Fruit machine
Encyclopedia
"Fruit machine" is a jocular term for a device developed in Canada
that was supposed to be able to identify homosexual
people, or "fruits
". The subjects were made to view pornography
, and the device measured the diameter of the pupil
s of the eye
s (pupillary response test), perspiration, and pulse for a supposed erotic response.
The fruit machine was employed in Canada in the 1950s and 1960s during a campaign to eliminate all homosexuals from the civil service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP), and the military. A substantial number of workers did lose their jobs. Although funding for the "fruit machine" project was cut off in the late 1960s, the investigations continued, and the RCMP collected files on over 9,000 suspected homosexuals.
The chair was like one from a dentist's office. It had a pulley with a camera going towards the pupils. There was a black box in front of it that showed pictures. The pictures ranged from the mundane to sexually explicit photos of men and women. It had previously been determined that the pupils would dilate in relation to the amount of interest in the picture. This was called the pupillary response test.
People were told the machine was to rate stress. After knowledge of its real purpose became widespread, few people volunteered for it.
The idea was based on a study done by an American university professor, which measured the sizes of the subjects' pupils as they walked through the aisles of grocery stores.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
that was supposed to be able to identify homosexual
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
people, or "fruits
Fruit (slang)
Fruit and fruitcake are sexual slang terms which have various origins but modern usages tend to primarily refer to gay men and sometimes other LGBT people. Usually used as pejoratives, the terms have also been re-appropriated as insider terms of endearment within LGBT communities...
". The subjects were made to view pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
, and the device measured the diameter of the pupil
Pupil
The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to enter the retina. It appears black because most of the light entering the pupil is absorbed by the tissues inside the eye. In humans the pupil is round, but other species, such as some cats, have slit pupils. In...
s of the eye
Human eye
The human eye is an organ which reacts to light for several purposes. As a conscious sense organ, the eye allows vision. Rod and cone cells in the retina allow conscious light perception and vision including color differentiation and the perception of depth...
s (pupillary response test), perspiration, and pulse for a supposed erotic response.
The fruit machine was employed in Canada in the 1950s and 1960s during a campaign to eliminate all homosexuals from the civil service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
(RCMP), and the military. A substantial number of workers did lose their jobs. Although funding for the "fruit machine" project was cut off in the late 1960s, the investigations continued, and the RCMP collected files on over 9,000 suspected homosexuals.
The chair was like one from a dentist's office. It had a pulley with a camera going towards the pupils. There was a black box in front of it that showed pictures. The pictures ranged from the mundane to sexually explicit photos of men and women. It had previously been determined that the pupils would dilate in relation to the amount of interest in the picture. This was called the pupillary response test.
People were told the machine was to rate stress. After knowledge of its real purpose became widespread, few people volunteered for it.
Faulty test parameters
There were many problems with the "fruit machine". To begin with, the pupillary response test was based on fatally flawed assumptions: that visual stimuli would give an involuntary reaction able to be measured scientifically; that homosexuals and heterosexuals would respond differently to these stimuli; and that there were only two types of sexuality. There was also the problem of physiology. The researchers failed to take into account the varying sizes of the pupils and the differing distances between the eyes. Other problems that existed were that the pictures of the subjects' eyes had to be taken from an angle, as the camera would have blocked the subjects' view of the photographs if it were placed directly in front. Also, the amount of light coming from the photographs changed with each slide, causing the subjects' pupils to dilate in a way that was unrelated to their interest in the picture. Finally, the dilation of the pupils was also exceedingly difficult to measure, as the change was often smaller than one millimeter.The idea was based on a study done by an American university professor, which measured the sizes of the subjects' pupils as they walked through the aisles of grocery stores.
See also
- Lavender scareLavender scareThe Lavender Scare refers to the fear and persecution of homosexuals in the 1950s in the United States, which paralleled the anti-communist campaign known as McCarthyism....
- GaydarGaydarGaydar is a colloquialism referring to the intuitive ability of a person to assess others' sexual orientations as homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. Gaydar relies almost exclusively on non-verbal clues and LGBT stereotypes...
- Penile plethysmographPenile plethysmographPenile plethysmography , or "phallometry", refers to measurement of bloodflow to the male genital. The most commonly reported methods of conducting penile plethysmography involve the measurement of the circumference of the penis with a mercury-in-rubber strain gauge, or the volume of the penis with...
- Vaginal photoplethysmographVaginal photoplethysmographThe Vaginal photoplethysmograph is a type of plethysmograph. It consists of a clear acrylic, rod-shaped device that contains a light source, and a light detector. The light source illuminates the capillary bed of the vaginal wall and the blood circulating within it...
y - Blade Runner#Voight-Kampff machine
Sources
- Gary KinsmanGary KinsmanGary Kinsman is a Canadian sociologist. He is one of Canada's leading academics on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. In 1987, he wrote one of the key Canadian texts on LGBT social history, Regulation of Desire, reprinted in 1995...
et al.,Whose National Security?: Canadian State Surveillance and the Creation of Enemies, (Between the Lines, Canada, 2000) ISBN 1-896357-25-3,chapter 10. - John SawatskyJohn SawatskyFerdinand John Sawatzky is a Canadian author, journalist and expert on interviewing techniques.-Early career:Born in Winkler, Manitoba, he graduated from Mennonite Educational Institute in Abbotsford and attended Simon Fraser University in the late 1960s. Graduating in political science, he...
. Men in the Shadows: The RCMP Security Service. (Doubleday Canada, 1980) ISBN 0-385-14682-5, chapters 10 and 11. - CBC Radio 1 The Current, 9 May 2005
- Gary KinsmanGary KinsmanGary Kinsman is a Canadian sociologist. He is one of Canada's leading academics on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. In 1987, he wrote one of the key Canadian texts on LGBT social history, Regulation of Desire, reprinted in 1995...
, "'Character Weakness' and 'Fruit Machines': Towards an Analysis of the Anti-Homosexual Security Campaign in the Canadian Civil Service," Labour/Le Travail, 35 (Spring 1995).
External links
- What About Freud? Canada's New Cold War History
- The National Security Campaigns
- Fruit Machine - radio interview. CBC Radio 1 The Current, 9 May 2005 (begins at 2:25 into clip)