Queer science the use and abuse of research into homosexuality
Since the mid-1800s, the thrust of much research on homosexuality has been twofold: to understand what "causes" it, then to "cure" it. LeVay (The Sexual Brain, MIT, 1993), who in 1991 published a landmark article on structural differences between the brains of gay and straight men, argues that any one-dimensional research focus is misguided. He surveys the history of research into homosexuality from its beginnings in the cognitive sciences to today's genetic and biological work. LeVay claims that to study homosexuality is, by extension, to study all human sexuality, for you cannot ask what "makes" somebody gay without asking what "makes" somebody straight. He also shows how scientific research into homosexuality colors how the public perceives gays and lesbians, for better or worse.
Simon LeVayill. ; 24 cm
