Not every reader will agree with the following statements of Dr. Kenneth Fink, but they nevertheless represent consid ered professional opinion drawn from extensive counseling experience. (Please see professional details about the author at the end of this article.)

The Psychodynamics

of the Homosexual

Freud, about sixty years ago, drew attention to the connection between paranoid tendencies and homosexuality. He believed that every paranoid individual had homosexual tendencies. Although some doctors still debate the universality of this concept, there is some truth also in the reverse of this: that homosexuals tend to be paranoid, but often with good reason! They find themselves—as do certain other minority groups-persecuted and exploited, illegally trapped and blackmailed. Although there thus is some justification for paranoid feelings, there is the danger that the homosexual will lash out even at the people who are trying to help him. I have noticed this in some of my homosexual patients. At times, they may consider me the only "square" who will listen to them without condemnation. Yet, when convenient, they will lie to me as they do to family and friends-destroying some of the confidence I have in them, during their progress toward a better adjustment to society.

Adjustment to a Heterosexual Society

All generalities have their exceptions, so that anything I write cannot possibly hold for every homosexual. But, since the literature on homosexuality is confusing and contradictory, a person speaks best from his own experience, working with homosexuals. When the homosexual boy who feels persecuted tries to reverse things by exploiting society, this does not endear him to a culture which already looks upon him as "queer" and different. It is obviously unwise for the homophile to deliberately make trouble out of a need for revenge against society. Society may have helped make him a homosexual, but it certainly did not do this knowingly or on purpose. To act mattachine REVIEW

dishonest-such as my patient who skipped town for a year to escape payments on his car, bank loans, etc.-is not the best way to win friends or understanding. This particular patient returned to town to face the music, has had only one homosexual "slip" during the past year, and hopes now to remain heterosexual in his adjustment and ultimately get married and have children. He has been bisexual and has a good chance to make a reasonably good marital adjustment since he has increasingly enjoyed the company of women, even more than he used to enjoy men.

It is not unusual to have a bisexual patient who eventually achieves a fairly successful marriage. What is particularly gratifying is when these men find heterosexuality really pleasurable! As one told me on the phone from his honeymoon hotel in Miami Beach, "Gosh, I never knew what fun heterosexuality could be! All those lost years with the fellows!" He was a bisexual boy with a college education and a good job, and he has made a commendable adjustment to married life. Although his young wife knew of his homosexual problem before their wedding, she accepted him without censure. Her under standing and faith in him helped him win out in his struggle toward a heterosexual adjustment.

During this boy's psychoanalysis (while I practiced in New York City some years ago), he was encouraged to date young women until the point where he began to feel somewhat at ease with them. He began to lose his fear of women, ceased having to ask me questions such as, "Whatever do you talk about with a woman?" and "What do you do when you're with a girl?" He was as green and naive in social relationships as a little boy at his first dance. But instruction and patience paid off! As might be expected, he first gravitated toward some rather masculine women, in line with his homosexual leanings and previous experience with boys. But these sexually indifferent girls were of no help in stimulating serious interest in heterosexuality, since they had sexual problems of their own! Becoming bolder, he chanced it with women who were more feminine, who encouraged him to be attentive and let his hair down, which helped to lessen his previously painful self-consciousness in the presence of the opposite sex. Through an introduction, while on vacation away from home, he met the fine girl that he married. This girl's feminine instincts and dependent nature helped to bring out her husband's latent masculinity, so that the match has worked out well, even though such marriages are often heterosexual in name only.

Another advantage of this particular relationship was that the girl was initially just as inexperienced sexually as the boy. Therefore, she did not expect too much sexual finesse from her husband. Together, they learned about sex, teaching each other what each needed for proper satisfaction. Since they grew in knowledge and awareness at the same rate of speed, there were