The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality

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]

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

The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality received positive reviews from James Michael MacLeod in Library Journal,[3] and from Child Welfare.[4] The book received mixed reviews from T. Sloan in Choice and Sylvia Lambert in the American Journal of Psychotherapy.[5][6] It received negative review from Peter Lomas in The Times Literary Supplement.[7] The book was also reviewed by Edgar Gregersen in Vogue,[8] Jeff Meer in Psychology Today,[9] Toby B. Bieber in Readings,[10] Lloyd A. Wells in The New England Journal of Medicine,[11] Milton F. Shore in Children Today,[12] the sociologist and LGBT activist Barry D. Adam in Contemporary Sociology,[13] Gregory T. Fouts in Science Books & Films,[14] the psychiatrist Stephen B. Levine in the American Journal of Psychiatry,[15] A. R. Nicol in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines,[16] Beverly Fagot in the Archives of Sexual Behavior,[17] and by The Chronicle of Higher Education.[18] It was discussed prior to its publication in Newsweek.[19] In the Journal of Homosexuality, it received reviews from Robert J. Kus and Jay P. Paul.[20][21]

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] Child Welfare 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."[4] 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."[5] 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."[6]

Lomas considered the book 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."[7]

The physician Lawrence D. Mass interviewed Green about The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality in Christopher Street,[22] and subsequently reviewed the book in The Advocate.[23] 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."[24]

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