Textbook of Homosexuality

Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive resource
Review: By positing homosexuality as a normal variance from heterosexuality and apparently agreeing with the official medical stand that being gay isn't a mental illness, editors Robert Cabaj and Terry Stein may also be debunking Masters' and Johnsons' opinion in the 1950's that being homosexual and lesbian is a choice. That may well be the most controversial issue in this comprehensive, amazingly detailed resource for just about any and all questions about homosexuality. Addressed essentially to the professionals whose work brings them into contact with gays and lesbians, we get a fairly extensive history of homosexuality and its relationship to the mental health profession, from its early days when it was thought to be "curable" by treatment to the 1973 decision that removed it as a psychiatric disorder, then to contemporary issues. Along the way, though, diverse dynamics such as genetics, demographics, environmental cues, psychological and pre-determinant factors, substance addiction, violence, suicide, religion and, of course, AIDS are thoroughly dissected. Further, the editors even include issues unique to bisexuals and minority gays, subjects that have generated little serious published discussion. This book is not and does not pretend to be for casual reading and, instead, targets mental health, medical and religious providers. But it should also be required of the judiciary whose judges still continue to sentence gays charged with various offensives perceived as sexual in nature to counseling and therapy because they gay, a contradiction to the official psychiatric line that homosexuality is not a mental illness. For anyone shuffling through the mountain of books about homosexuality (most of which advance "cures" and religion as getting on the straight and narrow) but not interested in opinion and pontificating, this is the one excellent resource to consult with questions that require little more than "yes" and "no" answers. Incredibly, it gives us answers to questions we might not think even exist.

Rating:
Summary: Required reading for all helping professionals
Review: I checked this book out from the library and realized right away that I had to have a copy of my own to refer to over and over in the coming years. I'm a graduate student studying to become a counselor. Through the course of my studies I have continually been amazed and disappointed at how little knowledge most people in the helping professions have about homosexuality. With about 10% of the population being gay, lesbian, or bisexual, this textbook should be self-required reading by all those in the helping fields - psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors (both secular and religious), sociologists, doctors, nurses, and so on. This amazing text starts with the early history of homosexuality and the mental health profession, ends with spirituality and religion in the lives of lesbians and gay men and thoroughly addresses every other important issue in between. This book is a giant leap forward in the desparately needed advancement in education concerning homosexuality and mental health in this country.