From: stephen@orchid.UCSC.EDU (x4604 (Hauskins))
Newsgroups: ca.politics,ba.politics
Subject: Re: More Evidence That Homosexuality... (too long)
Summary: Problems with interpretations.
Date: 18 Nov 92 19:55:40 GMT
Organization: Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: orchid.ucsc.edu

Here is my interpretation (IMHO) of the first paragraph presented
by Clayton Cramer in his post that revolves around the same issue.

>Clayton's Post-

>   In a study of forty-four sexually abused boys, Rogers and
>   Terry (1984) found that those who had experienced homo-
>   sexual abuse displayed confusion and anxiety over their
>   sexual identity.

This seems reasonable, since childern would be incapable of
making a clear analysis of what has happened to them. They are
also in a mental conflict which arises out of socialization to
what are considered the norms for sexual activity.  

>    The authors theorize that this confusion
>    stemmed from the boys' concern over both the reasons for
>    their selection as a victim, such as the possibility that
>    latent homosexual qualities were recognized by the abuser,
>    and their inadequate resistance to the abuse.

Now this could have several meanings- latent homosexual qualiites,
in other words, interest in sex and interest in other males, somewhat
normal for childern and young boys. And an abuser who saw their
interest and acted on it.  Now inadequate resistance could mean
a few things- their curiousity was greater than their mental
resistance, or they were physically unable to resist.

Also in the above part they seem to indicate that there are other
reasons for the confusion that boys experience, but they only tell
us one.  So when I look at the one indicated 'latent homosexual
qualities' it almost appears as though they are saying this is
what the boys reported to them as feelings they were having.

Does this mean that these boys are exhibiting the desire for and
interest in homosexual relationships?  And does it mean that the
abuser was able to detect and see these desires?  And so what
we actually have are boys who may have the desire already, and
abusers who see and act on it. 

>    Gundlach (1977) reports that ten of eighteen women abused as girls
>    by strangers, and sixteen of seventeen of those abused by
>    family members, had chosen a homosexual lifestyle. 

Well this is fairly straight forward in meaning and it may simply indicate
a manifestation of fear in women who were abused by males.  This manifestation
causes them to feel secure and comfortable in relationships with other
women.  Also note the age of this part 1977- there have been many studies
since that have in fact demostrated problems with older studies because of
the bias in the researchers and poor study methodologies. 

>    Along similar lines, Bess and Janssen (1982) note that three
>    of the five molested male psychiatric patients whom they
>    interviewed had an ego-dystonic homosexual orientation
>    -- that is, homosexuality was not the orientation they
>    wanted.  (Ego-syntonic homosexuality, by contrast, is
>    an orientation the person enjoys and wants.)  It is curious,
>    however, that sexual experiences with a man might lead both
>    boys and girls to a homosexual orientation later in life.

Note here they say 'psychiatric patients', these are people who
have problems 'sexual' and probably others, stemming from what
we do not know... since they did expand on the scope of mental
problems that these 'patients' were exhibiting. Note in the previous
paragraph when they researchers were commenting on the women they
made no mention of them as  'psychiatric patients'.

>    If the mechanism for girls is that they develop a dislike
>    for sexual activity with those of the same sex as their
>    abuser, one would expect that the same mechanism would
>    cause seuxally abused boys to develop an even stronger
>    heterosexual orientation than the rest of the population.
>    As yet, there is no explanation for this apparent 
>    contradiction.[Jeffrey J. Haugaard and N. Dickon Reppuci,
>    _The Sexual Abuse of Children: A Comprehensive Guide to
>    Current Knowledge and Intervention Strategies_, (San 
>    Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers: 1989), 71.]

> What's interesting about this passage is the admission that
> there appears to be a connection between child sexual abuse
> and adult homosexuality, and yet, the authors can't come up
> with a model to explain it -- but that doesn't prevent them
> from acknowledging that a correlation exists.
>-- 
>Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer  My opinions, all mine!

So they made an 'admission' that there appears to be a connection 
between child sexual abuse and adult homosexuality?  It appears to
me what they are doing is reporting findings about their test subjects
and what they did to deal with their sexual abuse as childern. As far
as the lack of a model goes, they were refering to the contradiction 
as outlined in the above part of the passage.

I also find interesting that the researchers used 'latent homosexual
qualities' that either or both victim and abuser, acknowledged or
saw, respectively.  What this seems to indicate is that  as far as
boys were concerned, that they may have had latent (hidden) desires
for homosexual activity.  

My conclusion from the paragraph posted by Clayton Cramer.

Sexual abuse does not lead to homosexuality in adults.  Bold statement,
yes, becuase if we read the above very carefully we see that there are
indications that the boys involved may have already had inclinations
towards being homosexual.  Why? well you will notice that not all abused
boys ( abused by males ) become homosexual. With the girls we see that
they strongly polarized away from heterosexual adult relationships, becuase
of the feeling of security and haven within a relationship with another
women. And women face a different type of abuse it ranges from sexual to
mental to societal.  They are treated as inferior to men, and men who
abuse girls are looking for a sense of power and identity for their own
failed egos and mentality.  These men will also attack boys for many of
the same reasons.  And there is no doubt that there exist men who wish
to have sex with boys because of a myriad of other reasons relating to
issues of self worth and self control combined with a low self esteem.
And because they are Pedophiles, not heterosexual, not homosexual, not
asexual.

Can sexual abuse disrupt sexual maturation processes? Of course, and it
doesn't matter if you started out with an inclination towards being 
heterosexual or homosexual.

What we need to see and realize is what the initial inclination of the child is
sexually. It is the subjection to sexual abuse that causes distortion and
disruption of the sexual identity process, and in that lies the mental
and emotional problems of the victim. We must also remember that many of the
subjects involved in clinical studies tend to have a wide scope of mental
and emotional problems that have stemmed from many other sources besides
sexual abuse.