Scared Straight: Why It's So Hard to Accept Gay People and Why It's So Hard to Be Human

By Robert N. Minor and Alex Brown

Book Overview

A cultural critique of gowing up in the USA, with such topics as our universities as purveyors of hopelessness and the dynamics of "getting laid" taught in high school that emphasizes that taking on the "straight" role damages all human beings regardless of sexual orientation but is taught from birth by the institutions of our society.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0970958102
• ISBN13: 9780970958105
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: New Leaf Distributing Co Inc
• Length: 220 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.5" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

"taking" sides... give up!

Hi, this is to all who read the book as well as to those who diagree with what others think. If you like the book cool. I heard Mr Minor touch on these "issues" at our chuch. He is well spoken. If you do not like the fact that others disagree with the book why talk down to them? We ARE ALL FREE or... at least should be free to give our opinion (on anything) and remain at peace? Sooner or later we will figure out what works and what does not. Helping others does not include insult and attack in any form. Choose your words wisely when you are representing something that means something to you otherwise you are just using words without meaning? read this book or not... remember we can not put another down and still be free and equal! Even if it is just a "random" review... so far removed! take care all, Peace

An eye opener

This is a great book for anyone who wishes to gain a proper perspective on society. A close friend of mine is bisexual. When I met him, he was not only happy to be bisexual, he also was quite outspoken about it. A couple of weeks ago, he decided that due to economic constraints that he would move back in with his father. There were a couple of conditions that his father placed on him. First, he had to choose to be straight. He has to give up on any desire for men. He is to start dating only women. Second, he can't have any LGBT friends. I'm not sure how this affects his relationship with his half-sister who is a lesbian. In any case, my friend is definitely not the happy person I have known him to be. He has to constantly lie to his father about the sexual orientation of anyone in his life. He has to deny and suppress his own sexuality. Maybe someday my friend's father will read this book and put an end to the harm he's causing his son.

A Brilliant Book!

This is a brilliant book. It ought to be required reading for every human being--and certainly every gay or lesbian human being. For, as Scared Straight explains in exacting detail, indoctrination into the way of thinking it argues against is, in fact, "required" of every person living in modern human society. Robert Minor, a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas, describes the process of conditioning into conventional gender roles that dominates and directs our lives. He uses an interesting bit of computer terminology that helps make his argument clear: he refers to gender conditioning as being "installed" the way a piece of software is installed. A small program analyzes your computer and determines what needs to be where for a desired application to work, and then inserts whatever pieces of code are needed. Now in the installation of gender role conditioning what's needed are a set of beliefs, opinions and unverifiable assumptions about the nature of human life and sexuality that support and explain the existing system. Using the familiar story about the fish who observes "I've been swimming in it all my life, but all I know about it is it's water," Minor shows how in fact we're all "wet" with the tenets of male dominant gender conditioning but can't realize it because we can never--or at least seldom--get out of the water enough to see what it is. What it is is the installed beliefs that male is better than female, that males should compete with other males to prove they're "real men" and not like females, that females should effectively be victims to males' desires and priorities in order to be "real women," that men should want to "get laid" and women should want to "get a man," and that nobody should question these beliefs lest the males demonstrate they're like women and the females demonstrate they're unworthy to be men--thus proving the assumptions. In a way, of course, this is a further reiteration of the original feminist critique. It's not new. But in this book it is brilliantly and exhaustively argued and explained. The consequence of this installation of gender roles is unquestioning acceptance of male dominance, hierarchical ordering, competition, scarcity and dualistic thinking--especially the notion of right and wrong--as though these were "God-given." Even the idea of that "God" is a self-serving, self-verifying artifact of the male dominant conditioning. Minor shows how heterosexuals are forced into being "straight" at the cost of men's emotional well-being and freedom and women's self-respect, autonomy and intelligence. He very insightfully explains that being straight is not at all the same thing as being heterosexual, that "straight" means acquiescing to the gender role conditioning, and that because the conditioning suppresses natural responsiveness to feelings, it in fact disempowers real heterosexuality. People don't respond to their actual heterosexual feelings as much as they react to and obey gend

Scared Straight

I was fortunate enough to attend Mr. Minor's workshop on homophobia and gender conditioning when he was here in Chicago in the early spring. There is nothing new in the book that hasn't been written about before. In fact, Mr. Minor reiterated the fact several times during the workshop however, Mr. Minor takes a lot of research and condenses it down into an easy, resourceful text. A must for scholars interested in gender conditioning and/or gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered studies. Then again, everyone can benefit from this book (and I don't often say that about books.) Minor shows that homophobia hurts everyone regardless of their sexual orientation. In fact, as Mr. Minor points out, the actual issue of sexual orientation has very little to do with the oppression than the issue that someone is perceived "different." Which also means that gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people must stop playing the "victim role" when dealing with the oppression. His last chapter on being human is one that I will have to go back and re-read time and time again, because it is a revolutionary light and insight into an age-old way of thinking.

A book for Gays & Straights, Conservatives & Liberals ...

From the criticism of our universities as purveyors of hopelessness to the dynamics of "getting laid," Scared Straight is an eye-opening and penetrating analysis of U.S. culture, explaining why accepting the full humanity of gay people divides people and organizations.Dr. Minor shows how homophobia is a major ingredient in our way of defining the world. Without sparing any of our cultural institutions, Scared Straight identifies our culture as fear-based and in denial. Like software installed in a computer, our system's messages install a "straight role" in us which actually has little, if anything, to do with sexual orientation. In the end it has little to do with religion, tradition, or the Bible, and everything to do with maintaining quite limiting definitions of a "human being," a "real man" and a "real woman."People of all sexual orientations are hurt by the "straight" role, torn from their full human potential, and squeezed into the molds which support our dominant institutions. Human relationships with either sex are incomplete and unfulfilling. Chapters on "How to Be Straight" and "How to Be Gay" describe the roles straight and gay people are conditioned to live in order to maintain this status quo. Yet, not content to merely identify the problem and its depth, in the final chapter Dr. Minor describes the dual elements of healing that this cultural disease requires.An insightful analysis for anyone interested in gender studies, religious studies, queer theory, feminism, and cultural critique. Though it was only released a few weeks ago by HumanityWorks! and PersonalEnrichment.Org, this book is receiving much attention at many religious conferences and gay pride festivals all over the country! Find out what all the buzz is about!