The Aversion Project
A medical torture programme targeting gay soldiers in apartheid South Africa.
During apartheid, a program called the Aversion Project used medical torture on gay soldiers and drug-using conscripts in the South African Defence Forces. Led by Aubrey Levin, it forced victims to undergo "curing" for homosexuality, which the military saw as subversive. In 1995, the South African Medical Association publicly apologized for these past wrongs.
Quick Facts
- Leader
- Aubrey Levin
- Location
- Ward 22 at 1 Military Hospital, Voortrekkerhoogte
- Age range of victims
- mostly 16 to 24-year-olds
- Levin's prison sentence
- five-year prison term
- Date of sentencing
- April 23, 2014
Facts from the source article.
History
Under apartheid, the South African military maintained a dual policy on homosexuality: permanent members were prohibited from being homosexual, while conscripts were allowed to be. Officials feared that a complete ban would give young white South African men a convenient way to avoid military service. With the supposed toleration of homosexuality came forced 'therapy,' including compulsory shock therapy, castration, and other forms of treatment that significantly violated basic human rights. Between 1971 and 1989, victims were subjected to chemical castration and electric aversion treatment intended to cure them of homosexuality. This approach was supported by psychiatrists who considered homosexuals mentally ill, a claim then present in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Conscripts labeled with this 'mental illness' were not given military leadership positions or entrusted with sensitive information. During shock therapy, electrodes were strapped to the upper arm and connected to a dial calibrated from 1 to 10. Homosexual soldiers were shown black-and-white pictures of a naked man and encouraged to fantasize; if they showed any sexual response, a shock was administered, with voltage increased if responses continued. The patient was then shown a coloured picture of a woman intended to stimulate arousal, but this often failed. Due to these failures, sexual realignment procedures were performed on those who could not be 'cured.' The lack of scientific evidence for altering sexuality led to a decline in such treatments during the 1970s, when mental health fields no longer supported them. The definition of homosexuals as mentally ill was removed from the American Psychiatric Association's manual in 1973.
The Aversion Research Project
The Aversion Research Project was formed by a team of academic researchers and activists to obtain more information about the treatment of homosexual military personnel during the Apartheid era. Using qualitative methodology, the project examined why homosexuality was considered unusual behaviour at that time. Researchers interviewed homosexual individuals targeted by conversion therapy, along with their families and friends, to gather first-hand experiences. Before the project began, the researchers needed approval from a research committee. The committee took issue with the word 'abuse' to describe what happened, considering it an assumption unsupported by factual evidence. Therefore, the term 'abuse' had to be supported with factual evidence in the research. The committee also disagreed with the researchers' designation of the actions of psychologists initiating conversion shock therapy as a human rights violation, raising concerns that the committee did not want an investigation into medical officials' practices. Additionally, the committee questioned the sampling method, as accepting volunteers would not be representative of the overall experience.
Aubrey Levin
Aubrey Levin led the project against homosexual military personnel and argued that similar procedures could cure drug addicts and the 'disturbed'—those who did not want to serve in the apartheid military. He started the project and ran Ward 22 at 1 Military Hospital in Voortrekkerhoogte, where most patients were treated. Levin was one of 24 doctors warned by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that their actions violated human rights and risked being labelled as perpetrators of human rights abuses. He claimed all patients were volunteers. Levin was later accused of further medical malpractice targeting many other men. He was sentenced to a five-year prison term on April 23, 2014.
Post-project
After conversion therapy proved unsuccessful, staff developed an alternative: patients who failed initial treatment were subjected to sex change procedures, including surgery and a new identity. They were discharged from the military and advised to cut off contact with family and friends. As many as 900 homosexuals, mostly 16 to 24-year-old draftees, underwent surgical genital alteration and received new birth certificates. The surgeries were performed in military hospitals, with a high rate of patient deaths during surgery. Many reassignments were left incomplete, leaving patients with halfway-finished procedures. No follow-up appointments were provided to complete surgeries or check on patients' mental and physical health. Without adequate mental preparation, patients faced depression, leading many to commit suicide.
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