Deconstructing Focus on the Family

Many of you have probably heard of Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian right organization led by Dr. James Dobson, infamous for his denounciation of Spongebob Squarepants and related children's cartoon characters as promoting the homosexual agenda. After such an inane accusation, one might think the group would have faded into obscurity, laughed off the table by professional psychological associations. Not so. In fact, they're back with a new outgrowth called Focus on Your Child, which just recently released an article pinpointing such signs of homosexual behavior such as "a tendency to cry easily, be less athletic, and dislike the roughhousing that other boys enjoy" and urging parents to seek help to steer their gender-confused children towards heterosexuality. Let's take a closer look at some of these sections.

Evidences of gender confusion or doubt in boys ages 5 to 11 may include:

1. A strong feeling that they are “different” from other boys.

2. A tendency to cry easily, be less athletic, and dislike the roughhousing that other boys enjoy.

3. A persistent preference to play female roles in make-believe play.

4. A strong preference to spend time in the company of girls and participate in their games and other pastimes.

5. A susceptibility to be bullied by other boys, who may tease them unmercifully and call them “queer,” “fag” and “gay.”

6. A tendency to walk, talk, dress and even “think” effeminately.

7. A repeatedly stated desire to be — or insistence that he is — a girl.

Is My Child Becoming Homosexual?

These symptoms all fall prey to the oldest of logical fallacies - post hoc, ergo propter hoc. Just because one event occurs after another does not mean it is caused by the latter. Feeling different from other children is natural, especially if traditional gender-specific domains are forced upon a child who wants to try something different. And aversion to athletic activities? Tell that to Olympic swimmer, Johan Kenkhuis, or Bronze medalist, Guenter Seidel. I'd think spending time with the girls would be a good thing for parents worried about their boys' attraction to females, but apparently when it involves engaging in activities like jumprope and dress-up, the activity could lead to dire consequences. Since you don't want your little girl to be a tomboy, but insist your little boy stay away from "sissy" games, I guess that only leaves the middle ground of...eating. And perhaps when Dobson comments on teasing, he would do better to examine its relation to the psychological state of bullies rather than a symptom of homosexuality. Besides which, how exactly does one "think" effeminately? Do they count fluffy pink bunnies instead of sheep in their sleep? Envision cupcakes and tea instead of pizza when modeling math problems? The entire list is based solely on outdated gender stereotypes.

Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, a psychiatric professor at Columbia University, created a firestorm in May 2001, when he released the results of his research at a meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. Spitzer, who had spearheaded the APA’s decision in 1973 to declassify homosexuality as a mental-health disorder, says his findings ‘show some people can change from gay to straight, and we ought to acknowledge that.’ This was not what his critics wanted to hear.

Bringing Up Boys, reprinted in Experts Speak Out: Change of Sexual Orientation Is Possible

What Dobson fails to mention are the rather egregious shortcomings of Spitzer's research.

1. Independent or external verification of the answers given is not possible, as the changes were self-reported. One could potentially have asked subjects' spouses, if applicable, questions about sexual activity and about their perception of their partner's satisfaction, etc. For those subjects who had been in therapy, one could potentially have asked the therapists to confirm, refute, or cast in doubt the changes that their clients were reporting.

2. Not a random sample nor a controlled study. Also, 78% of the subjects had spoken or written publicly in favour of efforts to change. The results can therefore not be applied to same-sex-attracted people in general, nor is one able to determine the effectiveness of different types of therapy. Dr. Spitzer had neither of these as his goals in doing this research, and they do not affect the validity of the results.

Can Some Gay Men and Lesbians Change Their Sexual Orientation?

For an indepth rebuttal of the neo-Freudian "preventive measures", I point you to an APA statement titled Science, Politics, and Morality. Suffice it to say that the majority of the research is highly circumspect, with little if any empirical support. As for the homosexual campaign against children...well, I'll just leave the accusation of a conspiracy within the Boy/Girl Scouts to molest children, coupled with the unfounded argument that homosexuals are behind an international lowering of the age of consent to speak for itself. The imaginary specter of persecution serves to give the Christian right's troops purpose, after all, as George Lakoff so eloquently explained in Don't Think of an Elephant. Although radical fringe groups like NAMBLA do exist, they are hardly representative of the general population, just as violent Islamic extremists do not represent the majority of Islam. To resort to these measures is incredibly hypocritical, wouldn't you think, of a movement that rarely recognizes the radicals in its own camp who bomb abortion clinics and commit violence against homosexuals?

The article in its entirety is a series of flimsy claims supported only by self-referencing "research", all of which comes from either the head of Focus on the Family himself, or one of several well-known proponents of reparative therapy. This is hardly a scientific endeavor. It's one-sided propaganda.

And while we're focusing on the family, let's not forget Dobson's other recommendations on child discipline, most notably that "pain is a marvelous purifier...spanking should be of sufficient magnitude to cause the child to cry genuinely" from Dare to Discipline, pgs 6-7, and "some strong-willed children absolutely demand to be spanked, and their wishes should be granted...two or three stinging strokes on the legs or buttocks with a switch are usually sufficient to emphasize the point, 'You must obey me'" from The Strong-Willed Child, pgs 53-4. So, I wonder what our academic luminary would say about the UK case in which a man beats his child to death trying to prevent him from turning gay? Would it be murder or simply accidental death in the course of necessary discipline? Dobson warns against beating a child into submission, yet maintains that sincere crying is necessary, which strikes me as distinctly antithetical since a young child's primary indication of real physical distress is tears. That is, unless he or she has already passed out from the abuse.

Either way, whether you agree with him or not, one cannot disagree that Focus on the Family's leader is a radical - his recent statement comparing Supreme Court justices to the KKK only emphasizes this point. And until Dr. James Dobson realizes we are no longer living in the 19th century, it would be wise to take all of his words with a very large grain of salt.