SUPPLEMENT TO THE BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL

LONDON SATURDAY DECEMBER 17 1955

HOMOSEXUALITY AND PROSTITUTION

B.M.A. MEMORANDUM OF EVIDENCE FOR DEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE

The Government has set up a Departmental Committee which is considering the law and practice relating to homosexual offences, and the treatment of persons convicted of them, and to offences in connexion with prostitution, and to report what changes, if any, may be desirable. A memorandum of evidence for submission to the Departmental Committee was prepared by an expert committee set up by the Council of the British Medical Association. At its meeting on November 4 the Council agreed that the memorandum should go forward as the report of the committee, for on so controversial a subject it was not to be expected that the profession or any large body within could be in agreement in detail.

The special committee's chairman was Dr. RONALD GIBSON, of Winchester, and the 10 members were DR. T. H. BLENCH, Dr. DENIS C. CARROL. Dr. T. C. N. GIBBENS, Professor J. GLAISTER, Dr. AMBROSE KING, Dr. J. A. MOODY, Dr. DORIS ODLUM, Dr. T. P. REES, Dr. S. LEONARD SIMPSON, and Dr. R. D. SUMMERS.

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Medicine and Sociology

Homosexuality and prostitution are essentially social rather than medical problems, but, since health depends largely on environmental and sociological conditions, the Committee welcomes the opportunity of advising on their nature and causes and making suggestions for their control and cure. The medical professions regards as its function the prevention of illness, the treatment of the sick, and the promotion of health in its widest sense.

The Committee states that it has necessarily interpreted in a somewhat broad sense the Departmental Committee's invitation to submit evidence, and in its memorandum offers views on the various aspects of the subject. These include the causes and nature of homosexuality and prostitution; the effect these practices have on the person concerned and on the community as a whole; and the measure which could be take both to help individuals to overcome their habits and to protect the community. The evidence given to the Departmental Committee by the Church of England Moral Welfare Council is endorsed:

"While we would insist that the male homosexual has no right to ask for a wider latitude than society and the law concede to the heterosexual, we would at the same time suggest that a thoroughgoing review is demanded of the principles according to which certain sexual acts are singled out for definition as legal 'offences,' while others, equally harmful to society, are ignored."

It is inadequate for society merely to condemn the conduct of homosexuals and prostitutes. Abhorrence of their behavior should not outweigh the sympathy and understanding, but should rather be a stimulus to find better ways of coping with these problems.

At the present time there is no lack of stimulation to the sexual appetite. Suggestive advertisements abound, provocative articles and illustrations appear in the newspapers, magazines and cheap novels with lurid covers frequently provide suggestive reading matter, and the erotic nature of many films and stage shows is but thinly veiled. This background tends to increase heterosexual overactivity, while for homosexuals it fans the fire of resentment at the latitude allowed to heterosexual indulgence when their own sexual activities are condemned and they are regarded as criminals.