Unspeakably horrifyingGo to the Box Turtle Bulletin links for the complete story. Hard to read, but oh so necessary.  

BTB seems to be down for nowBut I agree, it’s painful to read by very important that this story get as wide a circulation as possible.

Murder most foul!This experiment also is linked (if I remember correctly) to Dr. John Money’s perverted experiments on Brian and Bruce Reimer, to convince Bruce that he was a girl named Brenda.
Just as what happened with Kirk, both of the Reimers completed suicide, thanks to the horrendous abuse at the hands of Dr. Money and his theory that gender was taught.
As far as I’m concerned, Reikers should have his licenses permanently revoked, his riches confiscated, and put in jail as a murderer. I hope the family slaps a civil suit on this bastard!

Not just revoked–prosecuted!I’ve been saying for years that these “ex-gay” and “gender therapy” quacks should be prosecuted for fraud, stripped of their livelihoods and–if there’s any justice at all–imprisoned.  Why is there no DA anywhere who’s willing to take them on?

BTB seems to be back upAnd thank you, Pam, for crediting BTB and Mr. Burroway with researching this story. Anderson Cooper may be running with the story but let’s recognize whose work brought this atrocity to light.
BTW, the BTB story mentions an O. Ivar Lovass as Rekers’ co-worker. Is it this same Lovass who went on to treating autism?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08…
or this, about the “aversive” method and autism?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A…
Just how much of the Rekers experiment informed this? Because the Lovass technique and treatment center seem to be big in autism, at least according to a quick google.

The use of aversives was developed as a less restrictive alternative to practices prevalent in mental institutions at the time such as shock treatment, hydrotherapy, straitjacketing and frontal lobotomies. Early iterations of the Lovaas technique incorporated aversives during therapy, though the use of aversives in ABA was not without controversy. Over time the use of aversives has become less and less necessary as less and less restrictive alternative treatments have been developed. Lovaas has since stated his disdain for the use of aversives.
– wiki on “aversives”

BTB has a postscriptPostscript “Cuius Culpa?”, separate from the 7-part investigation, here –
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.c…
(In which we find more on Lovass, who was indeed to be involved in autism work, as the postscript notes. See also p. 5 of the main report).
And Mr. Burroway’s reaction to the CNN story on his front page.
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/

Make no mistake about it, CNN’s riveting documentary is well worth watching. And I don’t mean for this post to be a criticism of their excellent coverage. But when you’re dealing with the kind of time constraints that come with television, the story winds up being streamlined and important information goes missing. That’s just the nature of the medium.
– blog

Where it went…“Sissy boy syndrome”, by the way, was entered into the DSM-3 in 1980, following a decade of testing that was similar to what Rekers did.
Sissy boy syndrome was the informal but widely used name for the diagnosis of  ”Gender Identity Disorder in Childhood” which until that time had not been present in the book (and was joined by the adult version, as well).
As late as 1987 the term was still widely used, as marked in the following passage:

In his book The “Sissy Boy Syndrome” and the Development of Homosexuality (1987), which remains the definitive work on the subject, psychiatrist Richard Green presents a 15-year study on the development of homosexuality. In his conclusion, he states plainly that the majority of boys who exhibit feminine characteristics in everyday behavior will essentially “grow up” to be homosexual.

It used — and still uses — the same criteria that is described in the show to determine gender variance.
While some will likely see this as “transjacking”, it is important to note that Green is one of the heroes of Homosexuality as a man who stood up against some rather heated and enduring assaults (some from Rekers), and that he, Michael Bailey, and Ray Blanchard are all very much among those responsible for a great deal of the science that has made it possible to say that people who still use the pejorative idea of “lifestyle choice” are idiots and bigots.
These same men are also some of the greatest “enemies” of transsexual (and, by extension, other trans folks) people, as they decided to apply their core theories to the lives of trans people, both children and adults.
Some of the methodology that is described in the story is still practiced today — by Kenneth Zucker and Susan Bradley.
Based on a Meta-study, 63% of cisLGB adults met the criteria for Gender Identity Disorder in Youth (Bailey, J. M. & Zucker, K. J. (1995). Childhood sex-typed behavior and sexual orientation: A conceptual analysis and quantitative review. Developmental Psychology, 31, 43-55.).
It should also be noted that Bailey (author of “The Man Who Would Be Queen”, which furthered the hypothesis of Ray Blanchard that there are only two types of transsexuals — gay men and men who love the idea of themselves as women) also says that Zucker believes that transsexualism is a bad outcome for children.
Zucker tells parents he cannot “cure the gay”, but he does his damndest to “cure the trans”.
Right now, while you are reading this, this same stuff keeps going on.