SOCIETY AND THE HEALTHY HOMOSEXUAL

Society confronts the homosexual with ""revulsion and hostility"" or homophobia, for the most part. Right. There are certain psychoanalytic explanations (fear, envy, etc.) but the profession has applied false labels (maladaptive, neurotic) and indulged in eclectic conversion techniques (brain surgery, emetic treatment) which are far out and not far short of horrifying and constitute the most surprising part of this book. The homosexual can be as healthy as anyone else. Right. And there is the current preferable word ""gay"" indicating the evolution of his stance. Right on. The other only new and possibly valuable part of psychotherapist Weinberg's book is his long section on the parent-homosexual child relationship -- the attitudes of the parent (love vs. conventionality) and the advisability of the child-(wo)man's acknowledgement of his homosexuality to his parents and just how the parent should be told. Otherwise the book really hasn't much to offer particularly in view of the far greater range, substance, and intelligence of Dr. Martin Hoffman's The Gay World (1968), still the best book on the psychosocial aspects of homosexuality.