Homosexuality - A Psychoanalytic Study

388 Pages·1988·55.845 MB·English

by  Irving Bieber

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HOMOSEXUALITY
Review and Comments
"A comparative study of the origins, development, and potential
treatability ofthe male homosexual. The authors ofthis work base their
findings on clinical work with 106 male homosexuals and 100 male
heterosexuals in psychoanalytic treatment. . . . This book is therefore a
welcome contribution ... to social responsibility and enlightenment."
Scientific American
"It is a rare pleasure to find a well-grounded statistical study in
whichthe subjects emergeas real people, recognizable, and seenin depth
through the sensitive eyes ofskilled clinicians. The bulk ofthe book
. . .
confirms or rebuts the generalizations from which we work."
> Sheldon B. Kopp, Ph.D.
American Journal ofPsychotherapy
"The book is a notable contribution to the literature on homosexu-
ality. It clarifies muddy concepts, gives us data instead of speculations,
and leaves us with many ideas for future research."
Harold I. Lief, M.D.
Archives ofGeneral Psychiatry
"The conclusions reached are of great interest. The authors*
. . .
views are supported by evidence collected in such a way that
. . .
subjective bias is excluded as far as possible, and, until further equally
careful studies have either supplemented or disproved this work, it must
beallowed to stand. . . . It is a pleasure to welcome a book from a group
of psychoanalysts which is both self-critical and constructive.
Times Literary Supplement
"It is encouraging to see such a complex clinical topic handled with
such scholarly and dispassionate objectivity. The reader will find
. . .
himselfbetter informed on the subject when he puts the book down, and
will have enjoyed the process of his enlightenment."
James C. Miller
Director of the Mental Health Research Institute
University of Michigan
HOMOSEXUALITY
A
Psychoanalytic Study
IRVING BIEBER
Toby B. Bieber
Harvey Dain
J.
Paul R. Dince
Marvin G. Drellich
Henry G. Grand
Ralph H. Gundlach
Malvina W. Kremer
Alfred H. Rifkin
Cornelia B. Wilbur
c9V
ARONSON
Jason Aronson Inc.
Northvale, NewJersey
London
Copyright o 1988 by Jason Aronson Inc.
987654321
10
Allrights reserved. PrintedintheUnited States ofAmerica. No part ofthisbook maybe
used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from Jason
AronsonInc. exceptinthecaseofbriefquotationsinreviews forinclusioninamagazine,
newspaper, orbroadcast.
TheauthorsgratefullyacknowledgepermissiontoreprintportionsofIrvingBieber'sarticle,
"MaleHomosexuality,"®1979, TheCanadianJournalofPsychiatry,Vol. 14,pp.402-403.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Homosexuality : a psychoanalytic study / Irving Bieber . . . [et al.].
p. cm.
Bibhography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-87668-989-6
1. Homosexuality, Male. 2. Psychoanalysis. I. Bieber, Irving,
1908-
[DNLM: 1. Homosexuality. 2. Psychoanalysis. WM 615 H7665J
RC558.3.H65 1988 616.85'834-dc 19
DNLM/DLC for Library ofCongress 88-14560 CIP
Manufacturedin the United States of America.
JasonAronsonInc.offersbooksandcassettes. ForinformationandcatalogwritetoJason
Aronson, Inc., 230Livingston St., Northvale, NJ07647
For Ralph H, Gundlach, Malvina W, Kremer,
Alfred H, Rifkin, and Paul Zimmering
Contents
Foreword ix
Preface xxv
I Concepts of Male Homosexuality 3
II Chronology and Methodology 19
III Mother-Son Relationship 44
IV Father-Son Relationship 85
V
Siblings 118
VI The Triangular System 140
VII Developmental Aspects of the Prehomosexual Child 173
VIII Homosexuality in Adolescence 207
IX The Sexual Adaptation of the Male Homosexual 220
X
"Latent" Homosexuality 255
XI The Results of Treatment 275
XII Conclusions 303
A
Appendix 321
Appendix B 349
Bibliography 351
Index 355
vu
Foreword
THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS have marked a
periodofsocial, behavioral, and ideological changein
male homosexuality. Homosexuality before then was hardly a topic of
casual conversation, nor was it an issue claiming the attention of
activists, politicians, and health workers, nor was it ever openly dealt
with in the mass media. When in 1963 the New York Times broke the
silence and ran a front-page feature story on male homosexuality, other
major pubUcations and television programs in quick succession followed
suit. The sexual revolution was already under way, but gay liberation as
an organized entity did not take off until the end of the sixties when it
joined the mainstream of the ongoing minority and women's protest
movements against discriminatory practices.
The loosening of uptight sexual attitudes and the significant less-
ening ofsocial taboos against homosexuals arenowpart ofeverydayHfe.
Incresisingly, however, there has been a blurring of lines between the
broadersocial, political, economic, anddiscriminatoryissues—especially
since the tragic onslaught ofAIDS—and the study and evaluation ofthe
psychologicalprocesses that determine an individual's capabilityofbeing
sexually turned on by another of the same sex. As psychoanalysts, our
scientific interest has been and continues to be centered on the psycho-
social development of homosexuality, its cognitive dynamics, family
dynamics, interpersonal processes, adaptive techniques, and the results
IX
X FOREWORD
of psychoanalytic therapy. The repubUcation of this book deals with
those same aspects exactly as written twenty-five years ago. Since then,
there has been a burgeoning of contributions, many with viewpoints
disparate to our own. With this foreword we aim to revisit some of the
original research, review salient aspects, and famiUarize the reader with
at least a few of our ideas and observations formulated since the book
was originally pubHshed (Bieber et al. 1962).*
When we began that project, the Society ofMedical Psychoanalysts
had 100 members from whom a group of analysts and two psychoana-
lytically trained psychologists were recruited—a research team that
co-authored this book. Of the Society's roster, seventy-seven analysts
volunteered as respondents; each filled out a detailed questionnaire that
tapped information from two patient samples consisting of 106 male
homosexuals and a comparison group of 100 male heterosexuals.
When the book first appeared, critics questioned the methodology
on two major points: first, how reUable were data obtained not directly
from patients but from their analysts (data concerning not only the
patients, but their families whom the analysts had never met); second,
could the findings obtained from a white, middle- and upper-class
patient sample be generalized to the homosexual population at large? In
theinterveningyearswehavepersonallyseenwell over 1,000homosexual
men in psychoanalytically focused interviews where we obtained infor-
mation from them directly. We also have examined many parents. A
substantial number were interviewed at a municipal hospital; others were
seen in private practice. The clinic patients came from a socioeconomic
stratum lower than those seen in private practice and were made up of
three ethnic groups: black, Puerto Rican, and white, distributed about
evenly. Thedata obtained were in accord with the findings first reported.
In those areas where we tapped similar items, the findings were in
agreement with a study done in England by Westwood (1960) of 127
working-class male homosexuals, only 5 percent of whom had ever been
in psychiatric treatment. Another study of nonpatient homosexuals by
Snortum and co-workers (1969) and one by Evans (1969), each using our
questionnaire, also reported findings similar toours, although there were
some differences in interpretation of data. The consistency of informa-
tion on nonpatients and patients coming from lower socioeconomic
The book was given the Hofheimer Award, Honorable Mention, by the
American Psychiatric Association, 1964.