What are Little Boys Made Of? Dr. R. Green, Dr. G. Rekers, and Kirk Murphy's suicide

[Stella_Omega]

The most complete investigation into the the abusive practices of "anti-sissification therapy" is here at Box Turtle Bulletin.

There's a lot of links, but it's all very well presented, and anyone who is interested in this story will be glad they read it.

In 1970, a well-known expert on homosexuality and transgender issues appeared on a local television talk show in Los Angeles to talk about feminine boys. He described how very young boys who behaved in a feminine manner would almost invariably grow up to become a homosexual. Alongside that expert was a gay man who described his own childhood and confirmed what the expert said. But there was hope, the expert announced. A new program at the University of California at Los Angeles would ensure these young boys grew up to become masculine, normal men. The expert gave a list of symptoms to watch out for, and urged his viewers to call him if their children exhibited the problems he described.

The mother of a four year, eleven month old boy saw that program that afternoon. She noted the list of symptoms that the expert gave and concluded that there was something seriously wrong with her son. She and her husband decided to take their young boy to UCLA for treatment to prevent him from growing up to be gay.

http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/what-are-little-boys-made-of-main

The CNN article is rather odd. It talks a lot about George Rekers, probably since his downfall with the male prostitute is just too delicious to forget about. BTB points out:

All of the published literature surrounding Kirk’s case has it that George Rekers was solely responsible for Kirk’s treatment. But that’s not how Kirk’s family remembers it. To them, Rekers was nothing but a first year grad student. For forty years, they’ve held Dr. Richard Green responsible, the expert that Kirk’s mother saw on television. Getting to the bottom of who was really in charge of Kirk’s treatment is not as easy as one would expect. http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/cuius_culpa

Of COURSE many people are quick to jump on the parents, and of course the mother in particular. But:

Kirk’s therapy took place at UCLA, home to some of the world’s top experts on gender identity and sexual orientation. As Kirk’s mother said, “I trusted these professionals to know what they were doing.”
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/what-are-little-boys-made-of2

One of the most horrifying episodes, to me, is that Kirk tried to commit suicide as a teen. Green shrugged it off;

KYLE: It wasn’t like I was real. And afterwards, a few weeks later, I tried to kill myself.

R. G.: Tell me about that.

KYLE: I swallowed about fifty aspirins.

R. G.: Did you really want to die?

KYLE: I think I really wanted to, but I knew I wasn’t going to. But I really did want to.

R. G.: Why?

KYLE: Because I don’t want to grow up to be gay.
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/what-are-little-boys-made-of5

Green didn't think it was necessary to talk about this with the parents... Who were in pretty bad shape themselves at that time, admittedly. But I really think that Green felt it was better that a boy become so self-homophobic that he'd rather suicide than it would be for him to simply be gay.

And that's going to be my only personal opinion untill more people have read the report

 

[Stella_Omega]

bump to put it in the main forum's sight

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

I just spent the past hour or so, reading. It breaks my heart.

 

[Etoile]

Thanks for tracking things down, more to read!

 

[Stella_Omega]

I don't really know how much discussion there can be, huh. It's simply appalling.

My only question is: how can we prevent this sort of thing going forward?

And my answers are still the same; educate the people who don't yet know, put pressure where you can...

 

[girlsmiley]

Thanks for posting, Stella

 

[blade_rocknut]

Thanks for that, Stella....it was impossible to stop reading it.

My southern ( Baptist, though not fanatic) parents were having to come to grips with my sister coming out during the time I was 4-6 yrs old. Luckily, they didn't see ( and subsequently believe) some crackpot on tv.......their paranoia could've had me sent away for playing dress up instead of football......

I learned real quick to keep that part of me to myself.....It was heartbreaking, the extent to which my dad blamed himself for my sister's orientation. I wanted no part of contributing to that guilt. His guilt ended when he died; but my mother is still here. She doesn't know about me....I don't know just how hard it would be for her.....I can't justify telling her, so I won't.

Anyway, that story speaks volumes about what had been touched on a bit already.....it was the times. Scepticism of "experts" wasn't the order of the day; and Al Gore had yet to invent the internet. Most households had one tv that MAY have received three channels. People BELIEVED that tv.

 

[Pure]

thanks, stella. kirk's story is sad and fascinating.

PS. as appalling as the therapy was, Rekers does have a point about causation. one can easily see the same outcome
w/o therapy. further, note that the crowning blow seems to have occurred in India, where as before, elsewhere, the society was NOT friendly to there being a gay couple. so kirk's latest love seems to have misfired; and such leading to suicide is not unheard of. overall, the life influences are a kind of witches brew with, perhaps the therapy outstanding as one poisonous influence. in another sense, of course, the parents caused the whole mess, since UCLA did not exactly kidnap the kid or force their services on the parents. in the broadest sense, the society conceived the problem as an illness, and this was reflected in authoritative psychiatric opinion, as in DSMs I and II .

the shrinks, of course, molded and enforced that conception. further, shrinks in those days were doing all kinds of unethical things, such as experimenting with brainwashing techniques on *healthy* individuals. further, as the accounts make clear, at the start, Rekers was a *grad student* doing supervised work on his thesis. he may have been one of the first to try re conditioning, but framework he had--of an illness-- was not created by him; it was that of his professors.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Rekers was a *grad student* doing supervised work on his thesis. he may have been one of the first to try re conditioning, but framework he had--of an illness-- was not created by him; it was that of his professors.

Indeed, and the story tries to make that as clear as possible, I think... Butt Rekers has completely hitched his wagon to the theory that homosexuallity is an illness-- AND that effeminism is absolutley linked to homosexuality-- He's made a lot of money and an extesnive reputaion on it. And then he was so recently in the headlines, it's hard to turn away from him. it's so neat, in a story-telling sense.