Alan Turing, World War II code-breaker castrated for being gay, is the face

General Discussion
#1

<<Bank of England Governor Mark Carney announced Monday that Turing, who killed himself in 1954 after he was subjected to chemical castration, will appear on the new polymer note by the end of 2021.
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Two years after choosing castration to avoid a custodial sentence, he ended his life at the age of 41 by eating an apple laced with cyanide.
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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologized for Turing’s treatment by the justice system in the 1950s after thousands of people signed a petition in 2009.>>

Will the day come when Merck, Roche, the FDA, and the medical community will apologize for chemically castrating half a million innocent men?

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#2

what a tragedy, i didnt know he killed himself, sounds like he was in the same dark place that most of us are experiencing now

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#3

It’s certainly likely from reading the accounts. DES was oestrogenic, but also used as a prostate cancer treatment as it was powerfully antiandrogenic (reduced both T and DHT from circulation as well as muting gonadal production of androgens). He underwent a lot of physical changes as a result and as we know interference in androgen function can cause terrible neurological outcomes. Truly awful.

UK people who are physically/cognitively up to it: I would highly recommend Bletchley Park as an easy going thing to do, which is where the codebreaking effort to crack Enigma in WWII took place. Can see Turing’s office and lots on his work, as well as huge old valve-based computers working on paper tape reels.

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#4

Great post.

I like the BoE’s timing with this. This is happening right after pride month, and at a time when society is exploring sexuality generally in debate and in the media like never before. I profoundly believe our cause has a place in the current debate.

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#5

Yeah, it’s safe to say Turing could be portrayed as not just a victim, and martyr, of homophobia, but also of medical malpractice (like us). I recall some quote of his, where he said his mind no longer worked properly and he couldn’t really focus on anything anymore, after his “treatment” was discontinued. Doubtless, this played a role in his suicide, not just the physical effects and the humiliation of his conviction. I remember thinking this sounds similar to the severe mental side effects some of us have from PFS/PAS.

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#6

You nailed it, @forgotten_dreams. Difference is, we’re in a gang of people who all have the same thing. Turing was on his own. We can work to fix our situation, together.

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#7

You know, I was hesitant to bring this up, but I reading about the history of the AIDS crisis. Maybe there’s lessons to be learned from such a crisis, if you consider the gay community in the US was nearly wiped out by AIDS and now decades later, in large part due to publicity and activism, AIDS is now basically finished. Basically, we’ll have to be as outgoing and forthright in demanding a cure from the establishment that simply wants us to be ignored and considered delusional.

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#8

The first step is for patients to get involved with our YouTube project. Our admin team is running this. We then want to see further people signing up. This should build interest and produce a cascade of support, publicity, and more YouTube vids.

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#9

May be of interest: https://www.thecut.com/2015/12/what-its-like-to-be-chemically-castrated.html

From the article:
Pacey told us, “We know from the medical evidence that if you castrate a man then you change his ability to think and his ability to concentrate. And if you take testosterone away, then the brain will become muddled.” One of Turing’s letters to his friend Robin Gandy talks about his “shocking tendency at present to fritter my time away in anything but what I ought to be doing.”"

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#10

That’s just like me! I also know why it happens. I am trying to write it up but I can’t concentrate…

Do you have the rest of the letter?

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#11

No, it was just that one excerpt, from the above linked
article. If I find it somewhere, I’ll let you know.