Sexual dysfunctions and psychoanalysis

The authors examine the major factors involved in recent changes in the social standards and attitudes related to homosexuality. The principal influences investigated include the misconstrued emphasis given to the humanist ideology, which properly stresses the dignity of the individual; the social sciences' relativization of the cultural norms defining homosexuality; the influence of the mass media in disseminating these perspectives and thereby tending to create an acceptable image of homosexuality, and the tendency of all these changes to result in a substantial increase in public acceptance and tolerance of homosexuality. The authors suggest that this trend in public opinion has begun to isolate psychoanalytic knowledge, to reduce its status and acceptability among the public, and to replace it with popular views concerning the meaning of sexual dysfunctions.