User:Yohler/dis101

Discussion 101

GROUP 1 Background

Homosexuality in South Africa There are many historical instances of homosexuality in South Africa. Most notably was the practice of boy-wives wherein miners who spent long periods of time away from their family took young boys as lovers (Sanders, 1997). Additionally there are cave paintings depicting male-male sex dating back to about 2,000 years ago. The shift in the ways people perceived homosexuality was greatly due to the sudden influx of non Africans moving into South Africa and the change in the education system. In the 1650’s there began to be a huge rise of White South Africans with the spread of colonization. The historical views on gender and sexuality in South Africa were used as an excuse for the need of christian cleansing. In the 1730’s Christianity began to be the foundation of the majority of education in South Africa. (Thompson) Roman-Dutch law also became the common law, and it viewed homosexuality as deviant and criminal (de Ru). During apartheid, The Immorality Act of 1957 was passed which banned ‘unnatural/immoral sex acts,’ including homosexuality. The apartheid government’s bias for Christianity (de Ru) influenced amendments to the act which further restricted LGBT practices (Pushparagavan).

In 1967 the South African government passed the Defense Amendment Bill to make military service compulsory for white males between 17 and 65 years old. Initially, conscripts were required to serve for 9 months, but the period was gradually extended to 2 years by 1977 (Kalley, Schoeman, & Andor, 1999). Due to increasing opposition to conscription, military officials decided against an all out ban of homosexuality in the military, in order to avoid creating a loophole for individuals to avoid military service. For conscripts, homosexuality was officially allowed, but officials placed restrictions on the types of roles that homosexual conscripts could have. For example, homosexual conscripts were not put in leadership positions or given sensitive information. In the permanent force, homosexually was prohibited. Applicants were often questioned about their sexual orientation and suspected homosexuals were rejected. Permanent force members who committed homosexual acts were be court martialed, while those who admitted to homosexual tendencies were sent for rehabilitation (Belkin & Canaday, 2011).

Thus, the dual policy was adopted and enforced; however, this entailed the use of forced ‘therapy,’ such as compulsion shock therapy, castration, and other practices which are considered violations of human rights.[4] Between 1971 and 1989, victims were submitted to chemical castration and electric shock treatment meant to rid them of homosexuality.[5] This practice was supported by psychiatrists associated with the South African National Defence Forces, justified by the idea that homosexuals were mentally ill, which was recorded in the American Psychiatric Association’s "Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders".[6] The Aversion project was intended (MAYBE CHANGE) to experiment on whether homosexuals could be converted to a hetereosexual orientation, and consent for such experimentation was only obtained through coercion. (Gruchy & Lewin, 2001). Aubrey Levin, the organizer of the project and chief of psychiatry in the South African Defence Force, also subjected such experimentation on drug addicts and those who would object to these practices (Kaplan, 2016). Conscripts with proclaimed 'mental illness' were treated significantly different than other members of the military. Homosexuals were not given military leadership positions and they were not entrusted with sensitive information.[4] During the course of the shock therapy treatment, homosexual soldiers were shown black and white pictures of a naked man and were encouraged to fantasize, at which a point the person-in-charge would administer a shock if the soldiers showed any form of sexual response and voltage was increased throughout the treatment if the soldiers continued to exhibit sexual responses. The conscript would then be shown a colored picture of a woman, which was supposed to stimulate arousal, however, this usually failed (CHECK).[7]. There is also evidence that sexual realignment procedures took place on the individuals who were not responsive to attempts at conversion. Although it was widely accepted that conversion therapies were not effective, such practices expanded once conscription began in South Africa in 1967. Even after the American Psychiatric Association no longer considered homosexuality as a mental illness, treatments continued in the South African Defense Force.

GROUP 2 Context and Purpose for Investigation.

In 1994, when the Apartheid regime fell, the resulting government made it a priority to address human rights both to prevent future violations and to bring to past violations to light. By 1996, the new Constitution had implemented a statute by which discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was illegal. The South African military followed suit by establishing the Policy on Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action in 1998 which declared the South African military uninterested and completely neutral to the sexual orientation of armed service members. [4] The South African government also established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996, purposed with documenting human rights violations, proposing compensation for victims, and considering amnesty for accused individuals. This commission was fundamental to understanding what occurred during the era of Apartheid. In the context of the Aversion Project, this commission played the role of overseeing a team of individuals ( academic researchers and activists on behalf of the Gay community) in order to obtain more information about the treatment of homosexual military personnel. The team sought to understand the extent to which allegations of abuse were true, the motives behind the actions of the South African military, and to investigate the people who were most influential in the human rights violations that occurred. [8]

Conclusions of the aVersion Project The aVersion Research Project identified several important findings of treatment and perception of homosexuality during the apartheid. During the apartheid, homosexuality was viewed as a “behavioral disorder,” and steps were taken by military officials to “combat the phenomenon” of homosexuality (Gruchy and Lewin, 2001). Homosexual individuals were prevented from joining the permanent force, and were often referred to health professionals for medical treatment, which sometimes incorporated electric shock therapy. Consent for this medical treatment was often obtained through social pressure, the aVersion Project found, including the threat of being sent to internment camps. The aVersion project also found, that of several voluntary study respondents, none reported any changes in sexual identity as a result of the treatment. Many respondents, however, cited lower self-esteem and depression as direct results of the treatment they underwent.

Research Committee Objections The research group wanted to conduct structured interviews as a source for data collection on the SADF experiments. They wanted to interview individuals involved in the experiments on both sides if possible. There was a plan to interview health professionals who were involved in any way, the gay men and women who received medical treatment surgically or psychologically, and also their family members. Written consent formed were going to be a part of the interview as well (Gruchy and Lewin, 2001). This initial research protocol was discussed extensively at several different academic institutions, and incorporated feedback from representatives of the lesbian and gay community. The initial research protocol was dismissed twice by the Commission, and was only approved, with several caveats, after a meeting was held between the research team and the commission. An issue the Research Ethics Committee raised was with the word “abuse” being used to describe the conversion treatment, which was in the proposal. They said it implied wrongdoing by health professionals, of which they found there was none. (Gruchy and Lewin, 2001). The Committee asserted that because such conversion treatment was being given around the world at the time, it could not be considered abuse. In the final approval of the research proposal, the Commission stipulated that words like “abuse” and “violations” be used more cautiously, and that the word “alleged” was added. In addition, the Committee looked at experiments conducted during the apartheid as ethical because the experimenters were not breaking any written laws while conducting the experiments on the gay and lesbian service members. (Gruchy and Lewin, 2001) Finally, the researchers also found that The Research Ethics Committee showed no concern for how these experiments were affecting the services members involved. The committee did not reach out to the gay and lesbian organizations to get their opinion on the situation and quite possibly shed some light on what the military member may be going through (Gruchy and Lewin, 2001). It was assumed by the researchers that the heterosexual mindset of the committee may have made them more accepting to the experiments. (Gruchy and Lewin, 2001)

One point of issue the Research Ethics Committee found was the word “abuse,” which was in the proposal. They said it implied wrongdoing by health professionals, of which they found there was none. (Gruchy and Lewin, 2001).

(New) Section: The Psychiatric Effects of the Project (i.e. the results of sex change operations => depression, suicide). The dual policy enacted and enforced by the South African National Defence Force against homosexual conscripts undeniably reflects the pervasive ideal of the apartheid era: males were dominant and being any less so resulted in one being casted as a villain. Both male and female homosexual conscripts were forced to conform to what society deemed their “proper” sexual roles; to reach this dictated sexual dichotomy, conscripts endured often unsuccessful attempts at aversion shock therapy, sex change operations such as chemical castration, and hormonal drug treatments (Belkin and Canaday, 2010). Both female and male homosexual draftees were forced to undergo unrestricted electric shock therapy. Subjects were aroused with pictures and forcibly electrocuted to change the victims’ sexual preference. If the trials failed, then subjects were forced to undergo sex change operations (Kaplan, 2001). Females were often exempt from electric shock therapy but were still subjected to sex change therapy. Records show a potential 900 sex change operations were completed over the span of 18 years. Those that underwent sex changes were often abandoned after their operations and were given little to no assistance to help rebuild their lives, resulting in many negative outcomes. Due to a lack of support, many suffered mental problems, ranging from depression to schizophrenia. Drug abusers were also inflicted similar punishments, including being forced to work at labor camps, specifically the Greefswald camp (Kaplan, 2001). Moreover, homosexual conscripts were made scapegoats, routinely humiliated and sent to psychiatric units despite initially perfect mental health (Belkin and Canaday, 2010). Suffering through unfinished operations, daily painful shocks, and constant attacks on their person simply because they chose to identify differently often resulted in disturbances in conscripts’ mental health. Following the conversion therapy, each individual reacted differently based on their own coping mechanisms, acceptance by their own community, and the level and quality of support they received from family and friends. The spectrum of reactions to trauma varied in severity from mild responses of anxiety and exhaustion to more extreme responses of continuous distress and dissociation symptoms (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (US), 1970). Generally, the two emotional extremes from trauma were feeling overwhelmed or numb, with most reactions occurring immediately (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (US), 1970). Common emotional reactions to the trauma, amongst those who survived, differ based on sociocultural history and the environment to which the homosexuals returned (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (US), 1970). Moreover, because of the severeness of the gender reassignment surgeries, many of which were performed only in military hospitals, the casualty rate was high as many died during the operations (Kaplan, 2005).

GROUP 4 Section: Medical Abuse of homosexuals in South Africa

Medical treatment during apartheid was heavily influenced by gender norms and sexual conventions reinforced by doctors’ relationships with the government and specific political figures. At the time, homosexuals were one of many vulnerable minority populations that the South African Defense Force (SADF) deemed subversive and in need of psychiatric treatment (Kaplan, 2001). These strict standards caused inequities in medical treatments between homosexuals and heterosexuals, and often led to malpractice (Swarr, 2012).

For example, the SADF allegedly forced gender reassignment surgeries, with psychiatrists acting under the assumption that homosexual individuals desired to be a heterosexual member of the opposite sex. Estimates posit that approximately 50 operations were performed per year over the course of 18 years. The extent of the psychiatric abuse is exacerbated by the unclarity of whether patients undergoing gender reassignment surgery were counseled, well-informed, or consenting preceding the procedure, and by the allegations that some gender-reassignment procedures were left incomplete (Kaplan 2001).

One of the major arbiters of medical abuse, Dr. Villesky, was revealed to have supervised behavioral and electroconvulsive therapies for homosexual patients (Swarr, 2012). He also encouraged the use of addictive drugs that caused irreversible sterilization (Swarr, 2012). Dr. Villesky’s treatments led to mental instability, hormone disorders, epilepsy, and other neurological defects (Swarr, 2012). Some who claim to be patients of Ward 22 at Voortrekkerhoogte report receiving drug therapy as opposed to electroconvulsive therapy. (Christopher 2010)

According to T.L. Dowdall (1991), often times South African medical professionals didn’t necessarily torture victims, but government-employed surgeons cooperated with the requests and interests of the state police. They complied with the requests to withhold medical treatment from victims, falsely diagnosed the victims as healthy so they could continue to be tortured, and released inaccurate autopsies (Dowdall, 1991). These surgeons were coerced by the government to cover up instances of torture that led to 50 deaths from 1963 to 1977 (Dowdall, 1991). For instance, in 1977, detainee Steve Biko passed away due to the involvement of Dr. Ivor Lang and Dr. Benjamin Tucker, who withheld treatment despite multiple visible wounds from torture endured in police custody (Dowdall, 1991).

Many medical abuses under apartheid, particularly in the South African Defense Force, were recognized during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings. However, due to the difficulty of preserving medical records over time, it is likewise difficult to document the abuse of homosexuals during apartheid (Kaplan 2001). In general, the SADF held disapproving views of homosexuality; however, there are also accounts of homosexuals’ acceptance in the military (Kaplan 2001). The policy that allowed for the mistreatment of homosexuals in the SADF was shaped by prejudice, and not scientific evidence. (Schaap 2011) The practice of health professionals in the South African Medical Services was subject to military command and obeyed SADF policy regarding homosexuality, and thus could have contradicted common medical ethics (Van Zyl et. al. 1999).

GROUP 5: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399516/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt Add this to citations to replace incomplete one: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert_Kaplan6/publication/12043387_TheAversion_Project_-_Psychiatric_abuses_in_the_South_AfricanDefence_Force_during_the_Apartheid_Era/links/5694d5da08aeab58a9a4111a/TheAversion-Project-Psychiatric-abuses-in-the-South-AfricanDefence-Force-during-the-Apartheid-Era.pdf

(add to bottom of History section)

A 2003 documentary titled Property of the State: Gay Men in the Apartheid explores the treatment of homosexuals in the military. The film was directed by political activist Gerald Kraak. It was released in South Africa in March 2003, at the Johannesburg Pride South Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and released in the United States in September of the same year, at the Outtakes Dallas Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

Source:

Kraak, Gerald (Director) (March, 2003). Property of the State: Gay Men in the Apartheid Military (Motion picture). South Africa: Kraak, Gerald.

Since the end of conversion therapy, various probes have been request of the South African government. The National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality called the inactivity of the government “unacceptable” and criticized the government for not fully investigating the issue, bringing perpetrators to justice, and compensating the victims. A small number of accusations from victims have been brought forth, but it is believed that there are numerous others who have not come forth. Despite these attempts, no official investigations have been completed and published, and none of the victims been compensated so far. https://gala.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Kraak-parts123.pdf
 * The source for the above paragraph has already been cited in wikipedia***

(2000) Government Actions: http://www.thegully.com/essays/africa/000825sexchange.html