The treatment of gay and lesbian soldiers in the South African military was explored in a 2003 documentary film, titled Property of the State. While there are no mentions of Levin or the Aversion Project by name in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final reports, it's generally accepted … Levin also treated drug users, principally soldiers who smoked marijuana, and men who objected to serving in the apartheid-era military on moral grounds, who were classified as "disturbed.". The purple sky gives way, and we’re back in the studio as an emotive song plays in the background. One has to ask to what extent this was experimental. It is not evidence. With Juan Acosta, Carmen Becerra, Raúl Castellanos, Elias Chiprout. For example, it is known that the military has a history of doing sex change operations-- many sex changes were done in Military hospitals. This was not a simple elicitation of a reflex.". (Workshop 1999) Although in any medical advancement there is always a cutting edge of experimentation, in total institutions there is a captive audience. is a partnership of Dolly Parton Movie Producer Discusses Producing for Film and Television. As treatment. Kaplan contacted the CPSA, armed with the TRC submissions, The aVersion Project, and his own researched, footnoted work. In addition to attempting to undermine the credibility of his former patients, a key part of Levin's defense was to claim that the things that happened between them were consensual (we'll come back to this point), and then were later mischaracterized or maliciously distorted by his accusers. 1. What is the Aversion Project? We hope you enjoy! The Aversion Project to ‘cure deviants in the army’ The South African Defence Force forced hundreds of white gay and lesbian conscripts to undergo medical treatment without their consent to try and convert them to heterosexuality. © 2004-2019 The Bilerico Project / LGBTQ Nation. New America, and Arizona State University Create your citations, reference lists and bibliographies automatically using the APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard referencing styles. A team of individuals: academic researchers and activists on behalf of the LGBTQ community came together in order to obtain more information about the treatment of homosexual military personnel during the Apartheid Era. He said electric shock therapy was a standard "treatment" for gay people at the time and those subjected to it did so voluntarily. “The idea to have them float into the sky was inspired by interviews with the family,” said Kim. The National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality (NCGLE, now known as the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project), which asked for a commission to investigate the medical torture allegations, claimed to have: ...two boxes of papers documenting the 1968 Immorality Amendment Bill. Item B106 is an eager letter from a loyal member of the ruling, pro-apartheid National Party who claims to have successfully 'treated' homosexuals and wants to be invited to address the all-white Parliament on this subject. The infamous project MKUltra was CIA's attempt at mastering mind control. Renaissance Education Association 15; Silk, Cyndi 3; Beeman, Wendi 2; International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE) 2 Laing, Alison 2; Richards, Kymberleigh 2 He had seen a lingerie ad in The New York Times Magazine; the photographer was Bert Stern, and the model, wearing only a slip, turned out to be Tiffin. It's also a setting where small gestures easily put one into a dependence scenario. Sounds good, right? “I love you, Mom,” she says. This brief act ends with VR Nayeon falling asleep after telling her mother that she’s no longer in pain. Essential Doc Reads is our curated selection of recent features and important news items about the documentary form and its processes, from around the internet, as well as from the Documentary magazine archive. Various homosexual individuals – who were targets of the conversion therapy – along with the families and friends of these i… Aversion therapy may be helpful for stopping specific types of unwanted behaviors or habits. But Jang Ji-sung, who lost her daughter to blood cancer in 2016, welcomed the opportunity to see her daughter again—even if it was just in VR. Whether or not anything regarding Aubrey Levin's alleged association with the Aversion Project can ever be substantiated, the overlapping similarities between those things that are known provide some important lessons. The Aversion Project was a medical torture program in South Africa led by Dr. Aubrey Levin during apartheid.The project identified gay soldiers as conscripts who used drugs in the South African Defence Forces (SADF). It said the practice of aversion therapy appeared to stop when Levine left the hospital. There’s a walking tour of holiday decorations, a scene set at an ice-skating rink, and even a white-elephant gift exchange. Equal, a new docuseries about the history of the LGBTQ+ movement, premiered October 22 on HBO Max. What remains to be seen is whether anyone hears and learns from them. Upload joins a populous landscape of similar stories, featuring high-tech and often expensive solutions to death. Calgary Sun reporter Kevin Martin elaborated: Two doctors testified Levin was in such poor health that he needed to get in shape before he could sustain the mental and physical strain of what was then to be a six-week hearing. Equal, a new docuseries about the history of the LGBTQ+ movement, premiered October 22 on HBO Max. It was a space thick with desperation and rage, a high-security clinic where the waiting room would at once be awash with tension and hopelessness and fear. Rate This Movie: SYNOPSIS: Broil follows a dysfunctional family of demons vying to control the future of their wealth. On November 15, 2012 the Calgary Herald reported (page now offline): R.B. At one point, VR Nayeon has her mother touch her hand, and they float into the sky to a twilight-toned afterlife. In this way, his case became difficult to prosecute even beyond the circus-style atmosphere of the trial. There is the problem of marginalising groups again, but on the other hand the issues of the minority group should remain visible. The 'sex change' therapy exemplifies the homophobic attitude in the 20th century. You’ve run out of free articles. “Nayeon’s mother has told us that she thinks of the production and the VR experience as a ‘wonderful dream,’ ” said Kim. All rights reserved. The Aversion Project. AZ Pizzeria to Legislators: Discrimination Goes Both Ways |, Gay Country Singer: Gay Men Are Sad, Predatory Drunks? Join Slate Plus to continue reading, and you’ll get unlimited access to all our work—and support Slate’s independent journalism. This is a David and Goliath story of one veterinarian's battle to protect her patients (tigers, lions and even house cats) from big corporations, with their big corporate money, that will shamelessly do anything to animals to increase their bottom line. The editorial team will delete a comment that is off-topic, abusive, exceptionally incoherent, includes a slur or is soliciting and/or advertising. Becoming Wren Adams 3 (Now with two times … The title derives from Hawking's bestselling 1988 book A Brief History of Time, but whereas the book is an explanation of cosmology, the film is a biography of Hawking's life, featuring interviews with family members, colleagues, and even his childhood nanny. In one of the videos, though, Levin is seen fondling the patient's genitals for more than ten minutes, causing Calgary-area urologist Ethan Grober to dispute Levin's claim: "What I saw was a prolonged... fondling of the penis. Death is universal, but approaches to it may vary. ... humiliate or show hostility or aversion" to any person on the grounds of sexual orientation. In the dying days of apartheid in South Africa, anxiety was high about the nation's transition to full democracy, about whether the transition of power could remain (mostly) peaceful, and about what the implications could be for people of who held positions of authority under the old regime (especially if they were English or Afrikaaner). I Begrudgingly Admit That Tom Cruise Is Right, The SolarWinds Hack Is Unlike Anything We Have Ever Seen Before, Pornhub Is Just the Latest Example of the Move Toward a Verified Internet, storytelling can offset VR motion sickness. The Sentencing Project is a Washington, D.C based research and advocacy center working to reduce the use of incarceration in the United States and to address racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Meeting You was produced by one of South Korea’s largest broadcasters, Munhwa Broadcasting Corp, which worked with six different studios to create the VR experience. One had to be buzzed into the back where the therapists' offices are, often escorted. Renaissance Education Association 15; Silk, Cyndi 3; Beeman, Wendi 2; International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE) 2 Laing, Alison 2; Richards, Kymberleigh 2 Directed by Rafael Piñero. The Aversion Project. We did not try to analyze or heal anyone at any point. The power disparity, too, cannot be discounted. To revisit film of their high school days, now, is to glimpse the traits that would define them in the ... speaking to Smith’s aversion to press and hubbub. "The increase in the current would cause the muscles of the forearm to contract - an extremely painful sensation," the article said. While multiple VR studios collaborated on creating a realistic voice and gestures for VR Nayeon, much of the research came in the form of meetings and interviews with the mother, aimed at understanding what she wanted. In an attempt to find out more about the time her father spent in the old South African National defense force, one young South African woman finds more than she was looking for. If the genitals become diseased, as in the case of cancer, sometimes the diseased areas are surgically removed. “She was quite different from my Nayeon,” said Jang in the documentary. These interviews are interspersed with slice-of-life vignettes of the family in the present day. The whole thing feels the work of a man who hoped to create a professional-looking project with the absolute minimum possible amount of editing and staging work. How they got rid of them is shocking. 216-217 View Record in Scopus Google Scholar The Aversion Project report argues that the doctors concerned broke international law. We would like the TRC to take note of that, particularly the fact that as far as the Project was concerned we were able to supply the TRC with the names of the doctors as far as we understand within the required time. The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ, Get the LGBTQ Nation Daily Digest by Email, Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Marriage Equality, How Homosexuality Stopped Being a 'Disease', American Airlines' Snappy Comeback to Anti-LGBT Tweet. Authorities feared that a complete mistrial was inevitable if the jury heard too much of the shocking nature of allegations made about his years in South Africa. Quaid also starred in SOUL SURFER and was nominated at the 2012 Movieguide® Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry for the Grace Award for Most Inspiring Performance of 2011. The film’s Ludovico technique is widely perceived as a pomarranc of aversion therapywhich is a form of classical conditioning. Dr Aubrey Levin was the mastermind behind 'the aversion project'. Canadian media continue to fear looking at the Aversion Project, due to the fact that the allegations remain untested in court. Colonel Aubrey Levin believed that sex- changes and forced abuse as forms of therapy would alter the preference of homosexuality to later become heterosexual Even after numerous studies, people still believe that homosexuality is a disease, and that it can be cured through different forms of therapy and treatment said Levin would take down books from his shelves and show him "pictures of penises and vaginas. Project Manager, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives Shock the Gay Away: Secrets of Early Gay Aversion Therapy Revealed (PHOTOS) 06/28/2013 09:00 am ET Updated Dec 06, 2017 In a July interview for the Mail and Guardian for that study (now offline but referenced by the Gully), Levin was said to have admitted participating in aversion therapy, but denied some even more shocking allegations of forced gender reassignment. Repeated violations of the policy will result in revocation of your user account. A recent British documentary called "Undercover Doctor: Cure Me I'm Gay" featured a gay doctor attempting reparative therapy methods. Rather, we tried to focus on the positive memories,” said Kim. But given the unprecedented and simultaneously public nature of this VR experience, there were a lot of unknowns about how the experience might affect Nayeon’s parents and siblings. The program started in the 1950s and lasted seemingly until 1966. Electrodes were strapped to the arms of the subject and wires leading from these were in turn connected to a machine. The hourlong special aired in February and can be viewed online (unfortunately, only in Korean). Victims were forced to submit to "curing" their homosexuality because the SADF considered homosexuality to be subversive and those who were homosexual were subject to … “That’s before people knew the extent of what he had gone through. When one is at a clinic like FAOS or FACS, it's often because they have no choice, whether legal, economic or otherwise -- one has nowhere else to go, and usually has several hoops to jump through in order to access the care that one's life is in some way dependent on. Perhaps once the novelty of VR wears off, its pretenses to realism will no longer be met with suspicion. The 2010 charges stem from incidents in which Aubrey Levin was said to have fondled patients' genitals. By Sam Haskell, President, Magnolia Hill Productions. While arguing about an opinion or idea is encouraged, personal attacks will not be tolerated. The medical profession is reputed for pathologising any form of behaviour. The last comment is curious, as Aubrey Levin has denied participating in aversion techniques -- yet some of the allegations seem to point to him having championed them. These changes raise some other possibilities. Wallis was almost finished casting his newest project, “Summer and Smoke.” But Wilder, with “One, Two, Three” coming up on his calendar, was already searching for her. Jang and VR Nayeon sit at a table set with a birthday cake and foods that Nayeon loved, we are told—birthday seaweed soup and a plate of honey rice cakes. It was, until the Great Depression rocked the U.S. in 1929 and the project lost its funding. On 9 October 2019 the Rainbow Project and Queen's Students' Union held a protest outside the university in response to revelations around the use of electric aversion therapy. Levin's trial was a circus of delays and confusion. Together, all of this contributed to a more immersive experience.” But the immersiveness was not just a technical project. When she was running, or sitting.” In part, this detachment has to do with the fact that the real Nayeon would have been 10 but was depicted as 7, the age at which she died. Yet the setting can't help but feel oppressive. They didn’t like gay people in apartheid-era South Africa. The study was unethical because it does not treat the soldiers equally as human and does not respect their sexuality. Directed by Jennifer Conrad. The film’s Ludovico technique is widely perceived as a pomarranc of aversion therapywhich is a form of classical conditioning. Her anguish feels real. When the subject was screaming with pain, the current would be switched off and a colour Playboy centrefold substituted for the previous pictures. This is not the first film collaboration between Quaid and McNamara. “Nayeon’s mother has told us that she thinks of the production and the VR experience as a … In 2002, the SANDF extended spousal medical and pension benefits to "partners in a permanent life-partnership". "I was scared that they would tell Dr. Levin that I said that... he would deny it and I would be in jail, or a straight jacket -- who knows.". People are particularly vulnerable in a place like FAOS and FACS, and often not very respected when they go into care. He’s a great human being, a great father. Jang may not have been the first mother to lose a child, but she is perhaps the first who got to meet her deceased daughter as a VR simulacrum, one that took almost a year to create. Therefore special care should be taken not to abuse people's rights. Using his wheeled walker as more of a weapon than a crutch, the good doctor raced at the photographers with the agility of a much younger man, forcing those with cameras to evade being struck. In the last 200 years, scientists in the name of pioneering study, have conducted some of the most bizarre and cruel experiments in human history. Exclude Finding Aids. Disaster Aversion Adjust Share The quest to control hurricanes ... weather-modification experiment ever imagined. The family was selected because it had demonstrated a clear desire for this VR reunification. Recently, for example, the coronavirus pandemic has led to a rise in Zoom funerals and accelerated the embrace of virtual interactions and spaces. But as film scholar Tom Gunning writes, in the 19th century, inventions such as the photograph and motion picture “were all greeted as technological responses to the ultimate limit to human life, mortality.” They “claimed to preserve human traits (expression, movement, voice) after the subject had died” and were promoted as “an objective form of memory” and “man’s triumph over death.”. "Just in that regard we can talk about the kinds of cases we would have discussed... "We also raise issues around military health personnel and we particularly want to challenge the SAMS whose presentation yesterday did not touch on any of the issues that we've raised and I think Commissioner Ramashala has certainly posed the question to them, but we have presented evidence regarding programmes which involved the re-programming, the use of aversion therapy for gay men in the military and we believe that these cases require further investigation, and the TRC, we would hope, would follow up in that regard.". It's important to repeat that Levin has never been publicly charged with any of the things alleged here, and rumors and allegations should not be confused with convictions. It is important to separate what was said to have occurred in South Africa from what Levin was charged with in Calgary, in the interest of clarity. In 1994, a general election was held amid car bombings and other scattered violence, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was proposed. In an interview with the Guardian 10 years ago, he did not deny its use but said it was solely to help soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress. We emailed in Korean, and I translated Kim’s comments into English. "To the extent (R.B.) The film is packed with pandemic-free, Christmastime touchstones. by CherylGreyford. 26/05/1970 On 9 October 2019 the Rainbow Project and Queen's Students' Union held a protest outside the university in response to revelations around the use of electric aversion therapy. And you'll never see this message again. The documentary depicts these manipulations as a success, and the family as happy. Levin was charged with ten counts of sexual assault (one was later stayed) after an initial accusation in March, 2010 inspired as many as 22 former patients to come forward with allegations of abuse. Technological resurrection as a response to human mortality is a familiar trope in fiction. 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