Well, this issue seems to be picking up some steam. Here is an article about it. The article by Dr. Schoenewolf is here; so let’s talk.
UPDATE: NARTH responds to criticism over the article on their blog:
Michael and others, regarding Gerald Schoenewolf, Ph.D.
Michael, you are trying to discredit Narth by attacking individual members. You seem to be scouring the Narth website looking for information that you can distort and use for your disinformation campaign. Your resent attack on Schoenewolf is classic. If you can imply he is a racist then his opinion does not count and he becomes invalidated. Then by associated Narth is also racist, homophobic, or religious and Narth has no voice. I think you are doing this because Narth is making a difference in people’s lives and beginning to make an impact on a larger organization like the APA.
As far the article you refer to, I posted the link below for others to read the entire paper in context. It is a rather interesting article title, Gay Rights and Political Correctness: A Brief History.
My views on his comments about race are as follows. He is not saying slavery was a good thing nor, is he saying it was no big deal. What he is saying is that good things can come out of bad situations. The good that came out of it was that African people came to America. Coming to America was a great thing because America is the greatest country in the world. When a person has been victimized by some unfortunate circumstance, one way to cope with it is to get something positive out of it. This in no way minimizes the traumatic event. Slavery was an immoral practice and a shameful event in the history of the United States. However, slavery was not just practiced by America. Schoenewolf points this out in the paper. He says that slavery was practiced by the Africans themselves. In addition, slavery was used by many other cultures and countries for many centuries.
http://www.narth.com/docs/schoenewolf2.html
Posted by: Sojourneer at September 20, 2006
Mary – Go to the very end of the post, there is a link there with the article archived. Let me know if you can’t find it.
The original article by Schoenewolf has been removed. I’d like to see it for myself. Does anyone know if it is mirrored anywhere? I haven’t found it.
The article is not retracted until a person with a real name, a person with authority to speak for NARTH, removes it and responds to the “duly noted” crticisms.
Victimhood is not just a perceptual problem of the individual which he must “overcome” or “percieve differently.” If oppression exists, part of overcoming it is railing against the forces that encourage it, out of empathy for future victims.
David Blakeslee
It just gets worse.
Mike’s interpretatin of the article is a valid interpretation. The author is a psychoanalyst who views the world from the inside of his office and is completely oversimplifying complex social phenomenon: that oversimiplification is also biased against legitimate outrage against chronic injustices.
Accusing Mike of “scouring” the NARTH web page is troubling.
It exists to be examined and read.
David Blakeslee
Nice try. Well not really that nice. Do any of these people know how to say they are wrong?
Schoenewolf was not saying, “make the best out of a bad situation.” If that is what he wanted to say, he would have said it.
By comparing a family therapy situation to the slave traders treatment of Africans trivializes slavery. Are white slave traders, daddy? And the po’ black folk are the chillens? Read the entire article; it is scary. He makes an argument that the feminist, racial civil rights and the gay movements are all analogous expression of Marxist thinking.
David, it takes but one click from the article Warren posted to find Dr. Schoenewolf… we may be jumping to conclusions, but I suspect he is not African-American.
You may also review his viewpoints at that site. Or elsewhere at NARTH.
editorial board needs some work
/snort! Why stop there?
Before we rush to judgement about Dr. Schoenewolf’s motives (the article in question deserves criticism)…it appears he has written a book, The Art of Hating.
It appears to be psychoanalytically based and may be a better insight into his values on the role of hatred and ostracism than the brief article posted on the NARTH page.
Maybe someone is familiar with it as it is a recommended college text.
David Blakeslee
The doctor’s comments discredit him and his opinion in all matters. It makes it easier to see how faulty someone’s thinking can be when they speak frankly. It allows others to openly appraise their judgment and possibly their motives.
His comments completely obscure the issue of what is the correct action to take with children who have Gender Identity Disorder and whether it should be included in future publications of the DSM.
I would like to listen to him based upon his expert status (degree, licensure, experience), but his distorted and constricted understanding of American slavery of Africans gets him the “disqualification buzzer.”
Remember the Gong Show?
There is a great country western song that goes…”What was I thinking?!?!?” In that song a man driven by hormones drives himself into dangerous situations. What is the good doctor driven by to include such a troubling analogy? What is NARTH thinking by not editing it?
I do not presume to know someone’s heart, but I remember the bible verse: “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
the doctor may have credentials and values and life experiences which may exonerate him (heck, he may be african american!). But his comments and theory discredit him.
NARTH’s editorial board needs some work.
David Blakeslee