The Pros And Cons Of Conversion Therapy

Treatments such as conversion therapy have been thoroughly debated by doctors, everyday civilians and even politicians. The question surrounding the topic asks whether or not the treatment is ethically and morally acceptable. Conversion therapy is an option of treatment catering to the LGBTQ community that claims to be able to change a person’s sexual behaviors such as orientation, preference and identity. The main controversies on the topic argue the physical and psychological side effects, treatment options and whether or not different sexual behaviors are mental illnesses that requires treatment.
People who support conversion therapy concur that these gender variant behaviors are a condition that needs to be treated; the treatment is designed

A more aggressive form of conversion therapy, which consists of showing a patient homoerotic images accompanied by electric shocks while inducing shame causes side effects such as nausea, vomiting and even paralysis; this is thought to create an aversion to same sex attraction (Daily Beast). This type of treatment is physically harmful to the LGBTQ community and many argue oppresses many of the rights they have received over the years; it can be argued that this therapy discriminates against the community by implying sexual variency is a problem which needs to be amended (Daily Beast). Because of the methods of conversion, members of the LGBTQ community are led to believe they are not accepted by society and suffer from a mental condition; according to the American Psychological Association, those who underwent conversion therapy were 8.9 times more likely to be suicidal, 5.9 times as likely to be depressive and three times of likely to use illegal drugs (Daily Beast). This oppression of the people who are considered different has led to this type of discrimination, which not only affects the patients who participate in it physically through electrical pulses, but leave emotional scarring as

In Shelley’s novel the creature created by Victor Frankenstein is faced with a difference which society uses as a prejudice against him, his external appearance. In both cases, the differences faced are constantly being oppressed due to the expectation of society to conform to normalcy. When the creature is created, he longs to be accepted by the human race but eventually finds that he is too ‘ugly’ to be accepted by them, similar to how members of the LGBTQ community long for the same kind of acceptance. After arriving to civilization Shelley writes from the creature’s point of view “The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country,” (Shelley) demonstrating the harsh treatment humans displayed. Aggression and violence, in both cases, are used because of human ignorance towards what they do not