answers given by the group. Mrs. Vostwald asked if
it was the lack of mutual sex interest which kept the homosexual men and women apart?
NEUROTIC HOSTILITY
One folt that it was not just the lack of sexual attraction, but a positive neurotic hostility to be found in both groups. groups. The group didn't do much with this thought but generally agreed that there was a need for the mingling of both sexes to share thoughts and attitudes with each other. It folt this was much healthier than strict separation of the groups. One male married couple felt that this was all very well but that in all their experience of trying to have mutual friends among the Lesbian group they had been frustrated. They didn't know whether it meant that they personally were disliked and unlikeable, or whether it meant that Lesbians were generally difficult people who did not wish to associate with malo homosexuals.
The thoughts and justifications brought up by some of the women on this problem were very interesting. Some felt that the reason their invitations had not been returned was due to the difference between the way the men and women lived...that where frequently the men were accomplished and able to entertain on a grand scale, that the women in most cases were not and that since they were unable to return in kind what they had so bountifully received, they returned nothing. particular aspect was continued after the roundtable with many insights being gained on the matter by the participant s.
This
Mrs. Vostwald posed tho question, "Do we have a social responsibility to fraternize?" The concensus seemed to be that we did, but it was brought out strongly in one quarter that no one should be forood into such relationships unless they so desired. This faction folt that all that could be done was being done in such co-educational ventures as the ONE Midwinter Institute. The roundtable was quite successful with much participation from both sexes.
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