ABSTRACT
Continuing my analysis of therapies that promote gender conformity and the work of John Money, I analyse Money’s conceptualisation of gender development in childhood particularly in relation to sexuality. I critique and problematise his theory of ‘sexual rehearsal play’, that frames sexual orientation as malleable in childhood, and his attempts to manipulate children’s sexuality for a heterosexual outcome. I examine this (hetero)sexualisation of childhood through the lens of consent and sexual abuse, troubling Money’s controversial normalisation of adult-child sexual relationships and his contested concept of ‘heterophobia’. I conclude that sanitising sexual manipulation via therapy destigmatises and trivialises the actions of abusers and the discourse of ‘sexual rehearsal play’ silences survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
