STRENGTH AND HEALTH the self-improvement magazine

The following letter was written to the editors of STRENGTH AND HEALTH; the writer describes himself sufficiently to enable an understanding person to recognize the agony in which he has lived. But the heart-wrenching touch is not in what he writes but in the answer of the editors which is printed immediately after.

I am a boy 16 years old and in the eleventh grade in high school. I like sports and am normal in every respect except that I have homosexual tendencies. Ever since I can remember I have been this way.

I have wanted to write to you for some time but I could never get up the courage to tell anyone, even my parents. I don't mean this letter to be a display of exhibitionism but I feel that I can't keep this to myself any longer; I just have to tell someone.

I have not the slightest interest in the opposite sex, but the attraction of other fellows is as strong as any normal boy could have toward a girl.

I have always kept my desires in check but sometimes it seems as if it will be almost impossible to control them. It's so hard especially in the gym classes at school when we take showers and other places where there is so much temptation. I have hardly any feminine characteristics and I must have a normal attractiveness for the opposite sex for I never want opportunities for dates, but I have no interest in girls whatsoever.

While I admit I have a morbid interest in the pictures in Strength and Health I also have a definite desire to build my own body.

Of course I don't want you to publish this letter but if possible I would like the following question answered in the Ask the Doctor column.

What causes homosexualism and how can it be cured?

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