CURING THE HOMOSEXUAL POPULATION WITH "MEDICINE"

Individuals in the late 1900s began claiming that being “Gay” is not natural and thus “homosexual” individuals are not aware that they are indeed “homosexual” or else they would be seeking medical assistance to receive aid. If a person purports that he or she may be gay, the individuals were subject to medical experimentation through electroconvulsive therapy. Through the behaviorist theory and implementing aversive conditioning, researchers believed that associating homosexuality with electrical therapy, it would cure their orientation.

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There are many horrors noted behind the strategies and attempts into converting homosexuals. From the 19th, 20th, and 21st century there have many notable “treatments" for the homosexual community. One in particular was the use of aversive condition utilizing electroshock therapy in 1964. As scientist continuously made the claim that homosexuality is not naturalistically human, that idea became the norm in society and individuals were looking for treatments. Scientists proposed the idea of a home use electroshock machine that would allow homosexual individuals to shock themselves whenever they had unwanted feelings or thoughts.

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Within today's society there are many initiatives that are being done to incorporate, instead of objectifying, homosexual individuals within society. Many physicians still believe in utilizing therapy as a way of curing homosexuality “belief” but only about 4% of physicians still hold this belief. It notes that it is hard to gather information on how many people are still receiving conversion therapy to cure their “disease” but many initiatives globally are being implemented to rule out conversion therapy and allow for a more inclusive society where individuals can hold hands and not be degraded of their humanity.

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Sources:

Scot, Jamie. “Shock the Gay Away: Secrets of Early Gay Aversion Therapy

Murphy, T. F. (2008). Brief History of a Recurring Nightmare. Gay & Lesbian

Review Worldwide, 15(1), 17–20.

Bartlett, Annie. “Conversion Therapy and the LGBT Community: the Role of the

College Now?” BJPsych Bulletin. Cambridge University Press, December 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6465215/.