"As a clinical psychologist, I am a member of a profession that many believe has replaced religion in its power to influence social opinion and behavior. Like religion, my profession has comforted and guided many people... and harmed many others. Over the last hundred and twenty-five years of its existence as a branch of medical science, psychiatry/psychotherapy has contributed to the oppression of women, blacks, gays, and others by labeling these people psychologically inferior (in the case
of women and blacks, for example) or mentally pathological, as with gays and other sexual minorities. The effect of the ‘pathologizing’ of certain groups has been profound. Theories of the inferiority of women have been used to justify exclusion ofwomen from leadership positions; theories of black inferiority used to justify racist policies.
In the area of sexuality, psychology has been particularly harsh and justified particularly brutal treatments for those considered "sexual deviants." Through the first half of the twentieth century, girls who had "excessive sex drive", e.g. masturbated regularly, were considered abnormal and might be subjected to clitoridectomies; until the 1970s gay people could be committed to mental institutions by parents; and even today electro-shock aversion therapy and so-called "chemical castration" are considered acceptable psychiatric interventions for sexual paraphilias - among which are included Fetishism, Sexual Masochism, Sexual Sadism, Transvestic Fetishism, and other practices near and dear to some of us.
Why does psychiatry even concern itself with sexual behavior that is consensual and adult? Why label any such behavior "sick"? Urban anthropologist and founding LSM member Dr. Gayle Rubin has described the way society views sex by classifying sexual behavior as part of the "Charmed Circle of Sex" versus the "Outer Limits". Basically, society likes sex to be straight, married, monogamous, private, not-forhire, procreative, and vanilla. Some BDSMers manage to violate each and every one
of those proscriptions - sometimes all at once! According to Rubin, society does its best to eradicate or suppress behavior on the "outer limits". We do this in several ways, including social and religious disapproval, legislation around sexuality, and classifying behavior as psychologically "sick" versus "healthy". Enter the role of psychiatry"
See the entire Journal article @ IPG Counseling