Although lesbians weren't criminalised as gay men were in New Zealand, they didn't escape their share of institutionalised homophobic abuse, especially from psychiatric quarters. Recently, I read an account of Sigmund Freud's reception in Australia, from the University of New South Wales Pressbook. So what did this mean for Australian (and New Zealand?) lesbians and gay men? Lesbians are named as much as gay men in the medical journal articles that Joy Damousicites when it comes to antigay psychiatry in Australia. Predictably, overmothering and absent fathers were found to play a role in the development of the psychopathology of homosexuality, which was also viewed as infantile regression to childhood, according to thirties psychiatrist John McGeorge. In the fifties, psychoanalysis took a back seat to electro-convulsive shock treatment, straitjackets and brain-damaging early psychiatric medicationwithin mental health institutions. Even today, psychiatric medications should only be administered under strict supervision, and adverse reactions should be immediately reported to medical surveillance regulatory bodies, and/or the Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner. Today, though, we have an assertive and articulate lesbian and gay rights movement, as well as a mental health consumers rights movement determined to render mental health institutions more accessible. Apart from a few heroic souls like the late Janet Frame, this organised resistance didn't exist in New Zealand. In 1959, things had hardly budged from the aforementioned thirties papers in the Medical Journal of Australia. When Eric Seal wrote about homosexuality, he viewed it as a defensive and paranoid maladjustment, which resulted from father/son separation. Solitary, pathological and maladjusted 'homosexuals' resulted, who gave way to despair, hatred of others and corruption of youth. For gay men, this negative perception supplemented public attitudes that male homosexuality should be kept illegal. In 1960, Ronald Conway revived an old chestnut when he argued that masturbation 'led' to homosexuality through producing guilt and anxiety. However, J.V. Ashburner was happy to report that with psychotherapy, lesbians could become happy femme heterosexuals. As for young gay men, mutual masturbation 'daisy chains' led to homosexual 'seduction' and the failure of 'normality' as well as the spectre of an inevitable dominant mum. In the late sixties, things took a darker turn. William Rowe (1967) thought group therapy might be one 'solution' to deal with this 'personality disorder.' Chillingly, if that didn't work, he prescribedinvoluntary oestrogen therapy. Either that, or apomorphine, or early typical antipsychotics like ipronimazid or impramine were used. These often evoked muscular spasms, nausea and disorientation, and were prescribed for those who experienced schizophrenia during this period. Rowe also advocated using this with electoconvulsive therapy to punish gay men for responding to pictures of naked men. We don't know how many lesbians or gay men experienced lasting side-effects from institutional abuse that was prompted by the reception of these medical journal articles in New Zealand, or related journal articles from New Zealand itself, North America or the United Kingdom. It would be an instructive exercise to learn what happened as a consequence. At the same time, I learnt some fascinating backstory about one Australian Christian Right figure, John Court, founder of South Australia's Festival of Light. Court surfaced in the Australian Humanist, where he expressed anxiety at the medical 'treatment' of homosexuality, rather than as an 'abhorrent vice' and predictably opposed decriminalisation. Even at this early stage, one witnesses Court's preference for religious dogma over objective and neutral scientific practice. In 1973, thankfully, this period came to an end, when mainstream psychiatry finally recognised that Freud himself didn't view homosexuality as a psychopathology, and anxiety statistics showed that gay and straight men had no perceptible differences in attribution. Lesbians were good workers and scored better than straight women when it came to goal orientation and self-esteem. Gay men weren't noticeably closer to their mothers than straight men. So, how was the above received in New Zealand? We don't know. Would someone research the several footnotes cited within Damousi's book, and below, currently in search of a suitable womens studies thesis or gay history seminar paper? Recommended: Joy Damousi: Freud in the Antipodes: Sydney: University of New South Wales: 2005. Journal References: J.V.Ashburner: "Emotional Problems of Homosexuals and Their Management" Australian Journal of Psychiatric Research 1:1: (October 1959): 9-11. John Catarinich: "Medical Aspects of Responsibility in Homosexuals" Australian Journal of Psychiatric Research 1:1: (October 1959): 24-33. R.V.Conway: "Onanism in the Adolescent and Early Adult: Its Significance and Problems" Australian Journal of Psychiatric Research 1:2: 1960: 190-203. John Court: "Sexual Deviation in Society" Australian Humanist (July 1968): 21-25. John McGeorge: "Environment and Hysteria" Medical Journal of Australia: 26 November 1932: 660. John McGeorge: "Juvenile Delinquency" Medical Journal of Australia: 15 July 1939: 94,103. William Rowe: "Treatment of Homosexuality and Associated Perversions by Psychotherapy and Aversion Therapy" Medical Journal of Australia: 30 September 1967: 638. Eric Seal: "The Psychopathology of Homosexuality in the Male" Journal of Psychiatric Research: 1:1: (October 1959: 35-45. Craig Young - 16th June 2006