The Military-Industrial-KAOS Project*
This news broke on Friday but it deserves a thread. A FOIA request has revealed that, about 13 years ago, the military actually considered developing a hormone bomb that would turn people gay.
As part of a military effort to develop non-lethal weapons, the proposal suggested, "One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior."
The documents show the Air Force lab asked for $7.5 million to develop such a chemical weapon.
"The Ohio Air Force lab proposed that a bomb be developed that contained a chemical that would cause enemy soliders to become gay, and to have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistably attractive to one another," Hammond said after reviewing the documents.
"The notion was that a chemical that would probably be pleasant in the human body in low quantities could be identified, and by virtue of either breathing or having their skin exposed to this chemical, the notion was that soliders would become gay," explained Hammond.
The Pentagon told CBS 5 that the proposal was made by the Air Force in 1994.
Alas, the Medved Project (my name, not theirs) was never to be.
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This would necessitate the development of actual gaydar.
Hasn't Tom Jones already developed sex bomb technology?
Anon
William S. Burroughs is snickering in his grave.
"And its absurd because there's so much medical data that shows that sexual orientation is immutable and cannot be changed."
Sigh, this is why more people need a stronger science background. Assuming for the sake of argument that homosexuality is 100% determined by biological factors. Those biological factors boil down to chemicals, which means it should be possible to cause homosexuality with drugs. I think homosexuality should be legal just like any other consensual act, but I wish advocates wouldn't point to biology they don't understand.
Are you sure this isn't from the Onion?
it sounds stupid now, but.....
There is a joke in there somewhere about where they tested the first prototype, but I'm too slow this Monday morning to think of it.
Jtuf -
You're forgetting the other reason this is a stupid idea - namely because the planners believed there was a level of sexual arousal that would make you not care that people were, you know, firing weapons at you.
"I know I'm getting heavy machine gun fire from that hell - but damn it, Weigel, I just have to have you right now!"
Come on.
And I also think that Butters is being libelled in the title of this post. None of his ideas were nearly this stupid.
I have no idea why, but this somehow reinds me of graffiti I saw on the wall during the early 1980s:
"My mother made me a homosexual"
The next line read:
"If I supply the yarn, will she make me one, too?"
Given that people who face combat together tend to form very tight bonds, I somehow don't think it would have the impact on military effectiveness they thought it would.
Certainly, it would take a very powerful aphrodisiac to overcome the nasty smell of unshaved, unwashed bodies.
@JTF:
"Those biological factors boil down to chemicals, which means it should be possible to cause homosexuality with drugs."
I'm sorry - What?
"I think homosexuality should be legal just like any other consensual act . . ."
Oh, hey, Thanks very much. I will file that along with every other statement that so obviously confuses the government's role of granting rights with protecting them. Dumbass.
Alexander the Great did pretty well with his army.
Fluffy,
Good point. Gun shots tend to grab attention and put aside any urges not connected to survival.
Psychiatrist say haloperidol prevents violent behavior. Assuming that is true, would it be acceptable for the US army to slip halidol into an enimy army's food supply?
jtuf said:
Those biological factors boil down to chemicals, which means it should be possible to cause homosexuality with drugs.
I'm not sure that's the case--sexuality is also linked to brain structure. The brains of straight men and lesbians respond to hormone scents similarly; the case is the same with straight women and gay men. Yes, it boils down to chemicals, but there must be a structure for interpereting those chemical signals and responding to them. Same with trains and train-tracks: you can't just put a train on a track with the wrong gauge.
Did these fellows do okay?
Wasn't the "Sacred Band of Thebes", an elite Egyptian fighting force, composed of men who were homosexual lovers? And weren't they renowned for their fighting prowess, so that they fought to the last against Alexander's armies?
I'm just saying this technology would be much better put to use as a source of fraternity pranks in then next "Revenge of the Nerds" sequel.
I'm still in shock that the right-wingers who came up with this scheme in the first place hated their enemies so much that they not only wanted to kill them, but wanted them to go to hell too*
*Not my opinion, theirs.
I'm still in shock that the right-wingers who came up with this scheme in the first place hated their enemies so much that they not only wanted to kill them, but wanted them to go to hell too*
*Not my opinion, theirs.
Don't these people already think that their enemies are going to hell?
Heh, maybe the project as they conceived it was to make the enemy soldiers choose to be gay.
There's no fallout from a nude bomb...
You're forgetting the other reason this is a stupid idea - namely because the planners believed there was a level of sexual arousal that would make you not care that people were, you know, firing weapons at you.
The bomb, if such were possible, could be deployed hours/days/weeks before any actual engagement.
Given that people who face combat together tend to form very tight bonds
Those tight bonds and the general shortage of women could actually act as a secondary motivator for this.
Wasn't the "Sacred Band of Thebes", an elite Egyptian fighting force, composed of men who were homosexual lovers? And weren't they renowned for their fighting prowess, so that they fought to the last against Alexander's armies?
I highly doubt that the point of this whole idea was to have the enemy combatants make sweet man on man love in the fox holes. Given that the US government perceives Islamic (and other conservative countries like N.Korea) as the primary threat, such activity even if it happened away from the frontline could be used as effective propoganda to turn members of the general populace etc...
There is zero scientifc evidence sighted about this, but we seem to have deemed this idea scientificaly incorrect because it is politically incorrect
hmm, So is this Kaos as in professor kaos - Butters - on Southpark, or is it KAOS from Get Smart?
*Lowers the Cone of silence*
i think if it were possible it could prove effective. If you can find a way to distract and confuse the enemy in any form of warfare, chances are you're going to do well. However, it would be far more useful as a gay man's cologne than as a weapon.
Nasikabatrachus,
Good point. The pattern of neural connections does matter. However, those patterns are based on based on conditioning from past experiences. People who reject the role of environment in homosexuality reject the role of conditioning.
My point was that advocates make a much stronger case when they say that consensual homosexuality should be legal just like any other consensual act. Biological theories are irrelevant, because they can be used by either side to argue their point. Say homosexuality is 100% genetic. Advocates can say that it isn't fair to descriminate based on genetics. Opponents can say that those genes code for proteins that can be blocked with the "right medication". Say homosexuality is 100% learned. Advocates can say it's a lifestyle and opponents can say that cognative behavioral therapy can "cure" it. If homosexuality results from nature and nurture, each side can make a combination of the above arguments. Better to skip the root cause debate and say, "homosexuality doesn't hurt anyone so keep it legal."
stray Monday morning thoughts.
It sounds stupid on the face of it. I don't think you could ever "turn men gay" with a bomb.
If you could drop a bomb that made enemy troops attracted to each other, I think it would be very effective. The point isn't to distract them during actual combat. But the next morning, if a couple of straight guys in a fox hole find themselves looking deeply into each others eyes, that is definitely going to fuck with their head. Big time.
Query? Would this bomb turn gay men straight? Or just really really gay.
And this REQUIRES a link
Boom
I think it was meant to be a psyops weapon more than anything. Destroy enemy troop morale, especially in more conservative cultures. It could play havoc with unit cohesion.
How would it damage unit cohesion? After all, I am even less likely to abandon my wife on a battlefield than I would my brother?
I think someone was watching too much Monty Python:
Close Order Drill: Swanning About!
Secret designs of the secret designers.
Warren -
dem r Brits.
hier is the AMERIKUN version.
đŸ™‚
How would it damage unit cohesion? After all, I am even less likely to abandon my wife on a battlefield than I would my brother
It could damage cohesion for the same reason as when you wake up after a nice long bender in strange apparment and slowly and quitely creep out the door cause you'd rather cut off that bleeding stump of a toe you just smashed on a corner of the night stand than actually wake and face whatever is underneath the pile of blankets next to you...........Not that I've ever done that
At least it turns "friendly fire" into a double entendre. Is that a part of your joke Cab?
And its absurd because there's so much medical data that shows that sexual orientation is immutable and cannot be changed
Bullshit. Sexual orientation is an imprint, and imprints can be changed with the right combination of drugs/environmental factors.
Geez. Does no one read Timothy Leary any more?
Damn! Warren beat me to it, and with a better version even! đŸ™‚
have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistibly attractive to one another
I can *almost* believe the "turning them gay" part, if they happen to stumble onto the right chemicals or hormones or something, but making them "irresistibly attractive to one another"? Come ON. Maybe they're working on the Fountain of Youth, too. And pixie dust.
They were Greek.
Sounds like a brilliant plan. Pysch out the enemy with blowup dolls. "Look, over there, it's Liza Minelli!"
"The Ohio Air Force lab proposed that a bomb be developed that contained a chemical that would cause enemy soliders to become gay, and to have their units break down because all their soldiers became irresistably attractive to one another," Hammond said after reviewing the documents.
They're gonna be some mighty disappointed gay soldiers if their units break down.
1. The group that did the jourlism and uncovered this iss called Project Sunshine. Here is a little bit about them:
Research and facts about biological weapons and biotechnology.
Many biological weapons are rapidly destroyed by bright sunlight. The Sunshine Project works to bring facts about biological weapons to light! We are an international non-profit organization with offices in Hamburg, Germany and Austin, Texas, USA. We work against the hostile use of biotechnology in the post-Cold War era. We research and publish to strengthen the global consensus against biological warfare and to ensure that international treaties effectively prevent development and use of biological weapons.
2. In case you want to donate to the good work, they do, here is the website:
http://www.sunshine-project.org/
3. I wonder if the Pentagon is lying when it says they never got their funding.
3. I wonder if the Pentagon is lying when it says they never got their funding.
Aw, Dave, quit trying to find a scape goat for your own lifestyle choices.
I kid I kid
They have weapons of ass destruction!
Hre'a a much better article, from 2005, on the same thing:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4174519.stm?alt
This was also the plot of a Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic back in the day. For some reason, I can't remember where it is.
Cant they invent a bomb that makes women even more horny, or better still makes everyone just wanna have sex day and night. that would be something. it would certainly make satdee nights out fun.
This is definitely not new and I'm not sure why it is being reported as if it is.