On Twitlonger:
On Thursday 16th June 2011, @Raspberrih said:
Just read an article about christian camps attempting to convert gays in 'normal' straight guys. People who organized that camp = narrow-minded christians who judge others. Even thought their holy bible tells them not to...
Everyone's created in the image of God (bible) thus, so are gays.
(Read: God created gays, just like he created straight people.)
Those people who organized the camp are saying that someone whom God created is wrong. God doesn't make mistakes (bible).
(Read: gays are not mistakes.)
So... God just put some narrow-minded homophobes in this world... and apparently that isn't a mistake?
(Read: does not make sense)
This tells us that christian camps that attempt to 'cure' homosexuality is bullshitting big time, and that they seem to be christians but are actually interpreting the bible their own twisted way (honestly, what other way to interpret is there?) and doing illogical things.
Also tells us that there's something fundamentally wrong with the christian God. I should know. I grew up a christian.
-END-
I am so disgusted.
Actually, I admit that I researched into this because I read a fanfic: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7055994/1/ very awesome, but contains yaoi. Not work safe, or parents safe.
Anyway, back on topic. Camps that are supposed to 'cure' gayness. A simple search on Google sent me towards several articles. One here:
View as several pageshttp://www.alternet.org/story/146557/
Or as one entire page: http://www.alternet.org/story/146557/?page=entire
This guys goes undercover. Work safe. Unless your boss (or parent-s-) is (are) a homophobe(s)... in which case, don't come near this blog.
Let's now pretend that I'm a guy, who's been forced to attend the camp. I'll put my thoughts up. It's just easier this way. I'll take guidance from the above article. My smart-aleck answers and sarcasm is bolded... you'll find a lot of bolded things.
Most camps make people sign confidentiality agreements.
Why do I even have to sign them? Is there something I'm not supposed to tell people outside? And why can't I tell them anyway? What so wrong about what you're going to make me do that I can't tell others? You tell me that, quote, " techniques hidden from public scrutiny" ... again, if your real motive is to be a good christian and help, then why not share your techniques. Okay. Public scrutiny? Bad choice of words.
Confidentiality agreements. Really. So I can't tell people what you did to me? What if I end up depressed and suicidal because of you? Confidentiality agreement's gonna ensure you never get shut down, bastard, even though you might drive people to their deaths.
Assume I sign it.
"Per the instructions PCC emailed us before the weekend, I collect everyone’s cellphones and close them up in the glove compartment. There will be no contact with the outside world until Sunday afternoon."
You fucker. You're going to brainwash people. Outside stimuli will just spoil your little plan, eh?
Assume I surrender my phone, unwillingly.
"After check-in, a staffer asks me to follow him. We circle around the back of a cabin. He motions me toward a man standing fifty feet away, dressed in all black and grasping a gnarled wooden staff. I slowly walk towards the man in black.
I stop a couple of feet away from him. He eyeballs me, shows no emotion, and stays silent for several uncomfortable moments.
Finally, he takes in a deep breath and asks, “What is a man?”"
More brainwashing. What the hell is the deal with guys in black and non-subtle, non-verbal threats? Yes, a man is a human being who has a penis and no vagina, thanks so much. I came here for biology lessons, yes I did."What makes a man? How do you know you’re a man? Why are you here?""
His penis and balls. Because I have a penis and balls. Because I was forced.
"PCC made it clear before the weekend that JiM staff “are not professional therapists or counselors, or are not working as professional therapists or counselors in the course of the weekend.”"
So I came here to have people who aren't professionals do things to me that requires a confidentiality agreement.
"Early in the evening, staff members reenact the classic children’s tale, "Jack and the Beanstalk," with different staff members playing the different roles.
The story, a narrator explains, is loaded with coming-of-age symbolism. Fatherless Jack has lived in the safe, feminine world under his mother’s care; the old man in the village represents ancient tribal elders who help boys transition into manhood; the seeds given to Jack represent both his sperm and the masculine potential for creation. Like most women, Jack’s mother doesn’t understand the importance of the seeds, so she chucks them out the window. The reenactment ends with Jack sent to bed without supper. After all, he screwed up his masculine duty to provide food for his family."
Great stuff, people, you ruined my childhood. I grew up thinking that Jack's this guy who has fantastic adventures and got lucky, now you tell me the seeds for the beanstalk represent his "sperm". Really now. "Like most women"? Sexist much? Listen to yourself. And this helps people become straight in what way?
"In another exercise, one Journeyer stands at the center of the room while a Guide asks other Journeyers to raise their hands and give examples of mental blocks or excuses that keep us from effecting real change away from homosexuality. After each man gives an example — “rationalization,” “justification,” “intellectualizing” — he stands up and presses against the other standing in the middle of the room. Soon it’s a mass of male bodies smushed together."
Male bodies. Smushed together. Says it all, don't you think? Still not seeing the point of this.
"In one of the final exercises for the night, we form another circle in the middle of the room. (We end up doing this circle thing a lot.) Staff members pass out black cloth blindfolds, which we tie around our eyes. With the blindfolds in place, staff men squeak their sneakers and bounce basketballs on the hard floor, recreating the sounds from a busy high-school gym class.
They yell out the the kind of shit-talk typical of high-school kids:
“C’mon, take the shot!”
“You suck!”
“How did you miss that?”
“Why are you always picked last?”
“Okay, let’s hit the showers.”"
Not. Seeing. Point. If you were traumatized by that when you were young, then get over it. If you haven't gotten over it, this is not going to help. Revisitng your trauma just like that is not. Going. To. Help. Plus, you guys aren't even professionals... but you're trying to do a professional's job. Hey look. Professionals say gay is gay. You're now attempting something that professionals can't do. Good luck.
"The exercise has awoken some terrible adolescent memories. With tears streaming down some of our faces, we follow staff members into an adjoining, smaller, carpeted room."
Yes, thanks. People crying their eyes out is a good thing.
"First: Side-by-side, where two men sit shoulder-to-shoulder, facing the same direction, their legs outstretched in front of them. The man giving the Healing Touch puts one arm around the receiver.
Second: The Cohen Hold, named after “certified sexual re-orientation coach” and Healing Touch pioneer Richard Cohen. For this position, the receiver sits between the legs of the giver, their chests perpendicular, the receiver’s head resting on the giver’s shoulder. The giver encircles his arms around the receiver.
Third: The Motorcycle. The receiver again sits between the legs of the giver; this time, the receiver leans his back up against the chest of the giver. Again, the giver wraps his arms around the receiver.
The idea behind Healing Touch is to recreate the father-son bond that apparently we missed as children. In this twisted, neo-Freudian
theory on the cause of homosexuality, men who didn’t get appropriate touch from their fathers sexualize their need for a “healthy” non-sexual masculine connection. Healing Touch techniques recreate a loving, father-son bond, and are completely non-sexual."
theory on the cause of homosexuality, men who didn’t get appropriate touch from their fathers sexualize their need for a “healthy” non-sexual masculine connection. Healing Touch techniques recreate a loving, father-son bond, and are completely non-sexual."
So... if I had a nice, well-adjusted childhood, this would... what, exactly?
Assume I had a good childhood and appropriate touch from my dad. Which I did. He let me sit on his shoulders, and I wasn't very light when I was a kid.
The writer chooses the motorcycle. "The Guide whispers in my ear how I used to be the Golden Child, how everything was wonderful before someone hurt me, how I put up walls to protect myself, and now it was time for those walls to come down."
Just. Sorry, no one hurt me, so I didn't need 'em walls. And besides, by now you're kind of insulting me, implying that I've been hurt by something or someone in the past. You're assuming things. And then you're assuming that you're correct about those assumed things. Excuse me, but would it kill to ask before you start talking about things I don't identify with?
Here the writer says he felt the erection of the guide who's behind him.
Guide.
A guide.
"Jason, a baby-faced, barely-out-of-college guy, struggles for a minute to come up with something. Then, finally, he half-heartedly recounts the time he tried to get his dad’s attention. But Dad rebuffed him, saying that he was busy reading the newspaper."
Okay, normal. My dad does worse. But then he's human, he just wants to read his paper. Maybe he's in the middle of something important. I read a lot. And I get very pissed when people disturb me. So this is an entirely normal scenarios that happen everywhere.
"The Guide fills in the blanks. “He was telling you that the newspaper was more important than his son.”"
Really. So what, right now my blog is more important than my family. I'd push them away and turn them down if they wanted me to go make coffee with them or just chat. This guide here is... problematic. Ever consider that the guide has repressed trauma from his own past and is projecting everything on others? Hey, just saying.
They act it out. A lot of times. Guide says, "“You were a boy who needed his father’s attention. And do you know what you got instead?” asks the Guide. “He told you you were worthless. He didn’t have time for you.”"
Oh, god. You, my dear, have just made a boy's simple memory turn into a living nightmare. 'Busy' and 'worthless' does not equate. Putting words into the mouth of someone who isn't here to defend himself isn't very honorable either.
People are asked to think about what they could've done, back then, to improve the memory or make things turn out another way. Most involved people dragging the characters (a bully or something, played by a guide) out. "But for Jason and his newspaper-reading father, the solution took a violent approach. First, the Guide playing Jason’s father rises from the metal chair to stand in front of him, repeating the lines about Jason being worthless. Next, Jason is handed a baseball bat and told to kneel on the floor. A punching bag is placed between him and the father.
“What you need is a new father,” the Guide says, moving another Guide to stand behind the first. “But this old father is standing in your way. You need to get rid of him.”"
Sorry. I think I hate you guys now. Telling someone to kill or 'get rid' or another person (even though it's from a memory) ... Instigation of murder, anyone? This sounds serious. I bring up the confidentiality agreement again. By now I think everyone understands the need for it.
Anyway, assume that it's in a spiritual sense. (Unconvinced)
"Jason beating his dad to death in effigy"
"Jason seems like such a nice kid, the kind of guy whose biggest regret was the day he forgot to do his algebra homework."
Good way to turn a nice kid into a violent person who's fine with beating up his old man. Good way to make a nice kid want to beat up his old man.
After Jason supposedly 'kills' the old dad, the 'new' one embraces him and tells him he loves him.
Okay. Your message is that Jason has got to kill or do violent things in order to get affection. What happened to 'Dad, gimme a hug'?
"He then instructs us to take out our pens and notebooks. We are instructed to write the letter that we wish our ideal father, the Golden Father, would write to us."
My ideal dad is my dad. Imagining him another way freaks me out. So much. It isn't funny.
At the end: "But I’m too tired to think about that. I haven’t slept in two days."
Brainwashing. For sure. Not sleeping means not thinking straight, which means more susceptibility, which means easily convinced, which means brainwashing. Or at least a watered-down version. Which is NOT any better.
" Included in the information packet is a page urging us to return for a second or third weekend. “Sometimes a price discount is available for men who are going through the JiM weekend a second time,” reads the flier."
...Yes, I am willing to pay money to be brainwashed. Shameless advertising. Fanfiction.net writers aren't as shameless. Twelve year old writers on fanfiction.net aren't that shameless. Disgust.
I don't even know what to say anymore. Why would anyone even start the thing in the first place? Misguided fools.
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