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7/28/2020 "A New Species of Undesirable Immigrant" - WS-370U-001: HISTORY OF SEXUALITIES (Summer 2020)

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"A New Species of Undesirable Immigrant" Shannon O'Connor posted Jul 23, 2020 5:28 PM

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When reading "A New Species of Undesirable Immigrant" I learned that immigrants who

entered America were made to undergo a medical examination and sometimes a mental

evaluation. Immigrants were considered to be deviant and they needed full evaluations in

order to find more reasons that proved this notion. I was horrified to read that when an

immigrant had a medical evaluation they had their genitals checked and if the doctor

thought their genitals were too small or deformed in some way then that meant that they

were a sexual deviant. This meant that they could be considered a sex pervert/deviant

without having committed any crimes. "This eugenic and hereditarian view of degeneracy

was especially manifest in the belief that perversion - or the 'stigmata of degeneration' -

was physically visible on the immigrant." (Immigration 31) It seems that the medical

professionals at the time really had control over how immigrants were perceived and

treated. There was absolutely no evidence that having small or malformed genitals meant

that the person would commit a sex crime or be a "sex pervert". I think this belief was a

way to justify predjudice of immigrants and have more reasons to control them.

All Posts

Sadie Stevens July 24 at 2:04 PM

Reply to Shannon

Hey Shannon!

7/28/2020 "A New Species of Undesirable Immigrant" - WS-370U-001: HISTORY OF SEXUALITIES (Summer 2020)

https://d2l.pdx.edu/d2l/le/814403/discussions/threads/3649327/View 2/6

I was draw to your post this week because I haven't gotten the chance to read

this article yet. However, after reading your post I am going to have to set aside

some time. Honestly, it is crazy how much influence medical professionals had

on many minority groups, such as immigrants, women, and homosexuality.

However, at the same time I believe medical professionals today and who knows

many in the future the science we believe now will be disputed. The treatment

of immigrants was horrendous and still is. This class has true taught me how

important the domination and labeling of sexual deviancy is for controlling the

masses. It makes me wonder if we will even get out of this continual cycle of

sexual oppression.

Thank you for your informative post! Have a great weekend!

<<< Replied to post below >>>

Authored by: Shannon O'Connor

Authored on: Jul 23, 2020 5:28 PM

Subject: "A New Species of Undesirable Immigrant"

When reading "A New Species of Undesirable Immigrant" I learned that

immigrants who entered America were made to undergo a medical examination

and sometimes a mental evaluation. Immigrants were considered to be deviant

and they needed full evaluations in order to find more reasons that proved this

notion. I was horrified to read that when an immigrant had a medical evaluation

they had their genitals checked and if the doctor thought their genitals were too

small or deformed in some way then that meant that they were a sexual deviant.

This meant that they could be considered a sex pervert/deviant without having

committed any crimes. "This eugenic and hereditarian view of degeneracy was

especially manifest in the belief that perversion - or the 'stigmata of

degeneration' - was physically visible on the immigrant." (Immigration 31) It

seems that the medical professionals at the time really had control over how

immigrants were perceived and treated. There was absolutely no evidence that

having small or malformed genitals meant that the person would commit a sex

crime or be a "sex pervert". I think this belief was a way to justify predjudice of

immigrants and have more reasons to control them.

Reply

Shannon O'Connor July 24 at 2:46 PM

Reply to Shannon

7/28/2020 "A New Species of Undesirable Immigrant" - WS-370U-001: HISTORY OF SEXUALITIES (Summer 2020)

https://d2l.pdx.edu/d2l/le/814403/discussions/threads/3649327/View 3/6

Hello, yes well put! It is unbelievable how little progress we have made as

a society. Luckily we can learn about our history and try to be prepared to

fight abuse when we observe it being repeated. It is frustrating to feel

powerless in times of great oppression, but progress still has a chance, it

is just very slow. Unfortunately.

Reply

Taylor Morrison Sun at 2:42 PM

Hi Shannon,

I too found this fact very saddening and shocking. To think that we place such

high standards on immigrants when trying to come to the United States and not

for own native-born people who have proven to be harsh criminals is extremely

sickening. How can we expect immigrants to participate in mental evaluations

when we do not even do the same for Americans who want to buy a gun that

can potentially cause harm to others? This is a topic that I will never understand

and I think with what is going on in today's world, it is truly sad. I think it all

comes down to power. Americans want to control immigrants and use them for

their ideas and work ethic, yet they want to control whether or not they can

enter the country by implicating harsh conditions on their entry. Overall, I think

this fact goes to show how wrong the government is.

Thank You for this post!

Reply

Shannon O'Connor yesterday at 3:27 PM

Hi Taylor,

Great points about how it is all about power, and there is a lack of mental

health checks on people who want to buy a gun. I agree that it is really

frustrating. We as a society seem to have a difficult time agreeing on logic

and priorities. Thanks for your feedback!

Reply

Ona Harshbarger Sun at 2:54 PM

Hi Shannon,

7/28/2020 "A New Species of Undesirable Immigrant" - WS-370U-001: HISTORY OF SEXUALITIES (Summer 2020)

https://d2l.pdx.edu/d2l/le/814403/discussions/threads/3649327/View 4/6

Thank you for your input. I also found it startling that the doctors were ascribing

stigmas to their patients just because of their genital size. Your post also made

me think about the fact that, in today's culture, we often times fetishize male

genital sizes - on either end of the size spectrum. In many ways I can see how

this fetishization could have been influenced by the desire to not have small

genital and to, therefore, not be labeled as a deviant. However, I believe this has

possibly come full circle, because when we fetishize larger genitals we are once

again labeling the owner as deviant.

Reply

Flora Brooke Sun at 4:11 PM

"A New Species of Undesirable Immigrant" - genital examination

Shannon,

Thanks for discussing the "medical" examinations that were performed on

immigrants to the US. Rejecting immigrants from the country based on the

perceived "normalcy" of their genitals is obviously horrible, but also just really

odd. How could people come to the conclusion that the size and shape of

someone's genitals revealed anything about whether or not they were sexually

deviant? Perhaps this "test" was chosen simply because the immigration

authorities wanted an arbitrary way to reject immigrants they found undesirable

for any reason. But that still begs the question of why they would choose to

examine genitalia? One possibility is that demanding an immigrant to disrobe

and have their genitals inspected is a humiliating experience for the immigrant

and their family, and the anti-immigrant sentiment was so strong at the time

that immigration authorities forced this form of humiliation on immigrants.

Another possibility is that this was some sort of anti-intersex process where the

"medical" examiners rejected immigrants whose genitals suggested that they

might be intersex, a sex that (especially at the time, I would imagine) was

considered outside the accepted norm.

Reply

Beth Hutchison yesterday at 7:56 AM

"A New Species of Undesirable Immigrant" - genital examination

Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis was published in English by the early

1890s, and as a forensic-medical guide to sexual "disorders," provided the

key medical basis (bias?) for not only psychological, but physical

"disorders" as they relate to sexual and gender behavior and identities.

7/28/2020 "A New Species of Undesirable Immigrant" - WS-370U-001: HISTORY OF SEXUALITIES (Summer 2020)

https://d2l.pdx.edu/d2l/le/814403/discussions/threads/3649327/View 5/6

Our week 6 readings provide a bit more on this--cheers--BH

<<< Replied to post below >>>

Authored by: Flora Brooke

Authored on: Jul 26, 2020 4:11 PM

Subject: "A New Species of Undesirable Immigrant" - genital examination

Shannon,

Thanks for discussing the "medical" examinations that were performed on

immigrants to the US. Rejecting immigrants from the country based on

the perceived "normalcy" of their genitals is obviously horrible, but also

just really odd. How could people come to the conclusion that the size

and shape of someone's genitals revealed anything about whether or not

they were sexually deviant? Perhaps this "test" was chosen simply

because the immigration authorities wanted an arbitrary way to reject

immigrants they found undesirable for any reason. But that still begs the

question of why they would choose to examine genitalia? One possibility

is that demanding an immigrant to disrobe and have their genitals

inspected is a humiliating experience for the immigrant and their family,

and the anti-immigrant sentiment was so strong at the time that

immigration authorities forced this form of humiliation on immigrants.

Another possibility is that this was some sort of anti-intersex process

where the "medical" examiners rejected immigrants whose genitals

suggested that they might be intersex, a sex that (especially at the time, I

would imagine) was considered outside the accepted norm.

Reply

Ana Vargas-Herrera yesterday at 12:52 PM

Hey Shannon,

I agree with you, it is horrific and upsetting that they were so dehumanizing

towards immigrants by basing their status solely on how their genitals look. The

fact that if it was small or deformed, they automatically assumed they were a

criminal with no evidence that they have been criminally involved is unjust and

unfair. They hold up such high standards to those that don't fit their "criteria". I

think what Taylor Morrison said was also relevant, how they expect immigrants

to participate in mental evaluations but they don't hold up the same standard

for their own born citizens when it comes to accessing weapons. Our

7/28/2020 "A New Species of Undesirable Immigrant" - WS-370U-001: HISTORY OF SEXUALITIES (Summer 2020)

https://d2l.pdx.edu/d2l/le/814403/discussions/threads/3649327/View 6/6

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government chooses who they want to respect and offer opportunities but

claim we are "free". The problem is our society, government, and county profits

off of immigrants and wouldn't last if we didn't have them. It truly is upsetting.

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