at all times and seeks to promote responsible citizenship."
Another factor of these organizations that should be studied at some later date is that of membership. Active membership appears to be quite small, but magazine circulation is larger. Conjecture would have it that the vast majority of homosexuals do not know and would not care about the organization as such, although "moral support" would probably be forthcoming from most homosexuals.
When it was stated that the primary emphasis of these organizations seemed to be aimed at society, it should have been noted that one "strategy" seems to be to direct much energy toward the intellectual and educational leaders of society. These social leaders are undoubtedly the most accessible and the most interested in the problem, and they are also enjoying a growth of prestige at this time. The Mattachine Society seeks to aid research projects (e.g., Institute for Sexual Research, Indiana; Institute for the Investigation of Human Ecology, New York; and various colleges). Students are aided in as many ways as possible. A fairly comprehensive library and bookstore are open to all interested parties. And, of course, research findings (and other works) may be published and disseminated insofar as possible.
Much effort, nevertheless seems to be directed at the general public itself. The " ..program is based primarily on education: first, directed at the public at large, providing unbiased, factual information about the true aspects of human sexual behavior....”
The literature, of course, also serves several other functions for the homosexual. Just as it happens with other minority groups, they frequently attack and ridicule their adversaries, find rationalizations and create in-group hu. mor via their books and articles.
Extensive use is also made of, mass communication media. A notable example is the sixty-minute F.M. radio documentary that was cited above. Recently the Society helped to produce a ninety-minute television documentary film. Homosexual literature is currently being advertised and reviewed in national magazines.28
In view of all this-and much more-the "problem" of homosexuality appears far from insoluble. For until quite recently "homosexuality" (the word and the subject) were unmentionable and taboo. Now, though it is frequently mentioned, it still may be quite "electric." "From silence to discussion, even without enlightenment, is progress, for enlightenment becomes inevitable through discussion and impossible without it."29
Of a somewhat more tangible nature concerning the individual homosexual,
28. The Sixtb Man, by Jess Stearn was advertised in a recent issue of The Reporter; and reviewed in a recent issue of Saturday Review.
29. Donald W. Cory, op. cit., p. 433.
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the Mattachine Society provides a limited social service function. It maintains some liaison with health departments, hospitals, mental health groups and clinics, probation offices and correctional institutions. It also helps some individuals solve employment problems, and advises on medical, psychological and legal aid problems. Needless to say, the literature benefits the interested homosexual in a direct manner also.
In conclusion, homosexuals in-the-abstract (the "articulate spokesmen"), are reacting to society and to those social sanctions they deem unfair. They are reacting primarily on the level of ideas and communication, and in so doing are seeking to combat miseducation and prejudice. While it was sug gested that the burden of responsibility for solving this "social problem" rested with the larger society, it now appears that the homosexual leaders are taking a good part of the initiative toward this end. As Donald W. Cory aptly states: "the homosexual is no longer a pariah without his intellectual defender."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berry, Brewton, Race and Ethnic Relations, Boston, The Riverside Press, c. 1951. Cory, Donald Webster, Homosexuality, A Cross-Cultural Approach, New York, Th The Julian Press, Inc., c. 1956.
Cory, Donald Webster, The Homosexual in America, New York, Greenberg, c. 1951. Cutler, Marvin, ed., Homosexuals Today, Los Angeles, Publications Division of One Inc., c. 1956.
Ellis, Albert, "The Influence of Heterosexual Culture," in Homosexuality, A CrossCultural Approach, Donald Webster Cory, New York, The Julian Press, Inc., c. 1956. Geddes, Donald Porter, ed., An Analysis of the Kinsey Reports on Sexual Bebavior in the Human Male and Female, New York, the New American Library of Literature, Inc., c. 1954.
Hooker, Evelyn, Ph.D., "Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual," Mattachine Review, Vol. IV, No. 1, (Jan., 1958); (Reprinted from The Journal of Projective Techniques, Vol. 21, No. 1, 1957.)
Lee, Alfred McClung, ed., Principles of Sociology, New York, Barnes & Noble, Inc., c. 1939.
Lemert, Edwin M., Social Pathology, New York, McGraw-Hill Books Co., Inc., c. 1951. Lindesmith, Alfred R., and Anselm L. Strauss, Social Psychology, revised edition, New York, Henry Holt & Co., Int., c. 1949.
Mathews, Arthur Guy, Is Homosexuality a Menace?, New York, Robert M. McBride Co., c. 1957.
Thompson, Elsa Knight, moderator, The Homosexual in Our Society, transcript of a program broadcast on November 24, 1958 by radio station KPFA-KPFB FM, Berke, ley, California, c. 1959, Pan-Graphic Press, San Francisco.
Westwood, Gordon, Society and the Homosexual, New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., c. 1952.
Wildeblood, Peter, Against the Law, New York, Julian Messner, Inc., c. 1959. Miscellaneous handbills, pamphlets, bulletins, etc., printed by, and concerning the Mattachine Society, Inc., Daughters of Bilitis, Inc., and One, Inc., (Also, several informal interviews with officers of the first organization cited.)
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زیره