Science and Homosexualities / Edition 1

by Vernon A. Rosario, M.D.

Overview

Science and Homosexualities is the first anthology by historians of science to examine European and American scientific research on sexual orientation since the coining of the word "homosexual" almost 150 years ago. This collection is particularly timely given the enormous scientific and popular interest in biological studies of homosexuality, and the importance given such studies in current legal, legislative and cultural debates concerning gay civil rights. However, scientific and popular literature discussing the biology of sexual orientation have been short-sighted in representing it as objective, new scientific work. This volume demonstrates that the quest for the biological "cause" of homosexuality and other sexualities is as old as the term itself. These essays explore the active role experimental subjects played in shaping scientific theories of homosexuality and cultural perceptions of sexuality and sexual identity. Finally this anthology studies the way in which this doctor-patient interaction shaped not only scientific theories of homosexuality, but also cultural perceptions and self-identities as well.

Contributors include: Garland E. Allen, Erin G. Carlston, Julian Carter, Alice D. Dreger, Anne Fausto-Sterling, Margaret Gibson, Stephanie Kenen, Hubert Kennedy, Harry Oosterhuis, James Steakley, Richard Pillard, Jennifer Terry

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415915014
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/27/1997
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Vernon A. Rosario II, M.D. teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Homosexual Bio-Histories: Genetic Nostalgias and the Quest for Paternity; First Theorist of Homosexuality; Alice D. Dreger Hermaphrodites in Love: The Truth of the Gonads; Richard von Krafft-Ebing's Step-Children Of Nature: Psychiatry and the Making of Homosexual Identity; Inversion's Histories I History's Inversions: Novelizing Fin-de-Siecle Homosexuality; Clitoral Corruption: Body Metaphors and American Doctors' Constructions of Female Homosexuality, 1870-1900; Perscientiam adjustitiam: Magnus Hirschfeld and the Sexual Politics of Innate Homosexuality; Whiteness, Authorship: Evolutionary; Sexology and the Primitive Pervert; ''A Finer Differentiation: Female Homosexuality and the American Medical Community, 1926-1940; Who Counts When You're Counting Homosexuals? Hormones and Homosexuality in Mid-Twentieth Century America; How to Build a Man; The Search for a Genetic Influence on Sexual Orientation; The Double-Edged Sword of Genetic Determinism: Social and Political Agendas in Genetic Studies of Homosexuality, 1940-1994; The Seductive Power of Science in the Making of Deviant Subjectivity

Editorial Reviews

"These themes are developed and examined in informative and rich analyses of various aspects of the historical and contemporary trends in the biomedical treatment of homosexuality and related phenomenon, such as intersexuality." — Archives of Sexual Behavior
"...the corpus of these essays demonstrates the complex, historically shifting interplay between researcher and subject." — Archives of Sexual Behavior
"All in all, this is an excellent collection of essays on the history and contemporary practice of biomedical science applied to homosexuality . The reader will gain a sophisticated understanding of the dialectics and contextual embeddedness of the scientific search for an understanding of sexuality and gender." — Archives of Sexual Behavior
"...quite well-written, provocative, occasionally witty and wryly amusing, and they should be accessible to newcomers as well as informative to readers who have already delved into these topics." — Slogan
"...the essays in this volume make compelling arguments about the need to take seriously the high stakes of science." — CLGH
"Taking on our fervent feelings about 'science' and our fervid responses to 'homosexuality,' these essays are doubly hot.." — Jonathan Ned Katz
"This extraordinary collection promises to become a classic." — Sandra Harding

From the Publisher