EDITORIAL

A friend in London sent us a copy of Homosexuality by Donald J. West which was published in the U. S. under the title The Other Man and which we reviewed last month.

In his book Dr. West refers to One which he says "circulates among American homosexuals and rather pathetically addresses itself to clergymen and others begging for sympathetic understanding and deploring the condemnation of homosexuals by organized religion."

We have news for Dr. West on two counts. First, One is widely read outside of America. It has friends in England, India, and Australia who subscribe. We also know that it is read all over Europe.

Second, anyone who takes time to go through his copies of One will be unable to find any article which "pathetically addresses" anyone, much less clergymen. On the contrary, One's June 1954 issue (Religion and the Homosexual) seemed pretty rough on the Church.

Either Dr. West has never seen the magazine, or else has let slip a careless generalization unbecoming a scientist. And in other respects it is hard to understand how a man who writes as sensibly as Dr. West can should so readily go off the scientific "gold standard" at times. Perhaps scientists suffer from some strange malady endemic to their caste. It may be we ask too much in expecting scientists to absorb mountains of literature and layers of traditions and yet become infected by none of the virus. An interesting thought: Do those who elect to become professional scientists suffer from specific psychological deficiencies? A study should be done on this sometime.

Whatever may be "the cause and cure of professionalism," when are we to find someone who can observe men and women with simple objectivity? We become so very weary of these old, old patterns, the "immaturityparental-inhibition" hypotheses, inherited (let them protest as they may) from Freud. It would be all right if there were facts to support the hypotheses. But are there?

Listen to Dr. West: "The completely homosexual man, one who is repelled rather than attracted by feminine charms, really suffers from an abnormal inhibition." Elsewhere, "Real abnormality is in question when homo-eroticism predominates and the individual cannot enjoy relations with the opposite sex." Later he says, "However one tries to smooth the path of normal development, so that more and more can attain full stature, a few will always run into difficulties and find solace in this half-way adjustment." Then he speaks of, "the compulsive homosexuality that comes from inhibitions about the opposite sex," and, "the class of the true homosexual, consisting of all those who fell into deviant habits as a result of anxieties and hindrances in the course of heterosexual development."

Speaking of homosexual love he says, "To the analyst such love is neither unnatural nor incomprehensible but simply immature." Of homosexuals themselves, "The most important trait, certainly the most noticeable to a psychiatrist, is the pronounced sense of guilt and shame." Of the root of the matter, "The point stands out above all others the unusual attachment to mother."

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