Changing Our Minds: The Story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker Clip

Academy Award winning director Richard Schmiechen (The Times of Harvey Milk) vividly portrays the life and work of the woman described by the Los Angeles Times as "The Rosa Parks of Gay Rights" in Changing Our Minds: The Story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker.

During the repressive 1950's, Dr. Evelyn Hooker undertook ground breaking research that led to a radical discovery: homosexuals were not, by definition, "sick." Dr. Hooker's finding sent shock waves through the psychiatric community and culminated in a major victory for gay rights - in 1974 the weight of her studies, along with gay activism, forced the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its official manual of mental disorders. Startling archival footage of the medical procedure used to "cure" homosexuality, images from the underground gay world of the McCarthy era and home movies of literary icon Christopher Isherwood bring to life history which we must never forget. Dr. Hooker's insights into gay marriage and the gay community (a term she coined), and the filmmakers' winning approach make this documentary education at its most exciting and enjoyable.

Narrated by Patrick Stewart.

Richard Schmiechen 1991 75 min. USA

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Frameline
• LGBT
• GLBT
• gay
• queer
• independent
• film
• documentary
• DSM
• psychology
• mental illness
• homosexuality
• Evelyn Hooker
• Patrick Stewart
• Richard Schmiechen
• research
• rights
• history
• biography

[jtubebx1]

@funk7000 "I've read those commentary pieces by Gregory M. Herek, Ph.D . . ."

You know that he cites a lot more studies than those of Evelyn Hooker and Charles Kinsey. And, no, the research of Evelyn Hooker and Charles Kinsey is not "debunked."

There's a lot of squawking about Kinsey's work, which really, really shocked the prudish, and the folks who aren't getting any. Poor Judith Reisman. Hardly anyone listens to her or takes her seriously outside of churches and the religious right.

[funk7000]

@jtubebx1 I've read those commentary pieces by Gregory M. Herek, Ph.D, a member of the APA. Citing Kinsey and Hooker doesn't help his case for their "research" is thoroughly debunked. Kinsey's research was not only fraudulent and bias, but downright criminal. The APA is nothing more than a political arm for the homosexual activists and therefore in reality are hardly a credible source on this issue.

[astrotyles]

@ funk7000: If the Mattachine society had conspired to pervert research as you suggest, why in the following 40years of ongoing controversy hasn't anyone repeated the research with different results & convinced the major professional psychological bodies? Maybe because you're a wingnut that's full of shit :-)?

[jtubebx1]

@funk7000 "hooker's study sample/subjects were handpicked by Harry Hay and the Mattachine society . . ."

Followup research has shown the same results. Top experts cannot distinguish gay standard tests of mental health from non gay tests of mental health. The experts don't know, of course, which group the tests that they are looking at are from.

There's detail about follow up studies in the online article FACTS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY AND MENTAL HEALTH

[jtubebx1]

@funk7000 "hooker's study sample/subjects were handpicked by Harry Hay and the Mattachine society . . ."

Dr. Hooker needed to get one group that was known to be gay and one group that was known to be not gay. People with "disturbances" where kicked out of both groups so that gayness could be compared with non gayness.

Standard tests and instruments were used. The nation's top experts analyzed the results: In mental health, there was no real difference between the groups.

[funk7000]

@jtubebx1 do more research... like kinsey's research, hooker's study samples/subjects were handpicked by Harry Hay and the Mattachine society...a communist homosexual political organization. I can send you more detailed info on how bias and faulty her study was

[jtubebx1]

There is an online article that gives a very good description of the pioneering research that Dr. Evelyn Hooker did. Search for a 1997 Atlantic Magazine article titled "Homosexuality and Biology." You can search on HOMOSEXUALITY AND BIOLOGY 1997

Here is a quote from that article:

"Her [Dr. Evelyn Hooker's] study was the first of many showing that homosexuality could not be so defined as pathology."

[WhiteFlowerLei76]

I can't imagine what a nightmare it was for LGBT people living in America in the 1940's or 1950's, not that its much better now.....

[funk7000]

Hooker was in coohoots with the Mattachines society who basically handpick her study subjects for her. Like Kinsey, hookers studdies were full of bias and agenda

[insidious]

@funk7000

This is just going off of Wikipedia: Her studies and work began in the mid 1950's and came to fruition in 1973. So, poorly worded and a typo I guess.

Her work (at least the 1950s stuff) was all about having experts in the popular psychological evaluation techniques of the time look at unmarked test results and try to discern which of them were from gay men. They couldn't do better than chance, despite being supremely confident going into it.