True, we had worried about him, as he seemed to be always unhappy, sullen and taciturn-with an inability to make friends. However, he does have a few select boy friends. -boys like himself who've never participated nor been interested in sports of any kind.

"My husband never could understand this, as he was active in athletics in his own boyhood. We've encouraged Jake to take part in sports, but never forced him. He has a decided aversion to that sort of thing. Music and art are his interests.

"After finding the letter, we consulted a psychiatrist who has seen our son twice, and called us in for further consultation. He says our son has definite feminine traits, instincts, etc., and that he hasn't made the transition from feminine to masculine, as is natural for boys at his age.

"Like most parents, we don't understand this sexual maladjustment and don't know how to cope. We'll continue Jake's psychiatric treatment, of course, but also want to help at home. Will you please suggest some books we might read. . . . -C.F."

Miss Helpful said there wasn't much reliable literature available, but recommended Bergler (!) as best example that "mists of ignorance, prudery and misconception... are beginning to lift a little." She threw in the stylish charge that Kinsey's work was "compiled without psychiatric insight"-(his initial training was in psychology.) He surely displayed more psychiatric insight than these glib journalist "counsellors," or Dr. Bergler, or this psychiatrist who tells parents their son hasn't made the "transition from feminine to masculine, as is natural for boys at his age." That is novel .. Kinsey, at least, would have

one

had the tolerance and good sense to stop tormenting the boy and let him be himself. It's no crime to prefer music and arts to sports. . . .

Aug 12th TIME has another brilliant thesis (from AMA JOURNAL) on cause of sex deviation. Minnesota psychiatrists Dr. Adelaide Johnson and Dr. David Robinson blame parents for homosexuality, along with sadism, masochism, fetishism, voyeurism, transvestism and bestiality-all caused by parents seducing children-a notion Freud dropped years ago when he found he himself was planting these infant-incest fantasies in his patients. But Drs. Robinson and Johnson define seduction more liberally: "It may be as subtle as a caress or as blatant as actual incest." They count as seduction, permissiveness when child engages in self-stimulation; outright coercion; frankness in discussing sex, or appearing nude before children; parental bathing or inspection of genitals; sleeping with children of opposite sex; concern lest child misbehave sexually ("a consciously guileless adolescent who is subjected to suspicious, suggestive, unfriendly quizzing angrily apprehends that he is expected to misbehave sexually. The parents' fantasy provides a compelling guide.")

Drs. Johnson and Robinson concede that parents were in turn warped by their parents. They admit treatment is "a prodigious task," and recommend prevention. Watch for "Who sleeps with whom in the family. Which ones bathe together and do they bathe themselves? What are the family habits regarding bathroom privacy? Is there a healthy degree of modesty in the home?"

So one brand of authorities say