Overview

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.

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9780226827537

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Reviews

“Bristling with insight, Born This Way is one of the most important and thought-provoking works of LGBTQ+ scholarship this century. The clearest path to genuine equality, Wuest argues, may not rest on biological claims about the nature of sexuality and gender, but, rather, on claims about the forms of social provision to which everyone is entitled.” -- Cary Franklin | University of California, Los Angeles “Addressing crucial questions that are both timely and timeless, this powerful, persuasive, nuanced book is a conversation-changing account of the sources and consequences of scientific authority in the struggles over LGBTQ+ rights and politics in the United States.” -- Dara Strolovitch | Yale University “A devastatingly smart analysis, Born This Way deftly reveals the political pitfalls of relying too heavily on scientific claims in securing rights and legal protections—and, more fundamentally, that we can never divorce science from politics.” -- Katrina Karkazis | Amherst College

""Today, the belief that LGBTQ+ people were 'born that way' is widespread, and generally taken as indisputable truth. Joanna Wuest traces the history of beliefs about the origins of 'homosexuality,' later expanded to include the entire LGBTQ+ spectrum in a meticulously referenced and nuanced story. This book would make an excellent choice for university classes on social movements, LGBTQ+ studies, sexuality and the law, or anyone interested in the rise of biological explanations for complex human behaviors. . . .a valuable contribution to LGBTQ+ research and activism and should be required reading for those engaged in advocacy work in the current political climate."" * Journal of Homosexuality * ""Wuest marshals impressive empirical evidence and tells a detailed story of the relationship between the LGBTQ+ movement, law and science. . . .Born this Way is an impressive achievement that sheds new light on a vital and timely topic."" * Law & Society Review * ""Wuest argues that beyond the catchy slogans one can trace an ideology that has subsumed LGBT activism, politics, law, science, and healthcare since the 1950s. Genetic or prenatal determinism has been the major arrow in the activist’s quiver, readily adjusted to counter the arguments of anti-gay conservatives. In Wuest’s critique, sexual determinism became a tenet of faith in the LGBT corridors of power early on, leading to gay normalization that neutralized activists’ erstwhile radical queer agenda. She convincingly shows that every stakeholder in the LGBT movement has channeled some version of 'Born This Way.' Even the anti-establishment purists seeking to topple essentialist categories in favor of flexible identities are shown to be entangled with remnants of determinism."" * Gay & Lesbian Review * “Bristling with insight, Born This Way is one of the most important and thought-provoking works of LGBTQ+ scholarship this century. The clearest path to genuine equality, Wuest argues, may not rest on biological claims about the nature of sexuality and gender, but, rather, on claims about the forms of social provision to which everyone is entitled.” -- Cary Franklin | University of California, Los Angeles “Addressing crucial questions that are both timely and timeless, this powerful, persuasive, nuanced book is a conversation-changing account of the sources and consequences of scientific authority in the struggles over LGBTQ+ rights and politics in the United States.” -- Dara Strolovitch | Yale University “A devastatingly smart analysis, Born This Way deftly reveals the political pitfalls of relying too heavily on scientific claims in securing rights and legal protections—and, more fundamentally, that we can never divorce science from politics.” -- Katrina Karkazis | Amherst College

Author Information

Joanna Wuest is assistant professor of politics at Mount Holyoke College.

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