Growing Up Straight (1982 book)

Growing Up Straight: What Every Family Should Know About Homosexuality
Author George Alan Rekers
Country United States
Language English
Subject Homosexuality, parenting
Published 1982 (Moody Press)
Media type Print (Paperback)
Pages 158
ISBN 978-0802401564

Growing Up Straight: What Every Family Should Know About Homosexuality is a 1982 guide for parents, by George Alan Rekers, on how to prevent their children from becoming homosexual.[1][2][3] The work received numerous negative reviews.

Reception

Growing Up Straight was influential.[4] However, the viewpoints espoused in the book have been controversial. Professor Michael R. Schiavi wrote in a 2001 Modern Language Studies journal article that the work was a "horror show written for parents anxious to re-direct sissy sons to sexual righteousness".[5] Journalist Frank Rich questioned the book's status as scholarship in The New York Times, writing that "many of the footnotes cite his own previous writings."[6] Psychologist and sexologist Kenneth Zucker reviewed both Growing Up Straight and Shaping Your Child's Sexual Identity in a 1984 issue of Archives of Sexual Behavior and criticized both works, stating "In summary, both GUS and Shaping represent examples of the passionate response that can be engendered by the study of human sexuality. In this instance, religious rhetoric is used to defend the author's views on the subject. What is perhaps most disappointing about these two books is the idyllic view of family life and human conduct for which the author longs."[7] Zucker went on to write "Ultimately, one has to wonder how Rekers will feel toward his child patients, should they grow up not to be straight. He might well benefit by recalling the words of Harry Stack Sullivan: "We are all much more simply human than otherwise."[7]

In contrast, Fundamentalist Journal gave the book a positive review.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Blount, Jackie M. (2006). Fit to Teach: Same-Sex Desire, Gender, and School Work in the Twentieth Century. SUNY Press. pp. 161–163. ISBN 9780791462683. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  2. ↑ Nicolosi, Joseph; Ames Nicolosi, Linda (2002). A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality. InterVarsity Press. p. 14. ISBN 9780830866502. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  3. ↑ Scherstuhl, Alan. "Four Terrible Old Books About Homosexuality, Including 1962's Faggots to Burn". SF Weekly. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  4. ↑ Blount, Jackie M. Same-Sex Desire, Gender, and School Work in the Twentieth Century. State University of New York Press, 2006, p. 161-3.
  5. ↑ Schiavi, Michael R. (2001). "Teaching the "Boys": Mart Crowley in the Millennial Classroom". Modern Language Studies. 31 (2): 78. doi:10.2307/3195338. JSTOR 3195338.
  6. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/opinion/16rich.html?_r=1
  7. 1 2 Zucker, Kenneth (1984). "Book Review: Growing Up Straight". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 13 (4): 387–390. doi:10.1007/BF01541910. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  8. ↑ Hindson, Ed (1985). "Review: Growing Up Straight". Old-Time Gospel Hour.


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