Title: Political Correctness Eradicator
Description: doesn't exactly trip off the tongue...
Hauser - October 29, 2005 01:21 PM (GMT)
But everyone suffers from types of psychological disorders. I think the best rule of thumb about 'abnormalities' is how damaging they are in terms of social interaction, and in places like Auckland these days very, very few people in our generation (and even in the generation before ours) would significantly alter their behaviour around people who are gay (apart from using terms like 'gay' as a derogatory adjective toward things). Stress is another mental abnormality that we don't need to suffer, but our brains clearly have some sort of problems with certain types of activities. People who get angry quickly have a mental abnormality (that part of your brain that 'creates' anger is quite often enlarged, is what I've been told anyway from people with more knowledge than me about the subject).
It's just like those viruses (as in sicknesses) that most people in the world have been exposed to and actually carry (no, not syphilis, you sick fucks .. these viruses were a real fascination of mine for about 5 minutes a few weeks ago on Wikipedia), yet no one apart from scientists really knows nor cares about them considering they don't have any real particular affect.
samf - October 29, 2005 09:12 PM (GMT)
Only 9-10% of the population are
lefthanded. It's abnormal, but it's not a disorder. Same with homosexuality - although statistically it's abnormal, it's not a mental illness. (Even if the Chinese government said it was until a few years ago, Adolf. :P)
Homosexuality is emphatically
not "curable". I don't know where a rational, scientific person such as yourself, Adolf, could have got that impression. Just read this:
| QUOTE |
In the past, medical researchers attempted to change sexual orientation through psychotherapy, aversion therapy, nausea producing drugs, castration, injections of estrogen, LSD, hypnosis, electric shock, brain surgery, breast amputations, etc. All failed. These methods were largely abandoned by the mid-1970's.
... There are two methods that are still in use by which therapists and lay groups attempt to change sexual orientation: Reparative Therapy is an experimental and controversial secular therapeutic technique. Another consists of various religious and spiritual practices by Transformational Ministries. Many groups that practice these therapies estimate their "cure" rate at 70% or more. Many gays, lesbians, mental-health professionals, religious liberals and human sexuality researchers estimate a rate of adult sexual orientation conversion as equal to or near 0.0%
No money or motivation appears to be available to fund a meaningful study of these counseling methods' effectiveness and potential adverse side effects. That is a pity, because there exists a lot of anecdotal evidence that failed therapy can drive many gays and lesbians into deep depression; some commit suicide.
|
mrt - October 29, 2005 09:20 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (samf @ Oct 30 2005, 10:12 AM) |
| Homosexuality is emphatically not "curable". I |
I'm interested to see how all this research into the human genome will affect our ability to switch on/off any potential 'gay gene'. I imagine that it'd be hard to do post birth (just guessing) but easier to do in the conception stage (IVf style).
samf - October 29, 2005 09:35 PM (GMT)
I personally doubt there'd be a single "gay gene" - although, again,
this site gives quite a few studies that indicate that homosexuality has some genetic basis, but is also triggered by environmental factors. Here's a few quotes:
| QUOTE |
| The most common belief of human sexuality researchers is that homosexual orientation is caused by a pre-existent genetic makeup which is established at conception. This is then triggered early in life by an unknown factor in the environment. If the factor is not present, the gene or genes causing homosexuality will not be triggered, and the person will grow up heterosexual. |
And one for the people who think gays shouldn't adopt children, or that families with "two mummies" or "two daddies" warp childrens' minds:
| QUOTE |
| Almost all children raised in families headed by two gays or two lesbians grow up heterosexual. The sexual orientation of one's parents appear to have little or no influence over the orientation of their children. |
mrt - October 29, 2005 10:40 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (samf @ Oct 30 2005, 10:35 AM) |
| I personally doubt there'd be a single "gay gene" - although, again |
Sure. I really should have said one or more gay genes. It'll definitely be interesting to see what researchers do discover about our genes.
Steveo - October 29, 2005 11:15 PM (GMT)
the oob - October 30, 2005 12:34 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Steveo @ Oct 30 2005, 12:15 PM) |
| I'm left handed, its rad |
I would have been, but my parents discouraged me from using my left hand when I was young enough that it was still up in the air (and I'm glad they did), so now I'm right handed*. Interestingly, when I did one of those 'left/right brain dominance tests' I came out perfectly even (and my generalised skill set validates this), which I suspect may be related.
* There are basically two genes, the right handed gene, and the either/or gene, I clearly have the latter.