Biology and the Construction of Identity: Science, Citizenship, and Inequality in the LGBTQ+ Movement

FAIN: FT-278744-21

Joanna Wuest
Princeton University (Princeton, NJ 08540-5228)

Writing of a book on the influence of scientific concepts of queer identity on policy debates.

In examining the tenacity of biological visions of identity, my book manuscript “Born This Way: Science, Citizenship, and Inequality in the American LGBTQ+ Movement” reveals that we cannot conceive of political campaigns, litigation, and public discussion of LGBTQ+ rights as existing distinct from the realms of genetics and neurological research, biomedicine, and psychology. It demonstrates how this narrative of identity has been produced and reproduced by scientists, nonprofit leaders, litigators, and activists who have worked together to construct and to deploy biological conceptions of identity since the mid-twentieth century. Thus, the book illuminates the role that biologically inflected visions of human nature have played in the formation of political identities and attendant demands for full and equal citizenship. In other words, it posits that scientific institutions and authority should be properly understood as foundational to the character of American LGBTQ+ advocacy politics.

Media Coverage

Born This Way? (Media Coverage)
Publication: Radiolab
Date: 9/8/2023
Abstract: Today, the story of an idea. An idea that some people need, others reject, and one that will, ultimately, be hard to let go of.
URL: https://radiolab.org/podcast/born-way

Associated Products

Born This Way: Science, Citizenship, and Inequality in the American LGBTQ+ Movement (Book)
Title: Born This Way: Science, Citizenship, and Inequality in the American LGBTQ+ Movement
Title: Born This Way: Science, Citizenship, and Inequality in the American LGBTQ+ Movement
Author: Joanna Wuest
Author: Joanna Wuest
Editor: Sara Doskow
Editor: Sara Doskow
Abstract: The story of how a biologically driven understanding of gender and sexuality became central to US LGBTQ+ political and legal advocacy. Across protests and courtrooms, LGBTQ+ advocates argue that sexual and gender identities are innate. Oppositely, conservatives incite panic over “groomers” and a contagious “gender ideology” that corrupts susceptible children. Yet, as this debate rages on, the history of what first compelled the hunt for homosexuality’s biological origin story may hold answers for the queer rights movement’s future. Born This Way tells the story of how a biologically based understanding of gender and sexuality became central to LGBTQ+ advocacy. Starting in the 1950s, activists sought out mental health experts to combat the pathologizing of homosexuality. As Joanna Wuest shows, these relationships were forged in subsequent decades alongside two broader, concurrent developments: the rise of an interest-group model of rights advocacy and an explosion of biogenetic and bio-based psychological research. The result is essential reading to fully understand LGBTQ+ activism today and how clashes over science remain crucial to equal rights struggles.
Abstract: The story of how a biologically driven understanding of gender and sexuality became central to US LGBTQ+ political and legal advocacy. Across protests and courtrooms, LGBTQ+ advocates argue that sexual and gender identities are innate. Oppositely, conservatives incite panic over “groomers” and a contagious “gender ideology” that corrupts susceptible children. Yet, as this debate rages on, the history of what first compelled the hunt for homosexuality’s biological origin story may hold answers for the queer rights movement’s future. Born This Way tells the story of how a biologically based understanding of gender and sexuality became central to LGBTQ+ advocacy. Starting in the 1950s, activists sought out mental health experts to combat the pathologizing of homosexuality. As Joanna Wuest shows, these relationships were forged in subsequent decades alongside two broader, concurrent developments: the rise of an interest-group model of rights advocacy and an explosion of biogenetic and bio-based psychological research. The result is essential reading to fully understand LGBTQ+ activism today and how clashes over science remain crucial to equal rights struggles.
Year: 2023
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo201362155.html
Primary URL: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo201362155.html
Primary URL Description: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo201362155.html
Primary URL Description: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo201362155.html
Access Model: Purchase
Access Model: Purchase
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Type: Single author monograph
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780226827537
ISBN: 9780226827537
Copy sent to NEH?: No
Copy sent to NEH?: No

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