by Curt Hicks (thanks for this Curt!!)
Here is Holsinger's infamous paper. In it, he displays a rather obsessive focus on gay men who engage in anal sex. Despite the theological concern he is addressing for a United Methodist Church committee being equally applicable to lesbian women, he oddly limits his paper solely to male homosexuality.
Holsinger's pathologizing of homosexuality relies heavily on the distinctness of the human alimentary and reproductive systems. "There is absolute consensus in the scientific community concerning the structure and function of the human alimentary and reproductive systems. These two systems are absolutely separate since the human does not possess a cloaca." And yet, oral sex--which also connects those two systems for sexual pleasure--somehow fails to rate even a mention.
Holsinger demonstrates remarkably selective attention in detailing maladies that can befall MSM, citing research conducted in the early and mid-eighties when MSM condom use and access to gay-friendly STD treatment were both rare. Though not one of the conditions he mentions are unique to homosexuals, he cites each as evidence of homosexuality's pathogenicity, failing to consider that his own arguments condemn heterosexuality too. "From the perspective of pathology and pathophysiology, the varied sexual practices of homosexual men have resulted in a diverse and expanded concept of sexually transmitted disease and associated trauma. Four general groups of conditions may be encountered in homosexually active men: classical sexually transmitted diseases (gonorrhea, infections with chlamydia trachomatis, syphilis, herpes simplex infections, genital warts, pubic lice, scabies); enteric diseases (infections with shiggella species, Campylobacter jejuni, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis non-A, non-B, and cytomegalovirus); trauma (fecal incontinence, hemorrhoids, anal fissure, foreign bodies, rectosigmoid tears, allergic proctitis, penile edema, chemical sinusitis, inhaled nitrite burns, and sexual assault of the male patient); and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS, Owen, 1985) ."
Holsinger closes by citing plumber slang as evidence of the clear and distinct superiority of heterosexuality. "In fact, the logical complementarity of the human sexes has been so recognized in our culture that it has entered our vocabulary in the form of naming various pipe fittings either the male fitting or the female fitting depending upon which one interlocks within the other. When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur as noted above."
Our myopic nominee seems to be assuring those who strictly observe the complementarity of the sexes that they can count themselves safe from STD's, enteric infections, sexual or drug-related trauma, rape, and AIDS.
What a relief!
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