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Despite the title, this book is not about current psychoanalytic concepts of male homosexuality. Rather, the author selectively reviews the literature on male homosexuality from biological, social, psychological, psychiatric, and 'self-psychology' viewpoints. He tries to integrate these into a 'biopsychosocial' theory of male homosexuality for layman and professional alike.
Unfortunately, Dr Friedman does not define the term homosexual. In fact, he announces that he does not intend to define the term, lest it be viewed as a noun, rather than an adjective. Instead, he prefers to use the term to connote 'one's subjective sense of being homosexual' (p. 4) and further to differentiate this self-perception of one's identity and/or social role from one's gender identity.
Although the author leads one to believe that he is going to offer new theories about male homosexuality, he largely eschews explanatory concepts in favour of descriptive ones. In doing so, he categorizes his viewpoints according to (1) erotic fantasies, (2) sexual activity with others, (3) perceived sense of identity, and (4) social role. In describing these four components, Friedman relies heavily on the 1948 study by Kinsey, Pomeroy & Martin, using their seven point scale to determine a person's subjective sense of homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual identity.
Although Friedman makes a valiant effort to bring biological and social research into consideration with male homosexuality, he seems to conclude that—at this point—there are not firm or consistent data in these areas upon which to base sound conclusions about male homosexuality. The one exception, he suggests, is that 'gender identity disturbances in childhood strongly predispose males toward predominant or exclusive homosexuality during adulthood (p. 33).
Although interesting, the chapters on biological psychiatry, genetics, neuropsychology, anthropology, and sociology seem far removed from "a contemporary psychoanalytic perspective".
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