Discussion

Dr. Gershman is to be congratulated. He has been able to concentrate in one paper such a vast amount of material as the history of homosexuality, its symptomatology and its psychodynamics, as well as an accurate report of personal observations of which he has a very rich and instructive collection.

For me it is difficult to comment on this paper. In fact, there is practically nothing in it with which I disagree. The differences, from my point of view, are in emphasis: I give slightly more importance to the genetic than to the functional aspect of the symptoms. However, I shall discuss briefly a few specific points which Dr. Gershman has made and then a general view of the nature of homosexuality.

In discussing the psychodynamics of homosexuality, Dr. Gershman states that the child who is to become a homosexual feels his sexuality rejected. The child then takes over the role of rejecting that same particular facet in himself. I myself have found this genetic factor in several cases of homosexuality. The child attributes the parental rejection to the fact that he or she belongs to a given sex and unconsciously tries to acquiesce to the parental wish by assuming the characteristics of the opposite sex.

One of my patients, one of the relatively few homosexuals whose therapy I consider successful, belongs to that category. He was the third child and the third boy in the family. Before his birth, everyone in the family expected a girl. Baby clothes were bought in colors suitable for girls only. From birth the patient was subjected to maternal rejection against which he tried to defend himself by assuming characteristics of a girl. In childhood he did most of the housework, helped the mother in the selection of her clothes, with the cooking, and so forth. At the age of puberty he found himself sexually interested in men and horrified at the idea of sexual relations with women.

Many such patients develop a compliant,