Departmental Papers (HSS)
Document Type
Book Chapter
Date of this Version
1997
Publication Source
A Queer World: The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader
Start Page
309
Last Page
317
Abstract
At the 1991 CLAGS conference on "The Homosexual Brain," Dorothy Nelkin argued that linking homosexual behavior to brain structure reflects in part the growing preoccupation with biological determinism in American culture. Responding to the expectation that defining homosexuality as a biological status will reduce prejudice, she suggested that genetic explanations in fact can serve multiple social agendas. In particular, they have in the past been used to justify social stereotypes and persistent inequities as "natural" and therefore inevitable. Thus, while biological claims could lead to greater tolerance for human differences, they can also lead to pernicious abuse. Ultimately, it is not biology but common beliefs and social biases that shape social policies.
The appropriation of genetic explanations is the subject of a book by Dorothy Nelkin and M. Susan Lindee, The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon. The following material, excerpted from this book, contains the core of Nelkin's 1991 remarks.
Copyright/Permission Statement
Originally published in A Queer World: The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader © 1997 New York University Press. Reproduced with permission.
Recommended Citation
Lindee, S.M. & Nelkin, D. (1997). Creating Natural Distinctions. In Duberman, M. (Ed.), A Queer World: The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader, pp. 309-317. New York: New York University Press.
Included in
Gender and Sexuality Commons, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, Science and Technology Studies Commons
Date Posted: 24 October 2017