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Reagan... (lemmy.world)

Don't forget the war on drugs

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[-] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 134 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The deinstitutionalization and movement to prison was something that began long before Reagan. Really goes back to the end of ww2 and Kennedy. though reagan definitely accelerated it by a great deal by decreasing budgets substantially and increasing incarceration rates significantly

Reagan was a monster though. What a great day it was when he died

[-] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

TBH, some of that deinstitutionalization could be written off to being gay no longer being a mental health issue, etc.

[-] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 day ago

That’s actually inverse to this. Homosexuality formally entered the dsm in 1952 which made institutionalization for it more common, not less, although institutionalization certainly existed beforehand (eg ww2 draft would decline for homosexuality and basically refer to conversion therapy)

This is the “lavender scare”. Much of the anti lgbt rhetoric today roots back to this era - that homosexuality is something to be pathologized, it can be cured, it is deviancy, a threat to national safety (lavender scare and red scare being analogous, thought process being all the men turning queer would make us a nation of sissies ripe for being taken over by the commies, basically. Lesbian erasure from this narrative was totally a thing (although they still got the abusive treatment)

As a result they got shock treatment, aversion therapy, and even lobotomies. This was through the early 60s and it wasn’t until 1973 that the diagnosis was formally removed. Obviously conversion therapy still happens today but the state sanctioned institutionalization form was mostly over by the mid to late 60s, though it took some time to die out in certain regions

A blight on our country and on the history of our mental health system. Disgusting

[-] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 day ago

The shock treatment thing never fully went away it's just used on gay teenagers at concentration camps their parents send them to now as opposed to being a state ran thing

[-] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 day ago

Yes conversion therapy never fully went away although some states have banned it and others have banned the use of shock as aversive despite allowing conversion therapy to continue

To clarify: there are several things people refer to as shock therapy

Ect or electro convulsive therapy is sometimes called shock therapy. This is not conversion therapy. This is evidence based for treatment resistant depression and bipolar disorder. This has an ugly history but the modern version can be very helpful if you’ve had years of no success with treatment. That said this should be something that you discuss and consent to

Conversion therapy is a form of Aversive conditioning. Shock therapy in this context is using electricity as the aversive stimulus. This is a behavioral conditioning technique to pair stimuli. It is theoretically simple and essentially based on the work of Pavlov. I take a thing you like and consistently pair it with something aversive. Eventually you associate the thing with the aversive.

So I may show you gay pornography and give an electric shock. But any aversive can theoretically work: I could show you two screens: gay pornography on one and gory death shit on the other. I could get one of those air horns and blast it to surprise you. Etc. modern conversion therapy goes way harder than this, they’ll do weird fucking shit like put a pressure sensing ring on your cock and show you hot guys, then introduce the aversive when you tingle.

Do you see the issue here? They believe they are making gay pornography aversive to you. But what’s really happening is that they are making expression of sexuality aversive. In the weenie monitor example it becomes getting an erection. This is because the people doing this are not only monsters, they are shitty at their job. They do not understand (or more likely willfully misunderstand) basic risks of what they are implementing and they also do not plan for basic realities like generalization (eg if I make homosexual erotic content aversive to you what’s to stop you generalizing that disgust to all erotic content? That’s a risk they’re willing to take, apparently, and a part of informed consent I bet money they do not explain (amongst many many other things))

Conversion therapy is torture. Aversive conditioning in general is. Anyone who does it should be in prison. They are monsters who care more about their agenda than their clients well being (which they likely do not care about at all)

[-] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 day ago

True, although nasty Christians are going to court to try to overturn bands on conversion therapy because it's their religion so they shouldn't have to follow the law. Yeah that's where at is a country. And people wonder why I have a firmly negative opinion of Christianity and don't buy the excuses people give and it's defense

[-] eldavi@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

i think executive order 10450 was the last vestige of this era to be removed from our governing bodies and it lasted until 2016; 2 years after it bit me in the ass.

i also think that this was the reason why we didn't enact the equal rights amendment; to keep access to this kind prejudice alive as evidenced by the incrementalism that project 2025 advocated since the '80s.

[-] PeripheralGhost@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago

Thanks for that info

[-] Tabooki@lemm.ee 1 points 1 day ago

He wasn't elected until 1980. Look at your graphs again.

[-] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago

Yes, the massive fall of deinstitutionalization began in the 60s as indicated on my graph? And as I said it began long before him? I don’t understand what you are disagreeing with

Even the incarceration rise started before him in the early 70s. He just is the one that turned this to a million with the war on drugs

[-] Tabooki@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago

My bad I didn't even see the text above it. Just underneath it. Ignore my statement.

this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2025
1391 points (100.0% liked)

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