Recently, thanks to the fabulous Clarisse Thorn, the University of Chicago Press has sent me a whole bunch of books, which I shall now proceed to review! (I assume that all this is the University of Chicago’s attempt to apologize for rejecting both me and my sister. Bastards.) So if you do not want to hear about books which I have read, then avoid posts with Book Review in the title for the next couple days. Or, really, ever, since I highly doubt I’ll end up writing a bunch of posts with Book Review in the title that are actually about fly-fishing.
First up is Seeking the Straight and Narrow: Weight Loss and Sexual Reorientation in Evangelical America, by Lynne Gerber. It is about the ex-gay therapy Exodus International and the evangelical weight-loss organization First Place, and how the experiences of people in those organizations shed light on evangelical culture as a whole.
Seeking the Straight and Narrow is an ethnographic/interviewing sociological study focusing on Exodus International and First Place. In general, it appears to be solidly done research: the methodology is typical of qualitative studies, the findings are firmly grounded in both theory (there’s our old friend Foucault!) and historical context, and the author is aware of her positionality as a non-Christian academic. I found it a quick and interesting read, but then I’m in my second year of a sociology degree at an academically rigorous institution, and so I am immune to dry sociological monographs.
I found the sections on First Place less interesting than those on Exodus International; First Place was very much an ordinary weight-loss sort of deal, except with more God involved (for instance, they had to pray and study the Bible and memorize Bible verses, in addition to dieting and exercising and attending meetings). However, the scenes where the women weighed themselves in every week while reciting their Bible verses were appropriately horrifying, at least to me, as a person with thin privilege who has never been on a diet.
Through reading Seeking the Straight and Narrow, I found myself with a growing sympathy for Exodus International. Possibly this is because I have an incurable case of empathy and upon reading the opinions of any group will immediately start attempting to understand what premises they have to feel that way; possibly it is because Gerber is actually good at ethnography, and any good ethnography will leave you with the sense that the people being studied have good reasons for believing what they do. Because, you know, they do. It is psychologically unrealistic to assume that people believe something because they are stupid meanie meanfaces.
Exodus International believes that homosexuality is a natural consequence of certain family dynamics which lead a person to not identify with their same-gender parent; as a result, they become homosexual as a combination of identifying with the other binary gender (which, of course, are all heterosexual) and seeking out in other people of the same gender the love they didn’t receive from their parents. Exodus International appears very confused about the difference between trans people and LGB people; one interviewee mentions that she “identified as a man,” and I can’t figure out if she’s a trans man or a butch woman repeating Exodus International’s doctrine.
Exodus International seeks to correct gay men through a combination of keeping them from any homosexual activity (one man refrains from masturbation for four years), encouraging intimate relationships and even touching with people of the same gender to give them the love they received from their parents, and encouraging them to be more masculine. Some men cite their interests in sports and manual labor as signs that they’ve changed and become more masculine, which I just delight in; some programs tell men to refrain from camp references or language. It’s this whole confusion of gender identity and gender presentation and sexual orientation, which is common in American culture; I think a lot of people, not just Exodus International, have trouble distinguishing a femme man, a gay man, and a trans woman.
That is not the bit that made me sympathetic! Instead, it was Exodus International’s staunch opposition to what it sees as homophobia. It apparently refrains from “scare ’em straight” with HIV because of how many high-up leaders have had friends (some of them ex-gay) die of AIDS; it believes the church should engage in the destigmatization and funding of AIDS. One interviewee describes how his pastor knew that he was gay, but didn’t talk to him about it and continued to accept him and encourage him to be in youth ministry and so on, and when the interviewee tearfully confessed told him that no matter what he sinned the pastor would love him. I kind of want to d’awwwww over that story! Of course, none of this outweighs the whole “making people live a lie” thing. But it is nice to see some anti-gay Christians actually pay attention to what Jesus taught.
Also, a little after that story, an ex-ex-gay tells about how he met his life partner at an Exodus International residency program and when he confessed his love to the leaders of the program was told never to speak to his partner again. So. I feel less sympathetic to them now.
A point of similarity between Exodus International and First Place I found fascinating was that both tended to use the addiction model: queers are “addicted” to gay sex; fat people are “addicted” to food. It’s a fascinating way of simultaneously taking the blame for their “sins” and saying that their sins aren’t really-really their fault, it is all their brains. I am personally not an addict (just about the opposite, actually), but I’d be interested if addicts think the use of this metaphor is appropriative.
Scariest fact in the book: behaviorists used to tell gay men to fantasize about men and then electroshock them to condition them that gay sex is wrong. Jesus fuck people are terrible.
Weirdest phrase in the book: “Give me a Holy Spirit break.” Any enlightenment that can be shined on what the fuck this means is welcome. I asked my girlfriend, who is an evangelical Christian, and she had no idea.
Also: hee, straight and narrow. I see what you did there!
Aw hell yeah UChicago! Obviously admissions didn’t know what they were missing with you, Ozy.
There are studies that suggest fat people have different levels of hunger and fullness hormones, and have brain patterns similar to those of an addict when they see high-calorie foods. So yes, you can be addicted to food. You can also eat compulsively, which is what I do.
You can also be addicted to sex, but I’d be surprised if you could be addicted to sex you wouldn’t usually have, unless it’s illegal and you’re an adrenaline junkie. I mean, it’s the same orgasms either way, so you might as well enjoy the scenery.