauncey, George. Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making

of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940. New York: Basic, 1994.

Doezema, Marianne. George Bellows and Urban America. New Haven: Yale,

1992.

Fairbrother, Trevor. ³Sargent¹s Genre Paintings and the Issues of

Suppression and Privacy.² Studies in the History of Art 37 (1990),

28-49.

Harris, Craig G. ³Coming Together in the Baths,² in Franklin Abbott,

ed., Men and Intimacy, 173-76. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1990.

Higgs, David, ed. Queer Sites: Gay Urban Histories Since 1600. London:

Routledge, 1999.

Katz, Jonathan Ned. Gay/Lesbian Almanac: A New Documentary. New York:

Harper, 1983.

________. Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the USA.

Revised edition. New York: Meridian, 1992.

Knopp, Lawrence. ³Sexuality and Urban Space,² in David Bell and Gill

Valentine, Mapping Desire: Geographies of Sexuality, 149-61. London:

Routledge, 1995.

Loughery, John. The Other Side of Silence: Men¹s Lives and Gay

Identities: A Twentieth Century History. New York: Norton, 1998.

Tattelman, Ira. ³Speaking to the Gay Bathhouse: Communicating in

Sexually Charged Spaces,² in William Leap, ed., Public Sex/ Gay Space,

71-94. New York: Columbia, 1999.

Weinberg, Martin S. and Colin J. Williams. ³Gay Baths and the Social

Organization of Impersonal Sex,² in Martin P. Levine, ed., Gay Men: The

Sociology of Male Homosexuality, 164-81. New York: Harper, 1979.

Weiss, Philip. ³Postcard New York: Inside a Gay Bathhouse.² The New

Republic 193 (2 December 1985): 12-13.

Williams, Emlyn. Emlyn: An Early Autobiography, 1927-1935. London:

Bodley Head, 1973.

Williams, Marilyn Thornton. ³New York City¹s Public Baths: A Case Study

in Progressive Reform.² Journal of Social History 7/1 (November 1980):

49-81.

Young, Perry Dean. ³So You¹re Planning to Spend a Night at the Tubs?²

Rolling Stone 128 (15 February 1973): 48-50.

Michael J. Murphy, M.A.

Graduate Student, Dept. of Art History and Archaeology

Washington University, St. Louis

mjmurphy@artsci.wustl.edu

"I've always depended on the kindness of strangers." -Blanche Dubois

___________________________________________________________________From: Kazetnik@aol.com

Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 11:13:46 EDT

Subject: Re: "rape free" cultures

Hi all

On the subject of definitions of rape: in the UK unless the act consists of

penile penetration of the vagina (without consent), then it counts as the

lesser offence of sexual assault or gross indecency. So forcible buggery,

penetration with any other object or any other form of sexual violence are

not, for Brits, rape at all. Thus, men cannot, by definition, be raped,

except in colloquial discourse. (A nonsense of course.) I'm not sure if what

they used to charmingly call 'emission' is of relevance any more. It

certainly was a matter of debate around definitions of rape in 19th Century

England and Wales.

Chris

___________________________________________________________________

From: "Lesley Hall"<lesleyah@primex.co.uk>

Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 15:46:14 gmt

Subject: Re: "rape free" cultures

>not, for Brits, rape at all. Thus, men cannot, by definition, be raped,

>except in colloquial discourse. (A nonsense of course.)

This has now changed - don't have the exact date and act to hand but males can

now, legally, be raped in the UK (?England and Wales - suspect Scottish law

remains different) as of the 1990s. I think this may have come into law round

about the time it was finally, after over 100 years of campaigning, determined

that rape within marriage did constitute an offence (rather than assertion of

conjugal rights).

Lesley Hall

lesleyah@primex.co.uk

homepage: http://homepages.primex.co.uk/~lesleyah

___________________________________________________________________Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 12:13:58 -0500

To: "Histsex:For historians of sexuality" <histsex@listbot.com>

From: Bob <suannschafer@earthlink.net>

Michael, thanks for some hard facts ... I'm wondering if you have

comparable statistics for women who were victims of sex crimes in

1996. And the source of the statistics?

With thanks, B

>Histsex:For historians of sexuality - http://homepages.primex.co.uk/~lesleyah

>>Until the 1990s, in English law the term "rape" was restricted to forced

>penile penetration of the vagina and thus could not apply to sexual assaults

>against men. The offence of rape was extended in England and Wales, in the

>enactment of the Public Order and Criminal Justice Act in 1994, to include

>anal or vaginal penetration by a penis. This change in the law arose because

>of increasing recognition that sexual attacks on men were more common than

>previously believed. Statistics collected by the police since then are

>revealing. Official figures show that large numbers of men are victims of

>sexual crime. In 1996 there were 3142 indecent assaults and 227 rapes of

>men. The figure for rape represents an increase of 51% from 1995.

>>Michael King

>>Professor Michael King

>Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences

>Royal Free and University College Medical School

>Royal Free Campus

>Rowland Hill Street

>LONDON NW3 2PF

>>Tele +44 (0)207 830 2397

>Fax +44 (0)207 830 2808

>email m.king@rfc.ucl.ac.uk

___________________________________________________________________Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 11:05:03 -0400

From: Sheila McManus <smcmanus@yorku.ca>

Subject: Re: "rape free" cultures

Levis wrote:

>Sanday (1981) using the Standard Cross Cultural Survey (Murdock&White, 1969)

>studied 186 societies, 102 of which had information concerning the incidence

>of rape. She categorized 49 societies of the 102 as, "Aggression against

>women in form of rape or raiding for wives is ABSENT" and 53 societies as

>"Raiding for wives and/or rape is PRESENT (Sanday pp. 256).

>Suggs (1966 pp. 63) reports one incidence of gang rape in the Marquesas

>Islands, asociated with the Missionary School. This particular case, beyond

>be exceedingly rare, was initiated by female peers. Elwin (1947) who spent

>twenty years with the Hill tribes of Central India, documented 2 cases of

>gang rape in the Muria group which took place as a form of punishment by the

>communal peer group for the victim having broken sexual taboos . Beyond

>those two cases in 20 years, the society appears to be rape free.

>One would think women who haven't heard of societies where rape is

>exceedingly rare or nearly absent, would be overjoyed to hear the news.

>Unfortunately this comment is most often greeted with disbelief and even

>derision. Why do Americans need to believe men in all cultures are rapists?

I don't think "Americans" or "westerners" "need" to believe that men in

all cultures are rapists, but feminists around the world know that "rape"

tends to be very narrowly defined in most people's minds and even more

rarely reported, and these definitions and reports in no way reflect the

actual frequency of sexual assaults against women and children. "Rape" is

not just a male stranger or strangers attacking a woman in public and

dragging her into the bushes, and such instances reflect a tiny proportion

of assaults against women. The vast majority of sexual assaults (that is,

any unwanted sexual contact) take place behind closed doors and are

generally perpetrated by someone known to the victim. In North America,

marital rape was not even considered a crime until the 1980s and in many

countries it still isn't. The examples given above prove my point - only

sexual assaults which took place 'in public' and were reported count as

'rape' to these researchers. So while I am perfectly willing to believe

that there are some cultures where reported public sexual assaults are

rare, I am unwilling to believe that women in those cultures are therefore

unlikely to be forced to have sex with their husbands or fathers or uncles

or boyfriends. There is simply no logical connection between those two

assumptions.

Sheila McManus

* * * * * * * * * *

Sheila McManus

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of History, York University

smcmanus@yorku.ca

___________________________________________________________________From: "King, Michael" <m.king@rfc.ucl.ac.uk>

To: "'Histsex:For historians of sexuality'" <histsex@listbot.com>

Subject: RE: "rape free" cultures

Source of stats: HMSO Criminal Statistics (England and Wales) 1996. HMSO:

London

Not sure of figures for women but they may well be in there. You could ask

Gillian Mezey a colleague of mine at St George's Hospital Med School, email:

gmezey@sghms.ac.uk

Regards

Michael

___________________________________________________________________Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2000 16:50:57 +0100

From: cristina santos <cristina@sonata.fe.uc.pt>

Subject: Re: "rape free" cultures

In the Portuguese Penal Code of 1982, women were considered as the only

possible victims of rape. Moreover, involuntary anal or oral sex were not

considered as rape (points 201 and 202). There were obvious dissatisfaction

with the fact that rape wasn't simply defined as sexual penetration through

violence or , as it was the case with the Frensh law, at the time (point

222.23 of Frensh Civil Code. In 1995, the point 164 of the Portuguese Penal

Code extended the sentence due to rape to a minimum of 3 to 10 years,

including also anal intercourse as rape action. estendendo a punição ao

coito anal. Finally, two years ago, in the law 65/98, 2nd September, oral

sex was also considered and any reference that made the woman the only

possible victim was eliminated. So, Portuguese law now consideres rape

victims any person obliged to have vaginal, anal or oral sex without

his/her consent.

This leads me to believe that maybe there's an emancipatory light shining

outhere, at least in the legal field... Of course laws don't imply its

pratical usefulness.

By the way, I totally agree with Sheila McManus when she says:

So while I am perfectly willing to believe

>that there are some cultures where reported public sexual assaults are

>rare, I am unwilling to believe that women in those cultures are therefore

>unlikely to be forced to have sex with their husbands or fathers or uncles

>or boyfriends.

Greetings to all,

Cris

Ana Cristina Santos

Centre for Social Studies

Apartado 3087

3001-401 Coimbra - Portugal

Phone 00 351 239855583

___________________________________________________________________From: "King, Michael" <m.king@rfc.ucl.ac.uk>

Subject: RE: "rape free" cultures

Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 18:10:07 +0100

Until the 1990s, in English law the term "rape" was restricted to forced

penile penetration of the vagina and thus could not apply to sexual assaults

against men. The offence of rape was extended in England and Wales, in the

enactment of the Public Order and Criminal Justice Act in 1994, to include

anal or vaginal penetration by a penis. This change in the law arose because

of increasing recognition that sexual attacks on men were more common than

previously believed. Statistics collected by the police since then are

revealing. Official figures show that large numbers of men are victims of

sexual crime. In 1996 there were 3142 indecent assaults and 227 rapes of

men. The figure for rape represents an increase of 51% from 1995.

Michael King

Professor Michael King

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences

Royal Free and University College Medical School

Royal Free Campus

Rowland Hill Street

LONDON NW3 2PF

Tele +44 (0)207 830 2397

Fax +44 (0)207 830 2808

email m.king@rfc.ucl.ac.uk

-----Original Message-----

From: Kazetnik@aol.com [mailto:Kazetnik@aol.com]

Sent: 06 April 2000 16:14

To: histsex@listbot.com

Subject: Re: "rape free" cultures

Histsex:For historians of sexuality -

http://homepages.primex.co.uk/~lesleyah

___________________________________________________________________

From: "Zoetanya Sujon" <zsujon@hotmail.com>

Subject: Re: gay men lesbians and psychology/psychiatry

Date: Fri, 07 Apr 2000 02:23:20 GMT

Hi,

Its been a very long time since I last contributed to this list, and I have

a long overdue thank-you to both Tim Hogdon and Ivan Raykoff for your

suggestions and comments about conducting research into the sex industry.

Many thanks to both of you for your help.

And Rikki, I have a suggestion for your query about psychiatry and gay men

and women. It is not *purely* academic or from a cultural studies

perspective. Sheila Gilhooly and Persimmon Blackbridge collaborated on a

fantastic and very moving book called 'Still Sane'. I highly recommend it

to anyone, especially those who have an interest in the forced psychiatric

treatments of gay people up til the 1970's. This book juxtaposes Sheila

Gilhooly's powerful personal experiences of forced institutionalization in

the early 1970's for being a lesbin, with some facts and figures about

psychiatric treatments, institutions and practices. I don't have the year

it was published, but it was put out by 'Press Gang' Publishers in

Vancouver, Canada. I suspect this is a difficult book to track down - but

it is well worth it.

I hope this is of some help.

Cheers,

Zoe

------------------------------------------------------------

Zoetanya Sujon - Editorial Manager

Space and Culture - the journal

Box 797, Station B, Ottawa K1P 5P8 Canada

Tel. (613) 520 - 2600 ext. 2602

Fax. (613) 520 - 4062

URL: http://www.carleton.ca/~rshields/space

------------------------------------------------------------

___________________________________________________________________Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 14:49:11 +1000

From: Ivan Crozier <i.crozier@scifac.usyd.edu.au>

Subject: Help with author identifictation.

Dear All,

Below is a letter which I submitted to the list in its very early days

in the hope of correctly identifying its author. I still have no idea

as to who wrote it, and am hoping it might ring a few expert bells out

there (now that many more members have joined). It is cited as being

from Horatio Brown in the Bristol Uni archives, but internal evidence

suggests this is incorrect (you don't generally send regards to people

whose literary estates you manage after their deaths). I am trying to

find the reference for a monograph I am writing on Havelock Ellis and

the medicalisation of homosexuality in England, 1850-1900 (focussing on

Ellis and Symonds' "Sexual Inversion" in a large part). All help will

be recognised in the text.

The letter:

Bristol Univeristy Library, JAS papers,

Dear Mr.

Ellis, Thankyou for your

letting me read the conclusion which I send back today registered. I

think that it is admirable in its calmness, its judicial unbiased tone.

And if anything can pursuade people to look the question in the face

this should

I am especially at one

with you when you suggest that from an ethical point of view the

heterosexual and the unisexual are parallel, each being capable of

exaltation and of degradation, each admitting all the variation from a

noble affection to the most trivial prostitution. And again when you

warn those who have to

deal witht he subject from an =E6sthetic bias to warp their

judgement.

And again when you

indicate the possibility that nature--in the cases of inverts--is

deliberately sterilising.

I am much interested

in your suggestion of co-education, new to me. At first I said at once

"oh! no this would make no difference" but I don't feel so sure now as

I have become accustomed to the

idea.

I am struck by the

large amount of recent literature (1893.94.95.) which is appearing on

the subject. That is a most helpful sign. At the same time it is a

disgrace to England--where inversion is so wide spread--that she should

be so unrepresented. The schrenck-Notzing cure--the shrink at nothing

cure one might call it--is appalling and I think you destroy its theory

when you demonstrate that it merely ends in making a double-barrelled

sinner.

I should like to omit

the passage from Symonds' "A few laws of Moses--social abomination."=20

You yourself feel the need of making the statement, and it seems to me

to be inspired by te pugnacious spirit which I should like to see

excluded from the controversy for the present. "A few laws"--"the

legend"--"have sufficed totransform"--these are all phrases with an

aroma of contempt for current opinion, and are more calculated, inmy

view, to rouse retaliatory animosity. Besides they break the cool,

judicial unbiased temoer of the whole

Chapter.

Quite true what you

said about "gross indecency." The act which brought me into the world

be certainly "grossly indecent" is [<italic>sic</italic>] detailed in a

court of law.

And finally I like the

quietness and sanity of the statement as to what you would like to see

done in this difficult

matter.

Best regards to

Symonds. I will write soon to

him.

Yours, [Horatio Brown]

I hope you can help, or put me in contact with some useful leads.

Cheerio, Ivan=20

Ivan Crozier,

Unit for the History and Philosophy of Science

Carslaw Bldg (F07)

University of Sydney

NSW 2006, Australia

Email: i.crozier@scifac.usyd.edu.au

"An entertaining essay might perhaps be written

on the sexlessness of historians; but it would be

entertaining and nothing more: we do not know

enough either about the historians or sex."

Lytton Strachey, 1931

___________________________________________________________________From: "King, Michael" <m.king@rfc.ucl.ac.uk>

Subject: RE: gay men lesbians and psychology/psychiatry

Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000 12:02:21 +0100

This book can be purchased at Amazon.co.uk

Michael King

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From: Zoetanya Sujon [mailto:zsujon@hotmail.com]

Sheila Gilhooly and Persimmon Blackbridge collaborated on a