Have you heard from Dr. Jacobs yet? We were at the same meeting this week but she disappeared before I could reach her. I would really prefer to have a face-to-face dialogue rather than one using public remarks, so I would appreciate your help.

Matt Foreman, executive director of the Task Force, when commenting on Bailey’s latest study (as reported by the New York Times), said “We remain stunned that The New York Times science section would carry such a shoddy, sensationalistic and downright insulting story. It and the profoundly flawed ‘study’ it purports to cover are laced with biased premises, misstatements and inaccuracies. It equates sexual orientation with sexual arousal, as supposedly measured by a crude device—considered highly suspect by researchers—in the hands of an individual with a long history of controversial research”

The Task Force challenged the equation of arousal with orientation, noting that “sexual orientation is defined by a combination of cognitive and physical responses, not just whether one’s genitals respond in a certain way to pornography.” Since the researchers’ thesis is that “for men, arousal is orientation,” the Task Force asked, “Does this mean that one-third of the participants had no sexual orientation?” (in Bailey’s study, 1/3 of the participants had NO reaction to either types of porn).

Indeed, such a reductionistic definition of sexual orientation leaves out important elements of human sexuality NOT easily measured by physical means, such as romantic love/attraction or self concept.

Ricky

1) I apologize. He was a Moonie for twenty years, and maried under their auspices. “He has been married for nearly 23 years — an arranged marriage that he said was suggested by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon when he and his wife were members of the Unification Church, to which they belonged for 20 years.” Wash Post last week.

2)Thank you. I can easily call Ruth, but I find email easier. I’d like to sit down and have coffee with her and try to talk things through before the next board meeting.

3) It’s interesting that Bailey did not mention that childhood video at all during the conference.