Homophobia: Description, Development, and Dynamic of Gag Bashing - Review

Journal of Sex Research, May, 1999 by B.R. Simon Rosser

WHEN THE POT CALLS THE KETTLE BEIGE: AN EXPOSITION OF HOMOPHOBIA FROM A PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE Homophobia: Description, Development, and Dynamic of Gag Bashing. By Martin Kantor. New York: Praeger, 1998, 223 pages. Cloth, $59.95.

Reviewed by B. R. Simon Rosser, Ph.D., M.P.H., L.P., University of Minnesota Medical School, Department of Family Practice and Community Health, Program in Human Sexuality, 1300 South 2nd Street, #180, Minneapolis, MN 55454; e-mail: rosse001@maroon. tc.umn.edu.

An in-depth clinical understanding of the origins, concomitants, and typology of homophobia remains one of the most urgent and challenging issues in modern sexology. Dr. Kantor's latest book is an important and timely attempt to fill a recognized gap.

Written from a strong psychodynamic perspective, the book opens with a description of homophobia and its manifestations as a subtype of sexophobia. The body of the book focuses on defining types of homophobia organized by psychiatric (DSM) syndromes. Paranoid, affective disorder, phobic-avoidant, and obsessive-compulsive homophobia are discussed, together with homophobia attributed to the various personality disorders. The remaining sections briefly examine causes from psychodynamic, biological, and cognitive perspectives, and offer treatment suggestions both for therapists and for gays and lesbians who encounter homophobes in daily life.

The major strength of this book is that it opens up for psychoanalysis a topic neglected for too long. For students of psychiatry, it provides an excellent basis for a discussion of traditional homophobic assumptions and practices within the field. Indeed, Kantor is challenging psychiatry to break new ground, and is holding the field accountable for what many see as blatant prejudice inappropriate to modern medicine.

A second strength of the book is the refreshing lack of assumption that all homophobia originates in latent homosexuality. Although an analytic approach to homophobia might be vulnerable to such a view, Kantor is to be commended for not succumbing to such an easy analysis. Nor does he pretend that analysis holds all the answers.

To support his schema, Kantor draws on two primary sources: case studies from years of psychoanalysis, apparently involving large numbers of homophobic patients and therapists; and secondary accounts of homophobia reported in the popular press. Hence, his methodology is best described as inductive: moving from the individual case to define different homophobic populations. On the one hand, clinical case studies are sorely needed to describe, in-depth, the underlying dynamics fueling psychopathy; on the other hand, it leaves the methods, when conducted in isolation, vulnerable to certain biases. Principal among these is the over-association of pathology in the population under investigation with whatever is under investigation. In Kantor's words, "Many mythmaking homophobic therapists see only pathology in gays and lesbians, because they only come in contact with gays and lesbians with problems" (p. 199). Dr. Kantor will have to answer similar accusations from his critics, for he has repeated the same methodology with homophobes and, hence, left himself vulnerable to the same criticism.

Is homophobia a mental disorder, a correlate of psychopathology, or something else? This critical question is at the heart of both Kantor's analysis and current studies of homophobia. Kantor makes the bold premise that homophobia is an "emotional disorder," although his schema associates it more widely as a correlate of other mental pathologies. This conceptualization has challenging implications. By defining prejudice as pathology, Kantor can recommend that "Gays and lesbians can avoid being intimidated by thinking of serious homophobes as troubled individuals with emotional problems" (p. 198).

Because Kantor so exclusively relies on case study, the question must be asked whether this is a study of mental illness associated with homophobia, or of homophobia in the mentally ill. Kantor presents his study as the former, although his methods necessitate the latter. It is an important distinction. Until Evelyn Hooker's ground-breaking study of healthy homosexual men, these same methods were used to prove homosexual persons were psychopathic. With homophobia so pervasive in our society, its origins, development, and dynamics may differ from those presented by participants undergoing analysis. Hence, Kantor's findings may not generalize beyond the patient population. It will be important to validate Kantor's findings with studies of homophobia in the general, nonclinical population. Some may find themselves a little put off by the unsubstantiated generalizations and unattributed opinions which are used throughout the book. However, inductive studies and collegial confidentiality may necessitate such use.

Clearly, this book should be considered more a clinical study than academic science. Its foundations lie almost exclusively in the work of other analysts. I find this surprising given the significant research on homophobia provided by psychologists, sociologists, and other researchers. All references to key studies of homophobia, such as those by Greg Herek, George Weinberg, or the National Lesbian and Gay Task Force, are strangely absent. The integration of findings from these studies would help integrate Kantor's analysis into the wider field. The book is obviously the culmination of many years of observation and insight. Perhaps this is why Kantor uses terminology that is not current in the field (e.g., sexophobia for erotophobia, self-homophobia for internalized homophobia, onanism for masturbation, hysterical personality disorder for histrionic, and the presentation of some pathologies he terms personality disorders that are not in the DSM-IV).