HIGH GEAR/OCTOBER 1977

DOROTHY...EXPLAINED

By Terrence Edwards

Dorothy Fuldheim, a respected Cleveland TV news commentator, recently appeared on Johnny Carson's Tonight show. Near the end of the program, Johnny asked Dorothy if she felt that a homosexual teacher should be discharged from his position because of his affectional preference. Dorothy scored an "A" for the objective part of the test but an "F" for the essay portion. She correctly concluded that sexual preference should not be a consideration in evaluating the performance of teachers and I'm sure that having a charming 84 year old lady say so on national television did us no harm.

But Dorothy prefaced her opinion by stating that from an historical perspective, one could see in nature the evolutionary chain of the reproductive instinct from an asexual form to its present heterosexual organization. In fairness to Dorothy, we would indicate that she had less than 90 seconds to respond to so important an issue. She continued by saying that homosexuality was a deviation from the normal, and she indicated that she knew that gays resented her saying that homosexuality was an abnormality. I have no problem accepting this characterization if what is meant by abnormal is "not typical, not average," but when abnormal is judgmentally viewed as unnatural or explained as a malformation of the sexual instinct, I do object. I take exception with Dorothy when she tries to link sexual functioning exclusively with the role of reproduction in society.

Few deny the genius of nature and its unlimited capacity for evolution and adaptation. But in its present form, sexuality also facilitates the pleasure principle. As Dorothy has correctly observed, reproduction of an organism was not always dependent upon the mating impulse. Why nature chose not to remain hermaphroditic is unimportant. The existential reality is that she did not, that she chose to link the reproductive function in humans with one of the available avenues of sexual pleasure -the genitals. She also invested other areas and other activities of humans with erotic components.

Freud exploded the myths concerning childhood sexuality and today scientists acknowledge that humans pursue sexual pleasure long before the orgasmic capability has been

developed. Freud adequately demonstrated that the child first uses its mouth to derive sexual pleasure, that this is the reason that a child continues to suck an object which has no nutritional properties. We know that parents frequently try to interrupt the child's independent attempts to experience these pleasurable sensations. Abruptly deprived

this pleasure producing possibility before s/he was willing to voluntarily relinquish it, the child, become wo/man, seeks and experiences strong sensual relief from oral activities such as drinking, smoking, kissing to mention some but not all of the possibilities. Left unencumbered by parents who refused to place negative "moral" values on these harmless activities, the child would naturally move to the following stage of libidinal development.

Next the child seeks pleasure at the other end of the alimentary canal. She takes great delight in anal functions and anal by-products, a fact which is a source of embarrassment and consternation to puritan parents and the child's uninhibited glee in experimenting with and ex-

ploring anal pleasures undoubtedly hastens parental attempts to "civilize" their youngsters bowel habits. Again, the acrimony and confrontation which frequently accompany these attempts leave lasting impressions on the child, and the psychological sciences have even advanced the notion that interference in the libidinal development of these two stages is later manifested in specific character traits in the adult personality.

We also know that children are keenly aware of and exhibit an interest in their genitals. They seem to derive some satisfaction and pleasure from touching or manipulating them. Little boys frequently experience erections long before genital copulation could appropriatel

MEDIA WATCH

have bought time on the show. If What to do when "Soap" Gets you have any comments on this in Your Eyes.

by Jeff Carnes

ABC, the network who has brought up "Operation Petticoat" and "The Love Boat" has yet another insult to your intelligence: "Soap".

Anyone who has watched this poor excuse for a situation comedy can plainly see the writer's (Susan Harris) ignorance with her stereotypical portrayal of a gay person, as is seen in the role of Jodie. Jodie is supposed to be a man, but there are very few gay people who are limp-wristed and wish to have a sex change operation. In fact, even though ABC and the writer insist that he is gay, he seems more transsexual than homosexual.

This program is a return to television's archaic idea the gays are 99 percent swishy. While all three commerical networks (public television WVIZ and WNEOhave always been realistic) were finally characterizing homosexuals as common, everyday, living, breathing individuals, Soap has revived the old Screaming Queen stereotype. It is imperative we remind the networks, affiliated stations and sponsors that gay people are not going to stand silently while they are slandering us.

If everyone gets off his ass and gets moving, maybe we can get ABC, WEWS and the other affiliates to take some action. But it will not happen until the gay community lets them know how we feel.

One of the best ways to show your anger is by writing to either ABC or your local ABC affiliate station.

An equally good technique is to telephone these stations (or ABC headquarters) and register your complaint. The best time to do this is immediately after the show (9:55 pm TUESDAYS).

Next month, I plan to update the "Soap situation and sponsors who

article or suggestions for future topics, please send them to: Jeff Carnes, MEDIA WATCH, c/o High Gear, POB 6177, Cleve., OH 44101. ADDRESSES OF ABC AND AREA AFFILIATES

Mr. Fred Silverman, President ABC Entertainment 1330 Ave. of the Americas NY, NY 10019 (212) 581-7777

HAL'S

serve nature's reproductive plan.

The independent pursuit of sexual and genital gratification long before the "Thou shalt not's" have been internalized indicate to me that it is indeed nature's design that pleasure be pursued as an end in itself. That over the millenniums she has alloplastically modified the solitary organism's ability to reproduce itself, or her reasons for doing so, are irrevelant. What is clear is that nature did not always require two organisms for reproduction and those who speciously argue that an exclusively homosexual society would doom mankind's existence and is therefore unnatural, fail to give nature the credit she is due.

In an attempt to legitimize

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their homophobic repudiation of same sex relations, straights have introduced the spurious consideration of animal sexual preference. Whether bulls and barnacles get it on the homosex is not germane to discussions of human sexuality, and gays who attempt to show that this phenomenon occasionally occurs in animal sexuality, do themselves and our movement a disservice. We don't pattern our sexual behavior after that of canines just as right wing homophobic "heterosexuals" don't imitate the promiscuous sexual patterns in evidence in the lower phyla.

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