Author Description

This comprehensive resource explores the role of science and scientific discovery in the nature v. pathology debate surrounding homosexuality. Is homosexuality perfectly normal? A sin? A medical problem? A psychological problem? For 200 years, scientists have searched for objective answers to these questions. Yet even today, scientific thinking about homosexuality remains entangled in social values and political currents. Homosexuality and science is the compelling history of this intense, ongoing scientific controversy. The story begins in the Victorian era, when doctors were horrified to discover that homosexuality, which they called "sexual perversion" was widespread--probably the result of childhood masturbation--they theorized, and sure to result in mental weakness and blindness for generations to come. The story progresses to a world where gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual scientists are involved in sexuality research, but where the AIDS pandemic has given rise to "reparative therapy" and ministries that claim to "cure" homosexuality. This title shows how our understanding of homosexuality has been shaped not only by theories of evolution, eugenics, endocrinology, neurobiology, molecular biology, psychology, genetics, anthropology, and sexology, but also by the values of the times.