Freud and Homosexuality

In: Constellations: an international journal of critical and democratic theory, Band 6, Heft 1, S. 80-84

Abstract

An examination of Sigmund Freud's relation to homosexuality argues that recent scholarly works calling Freud one of the foremost inventors of contemporary homophobia contain only a grain of truth. It is contended that Freud viewed homosexuality as normalizing vs pathologizing; ie, he considered heterosexuality the normal result of identity formation & did not see homosexuality as a sickness. Further, his view of homosexuality was universalizing, not minoritizing, because he was against isolating homosexuals as a separate class. However, his far harsher treatment of lesbians than gay men is evidence of his misogyny. While he denied any link between homosexual object choice & character inversion (effeminacy) in males, he saw lesbians as always mannish. It is concluded that efforts by analysts to "cure" homosexuality are decidedly anti-Freudian, maintaining that Freud came close to saying homosexuality was not in the range of any therapy. J. Lindroth