History, work and terms of reference
| Get involved! The purpose of the ReviseF65 project is to remove Fetishism, Transvestism and Sadomasochism as psychiatric diagnoses from the International Classification of Diseases published by the World Health Organization. Contact ReviseF65 Join the discussion group What's new? To the main page Revisef65 is not responsible for links to external internet sites. We do not have any control over their contents that can be changed by others. Please tell us if you find racist, nazi, bareback or illegal links, and we will remove them. |
The ReviseF65 committee is a subsidiary of LLH, with a political mandate from the 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002 National Conventions of LLH - the Norwegian National Association for Lesbian and Gay Liberation.
The ReviseF65 project (also named "the ICD project" and "The Forum") is a national and international teamwork, with a group consisting of fetish, SM, transvestite men and women representing organizations of leather and SM gays, - lesbians, bi- and heterosexuals, as well as professionals in sexology, psychology and psychiatry. The collaborating organizations are, in addition to LLH, the heterosexual SM organization SMil-Norway, the lesbian/gay SM group Smia-Oslo and the gay men's Scandinavian Leather Men Oslo (SLM-Oslo).
The work to abolish "fetishism", "transvestism" and "sadomasochism" as psychiatric diagnoses from the ICD, started already in 1996, was shelved, but resumed in 1998 with a new mandate from LLH.
From November 18, 1998 to January 30, 2003, the The ReviseF65 forum has arranged nineteen formal committee meetings. Inbetween this meetings there has been intense work; national and international e-mail- and personal contact, strategy talks, lectures, workshops, participation at congresses, seminars and festivals.
The 1998 LLH mandate was based on a national survey conducted among the nearly two thousand lesbian and gay members of LLH, "rejecting discrimination of leather, SM and transgender people, and judging this diversity as a valuable resource" (quotation from the 1998 approval at the National Convention of LLH).
The umbrella organization for European gay and lesbian rights, European ILGA, issued a statement at it's 1999 conference in Pisa, Italy, supporting the efforts to remove the diagnoses from the ICD. One member of the ICD project group also gave a workshop.
It was also very inspiring for the ReviseF65 group, that the American National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1999 removed their 20 years old official anti-SM stance from their "Delineation of Lesbian Rights" policy.
Long term project
The biennial National Convention of the Norwegian National Association for Lesbian and Gay Liberation (LLH), in 2000 approved the long term ReviseF65 project, which "shall continue until the goal is attained". Picture by: Skeive Nyheter.
Participants in the ReviseF65 group in 1996 promoted the democratic revision of the rules and policy of the gay leather umbrella organization "European Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs", ECMC, so as to address issues of sexual politics. In 2000 the more than 50 ECMC member clubs, following a proposal by SLM-Oslo, decided to support the "Revise F65" effort.
During the lesbian and gay Europride 2002 in Cologne, more than one million people were confronted with the slogan: "SM is healthy – Remove SM and fetish diagnoses!" as it appeared in the parade. The slogan was quoted in Cologne's biggest newspaper "Kölner Stadtanzeiger". The ReviseF65 group also had important strategy conversations with representatives from German heterosexual SM organizations.
The web site of the ICD project (www.reviseF65.org) established in 2002 in Norwegian, English, German and Portuguese, along with the corresponding mailing list, has facilitated national and international networks. In 2002 the ReviseF65 group have had mail correspondence and personal contact with activists and professionals in Norway, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, The Netherlands, Russia, Canada, Hong Kong - and last but not least; Brazil and USA.
"There is something very exciting about connecting up with others who work towards the same goals across the world. Thank you for making this possible."
Peggy J. Kleinplatz, Psychologist , sex therapist and sex educator teaching at the University of Ottawa, Canada, July 30, 2002)
"I was VERY happy to see your site, and my first response to reading it was: "These are my people!"
Leather guy from Chicago Il, USA on the ReviseF65 discussion list January 7, 2003.
The pictures on the ReviseF65 pages are mainly taken by Smia-Oslo during Europride in Cologne, Germany, as well as at "Nytelsesfestivalen" (Festival of Pleasure) in Grimstad, Norway 2002. All together they should illustrate the ethical principles "Safe, sane and consensual", which in Norwegian is translated as "Sikker, sunn og samtykkende".
The story and effort of the ReviseF65 project was late 2002 printed in the Bulletin of the Norwegian Society for Clinical Sexology. We look forward to a declaration of professional support from them concerning the Revise work.
The web site has given the Forum a good opportunity to disseminate a range of material about its work. The psychologist Odd Reiersøl's article in English, in particular (www.skeivenyheter.no/0reiersol1.html) has been a great inspiration both in Norway and abroad. The Brazilian medical doctor Beatriz Kotek translated it into Portuguese, Kathrin Passig intends to translate it into German and Spanish Manuel will translate the ReviseF65-pages til Spanish.
Odd Reiersøl and Svein Skeid have also written an extensive article that we hope can be published in a Special Issue of the Journal of Homosexuality about SM (Sadomasochism). Guest editors are Charles Moser, Ph.D., M.D. and Peggy J. Kleinplatz, Ph.D.
In november 2002 member of the Revise forum Eric Barstad attended the lesbian SM congress WALP in Amsterdam. 148 participants from eleven countries listened to her briefing about the diagnoses, and during a mini workshop she made important international contacts.
Early on in 2003 Kathrin Passig in BDSM Berlin was kind enough to extract from her German Datenschlag (Bisam Papiertiger) Bibliography, texts that are relevant for the F65 project. The bibliography is divided in two parts, one for the revision of diagnoses, and one for "Recommended general publications".
The Forum continue to collect information about relevant books and articles, and establish links to material on other sites. We are especially interested in research on SM and fetishism and aim to put up all that we compile on the site.
In the beginning of 2003 it seems that we can look forward to a professional "break through" in our international work. Both members of the ReviseF65 forum, as well as members of the mailing list, will in 2003 participate in international professional conferences with arguments aiming at removing fetish and SM diagnoses.