Last year we decided to make a scene at My Dirtiest Fantasy about Jackson Mills who goes to conversion therapy to stop being gay, and the solution is to get harshly and BDSM style fucked by Leo Marco; his therapist. Although the idea resulted in a ironically funny and hot scene, there’s the other side of the coin; the truth of the conversion therapies in real life.
It’s a controversial topic but it’s one that effects lots of gay guys. Especially those from more conservative backgrounds.
The reality and the effects of it.
Now some of you might not know what that is. Basically, it involves treatment to change a person’s sexuality.
You might assume this kind of thing belongs to the Middle Ages. Think again. It’s perfectly legal in lots of countries. Indeed, an estimation points out that the 5% of LGBT people in the UK are victims of it. And it’s a rate that rises to almost 10% in ethnic minorities.
Now to some this kind of thing might sound harmless, but rest assured it isn’t. The fact is that it can’t fix someone’s sexuality. It’s a scientific fact but thousands of guys suffer from it. The results can be devastating. Depression, increased use of drugs and even suicide.
This practice targets a lot of young guys. Often those under the age of 18.
Fortunately, it looks like more and more are becoming aware of the practice. As a result, there appears to be a worldwide effort to either discourage or (even better) ban its use.
What we’d like to see, however, is a total ban worldwide. We’d encourage everyone to pressure their local authorities to achieve this.
To some it might seem a harmless procedure, but we know for a fact that it’s not. It targets guys at their most vulnerable for dubious means.
Let’s hope we all live to see a day when no young person ever has to experience it again.
A scary past.
The history of conversion therapy dates back to the late 19th century, when it was first developed as a way to “cure” homosexuality.
In the early 1900s, psychoanalytic theories were developed, which suggested that homosexuality was a sign of psychological disturbance and could be “cured” through psychoanalysis. This led to a variety of treatments designed to change gay individuals into heterosexuals, including hypnosis, electric shock treatments, and hormone treatments.
One of the most brutal kind of procedures were the electric shocks based in the behaviorism approach of psychology. An individual receives one type of stimulus (the shock) while there’s another one around (the image of a man). If the subject is aroused by the man, he receives the shock. This is supposed to cause a response; that being attracted by men is painful and you should be attracted to women instead, but it’s non-effective since it doesn’t magically generates an attraction to women and it just makes the predetermined attraction to men a traumatic and painful experience; something that the subject will have to live with. This tortured a lot of LGTB people in those ages.
In the 1950s, the practice of conversion therapy became more mainstream with the publication of Dr. Edmund Bergler’s book, Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life? This book argues that homosexuality is a disease that has to be cured.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the practice of conversion therapy became even more widespread, due to a rise in religious fundamentalism and the introduction of “ex-gay” ministries. These ministries sought to “cure” homosexuality through prayer and spiritual guidance.
The beginning of the change.
Today, we know that conversion therapies is unethical and ineffective.
In recent years, in 2009, the American Psychological Association (APA) issued a statement condemning the practice, citing a lack of scientific evidence to support its efficacy and a potential for harm.
In 2012, California became the first state to ban conversion therapy for minors, with several other states following suit. In addition to the medical community’s condemnation of conversion therapy, several legal challenges are making an effort to end the practice.
In 2018, a federal judge in California ruled that conversion therapy was unconstitutional and violated the rights of LGBT people. Despite the growing opposition to conversion therapy, some religious and conservative organizations continue to promote it.
In 2020, the Trump administration proposed a rule that would allow doctors and therapists to practice conversion therapy without consequence. The proposed rule is currently being challenged in court. The future of conversion therapy is uncertain, but opposition to the practice continues to grow. That same year, the APA issued a new statement condemning conversion therapy, and many cities and states are considering legislation to ban it.
We are far from defeating conversion therapies, but there is progress every day.
