Abstract
The debate around the so-called gay cure and reparative practices or therapeutic accompaniment to individuals who want to change their sexual identity is still active. This article proposes a critical approach to the political place of psychotherapy in current debates around therapeutic offers aimed at changing non-heterosexual sexualities, focusing on the ways this discussion has played out in Chile. With this in mind, 2 specific analytical dimensions are discussed. Firstly, the article reviews some of the main milestones that enabled the clinical invention of the ex-gay and the reparative device, critically discussing the place that motivation, effort, and individual freedom play in the context in which psychotherapy is currently practiced, particularly in relation to logics of personal responsibility that are characteristic of the market and neoliberalism. Secondly, the ideological component of the device and the contingent nature of the heterosexual norm are also analysed, challenging the relative legitimacy of pathologising discourses against non-heterosexual sexualities, in a context where the normative principles of the contemporary sexual order are being contested by politico-religious forces.
Highlights
The debate around the so-called gay cure and reparative practices or therapeutic accompaniment to individuals who want to change their sexual identity is still active
The article reviews some of the main milestones that enabled the clinical invention of the ex-gay and the reparative device, critically discussing the place that motivation, effort, and individual freedom play in the context in which psychotherapy is currently practiced, in relation to logics of personal responsibility that are characteristic of the market and neoliberalism
The ideological component of the device and the contingent nature of the heterosexual norm are analysed, challenging the relative legitimacy of pathologising discourses against non-heterosexual sexualities, in a context where the normative principles of the contemporary sexual order are being contested by politico-religious forces
Summary
Desde principios del siglo XX, la psiquiatría y la psicología han participado activamente tanto en los procesos de normalización de la sexualidad como en su regulación institucional a través de distintos dispositivos, entre ellos, la creación del Comité de Nomenclatura y Estadística de la Asociación Estadounidense de Psiquiatría (APA) el año 1917 (Corrêa, Davis & Parker, 2014). Dicha institucionalidad ilustra de buena forma cómo opera el poder a través del imperativo de la medicalización, el cual, según Foucault (1976/2011), no solo define a la sexualidad como un dominio susceptible de ser atravesada por OFERTAS TERAPÉUTICAS Y "CURA GAY" EN CHILE procesos patológicos, sino también como “una vía de paso para las relaciones de poder” La patologización opera como una forma de control social que vuelve inteligibles las experiencias humanas no médicas dentro de los pares binarios normal/salud y anormal/enfermedad (Borba, 2017; Cornejo, 2011; Russo, 2004/2013). Esta categoría permitía que la necesidad de tratamiento de quienes experimentaban cierto grado de malestar en relación a su atracción sexual homosexual pudiese seguir siendo reconocida; de lo contrario, "no había forma de que la homosexualidad fuera eliminada por completo del DSM-II" (Spitzer, p. 102, citado en Drescher, 2003)
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