The Warriors is not an ex-gay gig. It sounds like they would be open to ex-gay and gay participants alike but my take from reading so far is that the attendees are predominantly straight (or at least they thought they were…)

When I was a ministry leader in Exodus, I was against the idea of a live in program. My memorable quote from some 30 years ago was : A halfway house for homosexuals is like a Teen Challenge with marijuana plants on the windowsills.

I still have a negative gut reaction to the forced bonding/nakedness rituals but I do concede that it could clear up some body misperceptions of some. My thinking is that a teenager who thinks he’s gay will likely do what I did in the locker room. Take a locker as far away from the others as I could; always try to face the other way; shower first, last or not at all; and, above all, never, ever be caught looking. The stress and trauma prevented casual looking or observation.

Next exposure to male full-frontal nakedness was pornography. So a guy starts thinking that everybody’s got ‘a big one’. Usually, their own falls short of the porn image so it lends to feelings of insecurity and envy. I can see that sitting around for hours, naked, with guys who don’t look like porn stars, would clear up those misconceptions effectively.

Some of the straight men likely have these misconceptions also. I’m wondering if the CockTalk (arrgghh, I’ve said it…) might be a reality version of Locker Room Talk…without the phony bravado, the bragging and the tales of prowess and conquests. How many men go through life not realizing that most of what they learned in the locker room was pure bull?

LOL! But I swear there’s gotta be a better way!

I also find it quite odd that a bunch of Exgay guys will call an exercise “Cocktalk” and sit around naked. That is sorta analogous to a group of acoholics holding an AA meeting in the local Pub.

I guess a question I have, is after all these “Exercises” are any of these poor souls any closer to be Str8, than they were prior to the naked campfire thing ?

Warren, it shows great desparation that you would even consider this. Funny how quickly you might discount same-sex marriage, even with both sound legal and moral arguments on the other side, etc..but a few naked men running around posing as therapy – THAT you give serious thought to?

Astonishing really.

OK

The intake process…and the exposure of Shadow.

No doubt my resentments during this time could be a completely reasonable reaction to a depriving and ambiguous situation. Dependency on Authority in ambiguous situations is often a very adaptive, highly socialized and reasonable skill to employ. At it was nearly completely frustrated during the intake process at NWTA.

What I found powerful, was how I had learned over the years to use dependency as a means of navigating such situations. I will elaborate later today, but it was powerful to learn that my first reaction, when frustrated repeatedly led to resentment and then awareness of my co-contribution…

Thanks again Warren, for being challenging.