The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality

The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality
Cover of the first edition
Author Richard Green
Country United States
Language English
Subject Homosexuality
Publisher Yale University Press
Publication date
 1987
Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages 416
ISBN 0-300-03696-5

The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality is a 1987 book about homosexuality by the sexologist and psychiatrist Richard Green. The book received both positive and mixed reviews.

Summary

Green described the book as a report on a fifteen-year study of two behaviorally different groups of young boys, one feminine or "sissy" and the other conventionally masculine, and how they grew up to be "two behaviorally different groups of young men."[1]

Publication history

The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality was first published in 1987 by Yale University Press.[2]

Reception

Mainstream media

The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality received a positive review from James Michael MacLeod in Library Journal,[3] a mixed review from T. Sloan in Choice,[4] and a negative review from Peter Lomas in The Times Literary Supplement.[5] The book was also reviewed in Vogue magazine by Edgar Gregersen,[6] Jeff Meer in Psychology Today,[7] Toby B. Bieber in Readings,[8] Gregory T. Fouts in Science Books & Films,[9] and in The Chronicle of Higher Education,[10] and discussed prior to its publication in Newsweek.[11]

MacLeod credited Green with providing a "complex and multi-factored theory" of the development of homosexuality based on his clinical experience and statistical analysis.[3] Sloan considered the book, "Useful for advanced undergraduates and graduate students when used in conjunction with other sources on the development of homosexuality", but noted that it "could be misinterpreted by naive readers despite Green's efforts to stave off misinterpretation."[4] Lomas considered the book "deeply disappointing". Although he credited Green with being aware that "conceptions such as a 'distant father' are too crude to be of much use", employing detailed interviews, being knowledgeable about relevant scientific literature and "rigorous, thoughtful, honest, balanced", he added that "Green's organization and style make it hard to discover what he really believes" and that research of the kind Green undertook was "intrinsically flawed" because it "does not sufficiently take into account the ambiguities of such a concept as the feminine and it lacks the penetration into the devastating subtleties of personal relationship that is the hallmark of the psychoanalyst and family therapist."[5]

Gay media

The physician Lawrence D. Mass interviewed Green about The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality in Christopher Street,[12] and subsequently reviewed the book in The Advocate.[13] The book was also discussed by Brock Thompson in GLBTQ Social Sciences. Thompson wrote that it remains the "definitive work" on the development of homosexuality, but noted that Green "often praises fellow psychiatrists and the parents of feminine boys for dictating to children the importance of being heterosexual."[14]

Scientific and academic journals

The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality received a positive review in Child Welfare,[15] and a mixed review from Sylvia Lambert in the American Journal of Psychotherapy.[16] It was also reviewed by Lloyd A. Wells in The New England Journal of Medicine,[17] Milton F. Shore in Children Today,[18] the sociologist and LGBT activist Barry D. Adam in Contemporary Sociology,[19] the psychiatrist Stephen B. Levine in the American Journal of Psychiatry,[20] A. R. Nicol in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines,[21] and Beverly Fagot in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.[22] In the Journal of Homosexuality, it received reviews from Robert J. Kus and Jay P. Paul.[23][24]

The Child Welfare review credited Green with exploring questions of interest to both professionals and lay people and praised his "informative taped interview recordings", writing that they "will have special interest for those interested in the development of sexual identity."[15] Lambert considered the book "unfortunately named", and noted that it neither answered the question of what causes homosexuality nor attempted to do so. However, she credited Green with disproving "myths" such as that "a weak, ineffectual father and a domineering mother are likely to cause homosexuality in their son."[16]

Evaluations in books

The economist Richard Posner, writing in Sex and Reason (1992), described The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality as a "noteworthy study". Posner credited Green with investigating the development of gender nonconformity in a way that avoided relying on the potentially inaccurate "recollections of adult homosexuals".[25]

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Green 1987, p. 5.
  2. ↑ Green 1987, pp. iii–iv.
  3. 1 2 MacLeod 1987, pp. 79–80.
  4. 1 2 Sloan 1987, p. 1474.
  5. 1 2 Lomas 1987, p. 321.
  6. ↑ Gregersen 1987, p. 316.
  7. ↑ Meer 1987, p. 66.
  8. ↑ Bieber 1987, p. 29.
  9. ↑ Fouts 1988, p. 286.
  10. ↑ The Chronicle of Higher Education 1987, p. 8.
  11. ↑ Newsweek 1986, pp. 47–48.
  12. ↑ Mass 1987, pp. 18–22.
  13. ↑ Mass 1987, pp. 54–55.
  14. ↑ Thompson 2015, pp. 1–2.
  15. 1 2 Child Welfare 1988, pp. 189–190.
  16. 1 2 Lambert 1988, pp. 329–330.
  17. ↑ Wells 1987, p. 1223.
  18. ↑ Shore 1987, pp. 34–35.
  19. ↑ Adam 1988, p. 110.
  20. ↑ Levine 1988, p. 1028.
  21. ↑ Nicol 1988, p. 715.
  22. ↑ Fagot 1992, pp. 327–332.
  23. ↑ Kus 1989, pp. 187–189.
  24. ↑ Paul 1990, pp. 140–147.
  25. ↑ Posner 1992, p. 102.

Bibliography

Books

  • Green, Richard (1987). The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03696-5.
  • Posner, Richard (1992). Sex and Reason. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-80279-9.
Journals

  • Adam, Barry D. (1988). "The "sissy boy syndrome" and the development of homosexuality (Book Review)". Contemporary Sociology. 17.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Bieber, Toby B. (1987). "The "sissy boy syndrome" and the development of homosexuality (Book Review)". Readings. 2.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Fagot, Beverly (1992). "The "sissy boy syndrome" and the development of homosexuality (Book Review)". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 21 (3).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Fouts, Gregory T. (1988). "The "sissy boy syndrome" and the development of homosexuality (Book Review)". Science Books & Films. 23.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Gregersen, Edgar (1987). "The "sissy boy syndrome" and the development of homosexuality (Book Review)". Vogue. 177.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Kus, Robert J. (1989). "The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality". Journal of Homosexuality. 18 (1/2).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Lambert, Sylvia (1988). "The 'Sissy Boy Syndrome' and the Development of Homosexuality (Book Review)". American Journal of Psychotherapy. 42 (2).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Levine, Stephen B. (1988). "The "sissy boy syndrome" and the development of homosexuality (Book Review)". American Journal of Psychiatry. 145.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Lomas, Peter (1987). "Filial distortions". The Times Literary Supplement (March 27, 1987).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • MacLeod, James Michael (1987). "The "sissy boy syndrome" and the development of homosexuality (Book Review)". Library Journal. 112 (4).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Mass, Lawrence (1987). "CS Interview". Christopher Street. 10 (2).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Mass, Lawrence (1987). "Insight into Gender and Roles: (Some) Boys Will Be Boys". The Advocate (473).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Meer, Jeff (1987). "Homosexuality: An effeminate beginning?". Psychology Today. 21 (4).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Nicol, A. R. (1988). "The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality (Book)". Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines. 29 (5).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Paul, Jay P. (1990). "The "sissy boy syndrome" and the development of homosexuality (Book)". Journal of Homosexuality. 19 (3).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Shore, Milton F. (1987). "The "sissy boy syndrome" and the development of homosexuality (Book Review)". Children Today. 16.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Sloan, T. (1987). "The "sissy boy syndrome" and the development of homosexuality (Book Review)". Choice. 24.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Thompson, Brock (2015). "Sissy Boy Syndrome". GLBTQ Social Sciences.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Wells, Lloyd A. (1987). "The "sissy boy syndrome" and the development of homosexuality (Book Review)". The New England Journal of Medicine. 316.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • "The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality". Child Welfare. 67 (2). 1988.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • "The Sissy Boy Syndrome". Newsweek. 108 (26). 1986.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • "The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality". The Chronicle of Higher Education. 33 (27). 1987.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
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