the first research project done on this scale on Lesbians on a non-clinical basis.
This
The results of this study were published in our September, 1959 issue. There are of course certain weaknesses, such as the absence of a control group. Also this was naturally a self-selected group answering the questionnaire. project was not done with the presumption of its being equal to any similar studies done by persons with professional training but rather it was hoped by our initiating such a study that: 1, we could gather general data on Lesbians not likely to come to the attention of the public or professional researchers; 2, to gain an idea of the extent of response from such questionnaires by our subscribers; 3, to gain experience in framing and handling such questionnaires; and 4, to stimulate interest by publication of results so as to encourage further research.
We further extended our research by publishing the results of a comparison study between the male and female homosexual in the September 1960 LADDER.
Our purposes for doing these studies have certainly been fulfilled, for, after the reading of a synopsis of our work during our first convention in 1960, we have received innumerable requests for copies of both studies. The most noteworthy here, because of their interest in further research on Lesbians, are: Dr. Gershwin of New York, heading a research committee of the Society of Medical Psychoanalysts; Dr. Alexander Rosen of the State of California Dept. of Mental Health; and Dr. Robert Stroller of the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles. We will soon be giving our assistance to Dr. Stroller in his research project on the investigation of the psychological, psychiatric, and sociological aspects of the lives of poople with other than usual problems in sexual adjustment. Another is Dr. Ralph H. Gundlach, psychologist from New York, who has just completed a project with a committee of the Society of Medical Psychoanalysts on the male homosexual and heterosexual in therapy. Dr. Gundlach has met with us in San Francisco and stated that sur comparison study on the male homosexual on a non-clinical basis was of help to them in their study and that the two studies added strength and validity to each other. Dr. Gundlach has asked for our co-operation on a study on the Lesbians
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