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fruit machine
DCHP-3 (Nov 2022)
n. — Historical, Systemic discrimination, Offensive, derogatory
a Cold War era device designed and used in Canada for the purpose of detecting homosexuality in the civil service.
Type: 1. Origin — The term fruit machine refers to a contraption built at Carleton University to "detect" homosexual identity by monitoring sexual arousal. The term borrows from the common slang term 'fruit' used to denote homosexual men. The contraption was a failure (see 1998 quotation) and was not in widespread use; however, the term has become emblematic of a series of repressive measures implemented against homosexuals by the government during the Cold War. In gay rights activism, this period has subsequently been referred to as the fruit machine era (see the 2018 quotation). In 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a national apology for the government's historically repressive treatment of homosexuals, referring to the fruit machine specifically in his speech (see 2017 quotation).
Quotations
1980
By going to other than these official sources of information, Sawatsky has uncovered a wealth of detailed information from members and former members of the Security Service who either never testified at the inquiries or didn't tell all they knew. While the plans for the Vancouver assault is the most startling new revelation, Sawatsky relates a gem of a story about what the Mounties called their "fruit machine." This was a contraption that was supposed to expose homosexual security risks within the civil service. The machine was devised to measure the response of the suspected homosexual when he was shown a photograph of a nude male. If his eyes lit up, there was a good chance that he was gay. The machine never worked and the project was abandoned after thousands of dollars and countless man-hours had been spent on research and development.
1992
A Carleton University psychologist, Robert Wake, was given $5,000 in 1962 to begin work on a device that would quickly identify homosexuals.
The "fruit machine," as it came to be known, was based on a University of Chicago experiment in which a subject peered into a box displaying a series of sexually provocative pictures. In the proposed Canadian version, sensors would record pupil size, palm sweat and blood flow to determine whether the individual was sexually stimulated.
By 1964, 51 individuals had been tested with inconclusive results. The project was abandoned several years later as unworkable.
1998
Construction of the bizarre device that became known as the “fruit machine” illustrates the extent of the government’s desire to ferret out homosexuals in the 1960s. Psychology professor Robert Wake of Carleton University devised the unlikely contraption, which recorded pupil size, blood flow and perspiration of people who viewed erotic pictures and words.The RCMP had difficulty finding test subjects and the dubious technology was eventually abandoned.
2017
PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU: The thinking of the day was that all non-heterosexual Canadians would automatically be at increased risk of blackmail by our adversaries due to what was called ‘character weakness.' The public service, the military and the RCMP spied on their own people inside and outside of workplaces. During this time the federal government even dedicated funding to an absurd device known as the ‘fruit machine,' a failed technology that was supposed to measure homosexual attraction. Canadians were monitored for anything that could be construed as homosexual behaviour with community groups, bars, parks and even people's homes under constant watch. When the government felt that enough evidence had accumulated, some suspects were taken to secret locations in the dark of night to be interrogated. Under the harsh glare of the spotlight people were forced to make an impossible choice - their career or their identity. The very thing Canadian officials feared, blackmail of LGBTQ2 employees, was happening - but it wasn't at the hands of our adversaries, it was at the hands of our own government.
2018
"The women and men it [was being] marketed toward would be hesitant to live in a rainbow-adorned brownstone given that they were the same cohort who had their sexuality driven underground during 'the fruit machine' era," Hartsgrove had told her.
What was the "fruit machine era," exactly?
Well, as Fodey would find out that day, the fruit machine was created as an ostensibly scientific way to detect homosexuals, so they could be fired from their government jobs or pre-screened before being offered employment in the first place. This was during the Cold War, and the prevailing fear was that homosexuals would be at a greater risk of blackmail by Russian spies. They needed to be identified and removed, the thinking went, so they wouldn't reveal the nation's secrets.