Sex Variants. A Study of Homosexual Patterns
- Author:
George W. Henry, M.D., with sections
contributed by Specialists in particular fields. Sponsored by Committee for the Study of Sex Variants, Inc. One-volume edition, illustrated. Paul B. Hoeber, Inc. Medical Book Department of Harper & Brothers, London and New York. Distributors in England: Hamish Hamilton. 40s.
This bulky volume of 1,128 pages is the result of a study sponsored by the Committee for the Study of Sex Variants in the U.S.A. The first 1,020 pages cover the case histories of eighty volunteers. The foreword by the Chairman of the Executive Committee suggests that there is a tendency on the part of many scientifically-trained persons to avoid frank consideration of sex problems. No conclusions are given, and it is suggested that the material should be a basis for our own conclusions.
The preface refers to the problem of homosexuality in the American Armed Forces and the practice of dishonourable discharge which involved the loss of ” rights of citizenship, the right to vote, to belong to any organization of veterans or to receive any of the rewards which are granted to those who have served honourably “. This method was not used frequently, but the main type of discharge did involve forfeiture of G.I. benefits, was a fairly effective bar to many forms of civilian employment and ” carried a real social stigma, especially in a small communitySince the war, however, homosexuality was being looked upon more as a symptom of some emotional illness.
It is about forty years since Havelock Ellis’s Studies in the Psychology of Sex was published in England and the publisher arrested for publishing it. He was accused of ” having unlawfully and wickedly published and sold, and caused to be procured and to be sold a wicked, bawdy, and scandalous and obscene book . .’ . intending to vitiate and corrupt the morals of the liege subjects of our Lady the Queen, to debauch and poison the minds of divers of the liege subjects of our said Lady the Queen, and to raise and create in them lustful desires, and to bring the liege subjects into a state of wickedness, lewdness and debauchery This volume would, no doubt, have similar things said about it, but for the authority and scientific sincerity of the committee members whose names are given on the flyleaf.
The case histories certainly do not spare any details, and the gynaecological drawings are vivid in their layout. The chapter on ” Impressions ” is interesting, but it is disappointing after the first 1,000 pages to be told that we have to wait for another volume for final conclusions. It is somewhat remarkable that many of the cases should prefer the condition and would resent and resist any attempt to have their sexual attitudes changed by treatment.
The suggested remedies are that the law should be brought to realize that punitive measures are of little value, and that experience has demonstrated that imprisonment is likely to make the sex variant a less desirable citizen by the time his term of imprisonment expires.
But the author concludes by expressing the opinion ” that the condition will continue until society provides a new type of institutional treatment which compiles the desirable features of occupational and psychiatric therapy
This book should be useful especially to those in the field of mental health whose function it is to care for the homosexual who has come under legal surveillance and should assist in the differentiating of primary from secondary homosexuality. A.T.
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