Faked Evidence of “Gay Conversion”? -- By John Tierney

Science

TierneyLab

Putting Ideas in Science to the Test

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Faked Evidence of "Gay Conversion"?

By John Tierney

Did Masters & Johnson fake their evidence that they’d successfully “converted” more than 70 percent of men and women who were dissatisfied with their homosexuality? That claim was made in the 1979 book, “Homosexuality in Perspective.” By William Masters and Virginia Johnson. But it’s questioned in Thomas Maier’s new biography of the sexologists, Masters of Sex. Read more

About TierneyLab

John Tierney always wanted to be a scientist but went into journalism because its peer-review process was a great deal easier to sneak through. Now a columnist for the Science Times section, Tierney previously wrote columns for the Op-Ed page, the Metro section and the Times Magazine. Before that he covered science for magazines like Discover, Hippocrates and Science 86.

With your help, he's using TierneyLab to check out new research and rethink conventional wisdom about science and society. The Lab's work is guided by two founding principles:

1. Just because an idea appeals to a lot of people doesn't mean it's wrong.
2. But that's a good working theory.

Comments and suggestions are welcome, particularly from researchers with new findings. E-mail tierneylab@nytimes.com. Read more

Further reading:

SEXUAL CONVERSION THERAPIES by Jack Drescher, M.D. .