Most people have heard of the term "sexual orientation" at least once in their lives. It refers to an individual's enduring physical, romantic, emotional, and/or spiritual attraction towards other people who they find desirable for any kind of relationship, be it sexual, platonic, romantic, or otherwise. Sexual orientations can include heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality, pansexuality, and more.
Historically, medical and psychiatric frameworks have tried to pathologize LGBTQ identities and behaviors by labeling them as diseases that needed to be cured. In this article, I will explore how these historical pathologies were constructed and what effects they had on the healthcare system.
The concept of sexual identity was born out of the field of psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud, one of the most influential figures in psychology, believed that every person was made up of three parts: Id, Ego, and Superego. He also believed that sexual desire is inherent in everyone from birth but must be repressed due to societal norms, which he called the Oedipus Complex. This idea led him to believe that anyone with a sexual desire outside of what society deemed acceptable (such as same-sex attractions) could not possibly be normal and thus required treatment. As a result, many individuals who identified themselves as gay or lesbian were often sent to mental institutions where they would undergo treatments like electroshock therapy and lobotomies to "cure" their supposed illnesses.
In 1952, Alfred Kinsey published his book "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male," which explored human sexual behavior across gender, race, class, and sexual orientation. His findings contradicted everything people thought about sexual orientations at the time; for example, he discovered that around 46% of American men had engaged in some form of homosexual activity during their lives.
His work wasn't well received by the medical community and even led to an investigation into his research methods. Despite this, Kinsey's groundbreaking study helped pave the way for more open discussions about sex and sexuality in the coming years.
As the LGBTQ movement gained momentum throughout the '60s and '70s, activists began pushing back against these pathologizing frameworks. They argued that being queer was not an illness but rather a natural part of human diversity. Their fight paid off when the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its official list of diseases in 1973. But even after this landmark decision, many healthcare providers still treated queerness as something that needed curing. It wasn't until later decades that LGBTQ-affirmative care became standard practice among most hospitals and clinics.
So what did these historical pathologies mean for those who identified with them? In short, they were often subjected to cruel and harmful treatments that aimed to erase any trace of their identity or desire. This included forced sterilization, conversion therapy, institutionalization, electroshock therapy, lobotomies, and other forms of physical and psychological torture. Many individuals lost their jobs, homes, families, and identities due to these pathologizing frameworks, which is why it's so important we continue to fight against them today.
How did medical and psychiatric frameworks historically pathologize LGBTQ identities and behaviors?
Medical and psychiatric frameworks have long been used as a means of pathologizing LGBTQ identities and behaviors. In fact, until 1973, homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).