The Aversion Project

The Aversion Project was a medical torture program in South Africa led by Dr. Aubrey Levin^[1] during apartheid. The project identified gay soldiers as conscripts who used drugs in the South African Defence Forces (SADF). Victims were forced to submit to "curing" their homosexuality^[1] because the SADF considered homosexuality to be "subversive".^[2]

History

Between 1971 and 1989, victims were submitted to chemical castration and electric shock treatment meant to cure them of their homosexuality.^[3] Electrodes were strapped to the upper arm with wires, then run through a dial calibrated from 1 to 10, varying the current. Homosexual soldiers were shown pictures of a naked man and were encouraged to fantasize, at which a point the person-in-charge would administer a shock if the soldiers showed any form of sexual response and voltage was increased throughout the treatment if the soldiers continued to exhibit sexual responses.

Levin claimed the same procedure could cure other groups. These included drug addicts (mostly men caught smoking marijuana) and the disturbed (those who did not want to serve in the apartheid military).

Project staff would force a sex change operation on those for whom the procedure failed and fake victims' birth certificates. As many as 900 homosexuals, mostly 16–24 year-old who had been drafted, were surgically turned into women and given birth certificates to fit their modified anatomy. The reassignments were often incomplete, as victims typically lacked the means to pay for the expensive hormones needed to maintain their new identities.^[4]

References

External links

• The Aversion Project
• SAMJ Forum: The Aversion Project
• Victim interview