Gay 'cure' to be put to the test

Ten of Swords

Openly gay doctor Christian Jessen, best known for his work on Embarrassing Bodies is filming a new series for Channel 4 called Cure Me, I'm Gay.

Christian will be investigating new cure therapies to find out if they can be harmful both physically and emotionally to patients.

He reveals over the course of the documentary that he has often had homosexual patients who are desperate to be straight. After his own intense course of treatment he will take a sexuality test using an eye tracker and a device which measures sexual arousal. Christian will also speak to people who claim to be straight as a result of the therapies and he’ll ask them to take a lie detector test to prove their claims.

I admit I'm curious to see this. I really hope he is able to debunk some of the myths about the gay cures out there. I believe they can be very harmful to vulnerable people struggling to accept their sexuality.

http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/christian-jessen-test-homosexual-therapies-cure-im-gay-channel-4/

Pai Mei

Seems like a great idea, glad someone is actually going to really put these things to the test and televise it also so everyone can see

floggg

Pai Mei wrote: »

Seems like a great idea, glad someone is actually going to really put these things to the test and televise it also so everyone can see

Of course the medical community has already tested it abs found them wholly without merit.

Ambersky

I think its great too. All these little messages add up to dispel the myths that people who are gay have something wrong with them and talking about cures certainly does imply illness.
We have recently been hearing about a certain christian group in Ireland that was putting forward advice on curing homosexuality and some people will cling to that idea rather than face the possibility of rejection from their community.
Community leaders would also often rather think that LGBT people obstinately choose a forbidden "lifestyle" which even if it has taken hold can be cured, rather than face the idea of their own unwelcoming hurtful bigotry. They dont like to see themselves in that light and hold up members who say they have been cured of their homosexuality up as proof that being gay is a curable illness and proof that they are right to hold fast against this immorality for the good of people in general who will eventually see the error of their ways.

Pai Mei

floggg wrote: »

Of course the medical community has already tested it abs found them wholly without merit.

I know but at least they will be televised so the message reaches everyone who sees it cause I'm sure there is still people out there who would believe they do have some merit

AerynSun

Ten of Swords wrote: »

I really hope he is able to debunk some of the myths about the gay cures out there. I believe they can be very harmful to vulnerable people struggling to accept their sexuality.

It would be great if people would see the light and stop trying to 'fix' LGBT people. What worries me about his proposed documentary is the bit about using a lie detector test as a valid proof of anything.

If he's prepared to 'take the test' to prove he hasn't been cured, then what's to stop the 'cured' people offering to 'take the test' too, to prove that they have been cured? As far as I understand, if they desperately want to believe that they're cured (and I've read published research papers about this), that belief can sit at such a deep place psychologically that a lie detector test would not detect a lie. They believe they are cured, they're not lying about that, they believe it, because their place in their homophobic communities depends on their being 'cured'. The fact that they still have same-sex attraction would be a source of extreme distress for them, but they would not own or integrate those attractions as theirs, they would project them elsewhere.

I like the idea of finding a way to debunk the 'cure' theory... but I would hate for people to end up going through more trauma in their attempts to prove their cure, in response to your man's methods of proving a cure false.

Ten of Swords

AerynSun wrote: »

I like the idea of finding a way to debunk the 'cure' theory... but I would hate for people to end up going through more trauma in their attempts to prove their cure, in response to your man's methods of proving a cure false.

Completely agree but for me the 'end result' is not the full picture here, I think it's important that the actual processes and therapies are shown so people contemplating these 'cures' are shown exactly what is involved and what they will be expected to do / undergo.