Categories
English Sexual politics

Annual Report 2003

The ReviseF65 project
ReviseF65 in a new Haworth book

An article by Dr. Odd Reiersøl and Svein Skeid on the Revise 65 project will be published in a forthcoming special, double issue of the US periodical Journal of Homosexuality on SM. The article will be published simultaneously by The Haworth Press INC as a book on SM.

2003 has been a successful year for the ReviseF65 project and the most active until now. The production this year of professional articles and lectures constitutes a solid basis for the long-term work towards the removal of SM and Fetish diagnoses. The article and lectures set focus on the lack of scientific basis for today’s diagnoses and that they lead to discrimination and violence against the SM, Fetish and Transvestite population. With this, an important first part of the committee’s mandate has been fulfilled.

The ReviseF65 committee asked for, and received support on April 29 and May 8 from the Norwegian Association of Gay and Lesbian Physicians (HLLF) and the Norwegian Society for Clinical Sexology (NFKS).

We have had a tight collaboration with our mother organization, LLH, the Norwegian National Association for Lesbian and Gay Liberation. On June 28, during the Gay Pride Week, the ReviseF65 webmaster Svein Skeid (picture), was honoured with the Gay Person of the Year Award. It is very encouraging for the further work to revise the Fetish and SM diagnoses, to receive such a prize from LLH.

LLH leader Tore Holte Follestad also delivered a letter from the ReviseF65 group to Mr. Dagfinn Høybråten, Minister of Health (Christian Democratic Party) on November 28. This laid out the professional and human rights arguments which underlie the move to take away the SM and Fetish diagnoses. This is the first official initiative from the ReviseF65 group to Norwegian political authorities.

Professional articles and lectures

Psychologist Odd Reiersøl’s 2002 article “SM: Causes and diagnoses”, can be read atwww.reviseF65.org/reiersol1.html. So far, this article has been translated into German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Russian, in addition to English. On August 21, 2003, Odd Reiersøl and Svein Skeid’s article “The ICD Diagnoses of Fetishism and SM” was finally accepted for print in a forthcoming special, double issue of the US periodical “Journal of Homosexuality” on SM. The article will be published simultaneously by The Haworth Press INC as a book on SM.

On June 20, 2003, psychiatrist Reidar Kjær (picture) made the presentation “Do we need all the Paraphilias?” at the International Psychiatric Conference on Diagnosis in Psychiatry. This was held in Vienna Austria and arranged by the World Psychiatric Association. Dr Kjær also held lectures (in Norwegian) entitled “Is SM and Fetish still a disease?” at the Gay Pride Days in Kristiansand on June 6, at the Gay Pride week in Oslo on June 24, and at the SM house “Nonna” October 24.

On March 10-14 2003, two members of the ReviseF65 mailing list; the Brazilian sexologist and clinical psychologist Maria Cristina Martins and the psychologist, psychoanalyst, Ph.D. in Psychopathology and Psychoanalysis by Paris VII University, Paulo Roberto Ceccarelli, presented a survey about SM and Fetish diagnoses at the XV World Congress of Sexology in Cuba. Their article, “The so-called “deviant” sexualities: Perversion or right to difference?”, can be read at the Revise web site. Dr. Charles Moser also gave a lecture about the paraphilia diagnoses at the same conference. Moser and Peggy J. Kleinplatz’ article “DSM-IV-TR and the Paraphilias: An Argument for Removal”, can also be found linked up from the ReviseF65 main page.

The web pages and the mailing list

The ReviseF65 index page was totally renovated in 2003, with separate professional and human rights sections. In the professional part you can read Dorothy Hayden’s interesting article “Is Sadomasochism a mental pathology?“.

Kathrin Passig’s exclusive special ReviseF65 version of the Datenschlag’s BISAM bibliography, which was established late 2002, was updated in October 2003. The bibliography is divided in two parts, one for the revision of diagnoses, and one for “Recommended general publications”.

Included in the Human rights section is information about the support to the ReviseF65 project from the International Mr Leather, John Pendal (picture). Eric and Svein met him during Europride in Manchester. He attended one of the four workshops we held in England during August. Pendal made public on August 26 that ReviseF65 is one of five projects that he will support during the year he holds the title. This should provide a good opportunity for informing people around the world about the Revise work. Svein also held a workshop during SM Pride in London August 2, and took hundreds of pictures of the SM Pride parade. Picture gallery from Europride in Manchester can be found here.

During 2003, the article about how Denmark removed the diagnosis of Sadomasochism in 1995 wastranslated into English. The Brazilian physician Beatriz Kotek has translated our web pages to Portuguese.

During August, the number of subscribers of the ReviseF65 mailing list increased by 50 percent, due to Reidar’s lecture in Vienna and Svein’s workshop in London. The list moderator, Ole, approved 40 new members to the list in 2003. At the end of the year, we were 87 members on the mailing list. Still we think there is low activity on the list. We hope that new members will present themselves and that people will express their opinions about and experiences of the diagnoses in question.

Svein Skeid, leader