Customer Reviews

Male and Female He Made Them: Questions and Answers about Marriage and Same-Sex Unions

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This book is valuable in all respects. It is the type of information same sex attracted activists don't want you to have as factual information undermines support for same sex marriage.

You may have already worked out that the "born that way" claim is bunk for a variety of reasons. This book reveals how same sex attractions really develop and how young children display warning symptoms that something is wrong well before they develop a same sex attraction. It explains what normal experiences these children have been deprived of and what remedial action can be taken to ensure they get the normal developmental experiences that prevent a same sex attraction from developing.

Apart from a brief religious blurb at the end and some autobiographical comments the book should be of interest to a much broader audience than the title suggests. Although Mary Jo Anderson's apparent aim was to better equip Catholics to understand the issues because our religious belief is constantly attacked, the information is a valuable resource for anyone who wishes to gain a more in depth understanding of same sex attraction and how to respond to the problems they face with genuine compassion.

The book is extremely readable and sources information from those therapists at the coal face who actually deal with same sex attractions and sources relevant research. It is not the usual shallow smoke screen that you may be accustomed to.

Mary Jo Anderson set out to ascertain a compassionate response to the issue of same sex attraction and spent 10 years researching the issue prior to undertaking this project. The result is outstandingly informative for the reader.

At the very least it is a must read for any Catholic who believes that they must defend their Catholic belief to secular critics in ways which a secular audience can understand or who wish to deal with people with same sex attractions with genuine compassion.

This Book is important because it gives the Catholic point of view of one of the Hottest Hot Button Issues imaginable. Catholicism cannot accept Homosexual Marriage, this book explains why. Two necessary works are "Homosexuality and Hope" by the Catholic Medical Association and "The Truth About homosexuality" by Fr. John Harvey. Many may think it intolerant, however if one takes the time to look into Catholic Moral Theology and JPII's Theology of the Body, this issue makes more sense. So please, be open minded.

"Male and Female He Made Them" by Mary Jo Anderson and Dr. Robin Bernhoft is an indispensable guide to fighting the culture war amid the jungles of confusion and falsehood. The book facilitates an opening of the mind to issues which concern every American. First of all, the authors discuss the goodness and beauty of marriage on the natural and supernatural levels. In viewing the love of man and woman in the light of God's purpose, revealed in Scripture and Tradition, then any contemporary attempts to distort and disfigure marriage are seen as outrageous to both natural and divine law. As the authors explain:

"True virtue is a life lived as a reflection of the world that we have been given and did not create ourselves. This 'given-ness' is the truth that we cannot change- and thus we choose to obey. Virtue must be both personal and public in order to give structure to society....If society rejects the intrinsic meaning and purpose of human sexuality and the conjugal embrace of male and female, it is also forced to reject life as having any meaning beyond whatever pleasure can be wrested from it." (p.104)

Meticulously referenced, based upon medical and historical research, sociological studies, and church documents, "Male and Female He Made Them" is replete with helpful resources and quotations. All the hard questions about marriage, divorce, and same-sex unions are succinctly tackled, making it a practical tool for engaging in serious study or debate. Written with brevity and clarity, the volume leaves no doubt that indifference to social and moral issues is not an option for Catholics. If we do not jump into the fray to defend marriage, be it through politics or education or intense prayer, then choices will be made for us, choices that will impinge upon the freedom and happiness of our children for generations to come.

This book is not exhaustive but a very good resource if you want to know the social, medical and religious reasons why the homosexual lifestyle is not in accord with God's will and is not good for society. Respectful and factual. The book has copious documentation to back up its claims, and the "additional resources" section is very good. I don't remember if it mentioned "NARTH" but that is another great resource (Dr. Nicolosi)

I had the misfortune of stumbling on an interview being held with Mary Jo Anderson a short while ago regarding the topic of this book. Though I would not have wished to contribute to the sales of the book, I wanted, in print, to read the views of this author. I am saddened, the mildest term I can use here. Why is so much time and effort still used against the GLBT community? I think of a young teen, questioning his or her sexual identity, picking up this book of misconceptions and outright lies and am beyond saddened. As a cradle Catholic, I apologize to those Catholic youths for the Church position against them, very strongly exemplified in this book. There is no arguing with the authors, for they have put on the mantle of righteousness. Please, do not believe, children of God, this slanted, biased book. In reality, I give this book no stars and would only rate it and others like it in the negative categories.(Since I can't submit my comments without rating the item, I will give it the lowest possible, though even that is undeserved.)

Mary Jo Anderson is an extremist in every way. She masks her "research" in religious hysteria in a "Hennie Penny the sky is falling" crusade against gay marriage. She fails to understand the difference between orientation and behavior. One wants to ask Miss Anderson if a heterosexual doesn't engage in sex are they still heterosexual? Her twisted logic would assume no, since she bases sexual orientation only on behavior. Further she promotes reparative therapy. The author fails to realize that NO evidence exists that homosexual orientation can be changed. Witness John Paulk the ex-homosexual President of Exodus found (apparently under a spell or a severe relapse in the bathroom of a (notorious den of sin) New York gay bar. Even Spencer's study that stated that SOME homosexuals can be changed has been discredited due to to the fact that his sample population only consisted of homosexuals in the religious fervor of reparitive therapy programs. The preponents of this "conversion" the likes of Nicolosi, Paul Cameron, and NARTH, have been disavowed by the APA, pediatrics, and world health organizations. Even within the last few days the American Psychological Association has issued yet ANOTHER paper speaking of the dangers of reparitive therapy. People can change some BEHAVIOR if they torture themselves via these programs. But orientation in men has been shown to be unchanging time and time again. The author should look to other enemies of the failure of heterosexual marriage (and it is failing in terms of stability) such as communication, the fact that women are no longer limited to agrarian cultures treated as farm hands, computer communication and chat rooms, mass media's sexualization of everything, and a general disregard of commitment. Unfortunately, the world cannot return to the 12th century where Miss Anderson would be comfortable. Then the infidels (by her theory homosexuals and feminists lurking under every bush ) could be simply burned at the state. I am not a supporter of gay marriage, but as a college professor and psychotherapist (more enemies of Miss Anderson's narrow view) I feel that her rigidity and extremism ruins any real examination of this topic. The reader might look to a more rational pastoral work and see marriage that is nurtured form the inside, and once secure, is not threatened by such red herrings as "gay marriage." What my neighbors do has little effect on my marriage. Yet Miss Anderson and her crowd quiver at the thought of the "slippery slope of sin" waiting to grab all off us. To get a full dose of her absurd ideology read her article "Bishops betraying the Catholic Church" on goggle. Miss Anderson should be standing on a street corner wearing a sandwich board sign tolling a bell for the end of time rather than writing books about something she knows nothing about. the sad thing is that this branch of Catholic extremism knows no logic. A true academic might read "Sexual Conversion therapy: Ethical, Clinical, and Research Perspectives by an M.D. and two Ph.D's. A more thorough piece than this tract.