The Social Lives of Sexuality Statistics

• In Event: 1480 - Section on Sociology of Sexualities Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 06. Sexual Knowledge

Abstract

The last decade witnessed an unprecedented prioritization of research on non-heterosexuality, fueling activism (“data=power!”) and LGBTQ civil rights. Political upheaval and contemporary skepticism toward expertise leaves this sexuality knowledge in a precarious position. My project analyzes the surge of interest in the demography of sexuality to show how social scientific thinking shapes policy, and vice versa. I draw on STS approaches to the politics of knowledge, the sociology of quantification and classification, survey methodology, and feminist epistemology to tell the stories of five prominent knowledge claims about non-heterosexuality. I use comparative- historical and interview methods to investigate how knowledge claims about non-heterosexuality circulate out in the world in public discourse and policy debates, and interrogate their technical production within social science, specifically demography. In this paper, I draw on my analysis of newspaper articles covering sexuality research, social science evidence used in recent U.S. Supreme Court marriage equality cases, and survey research documentation to discuss findings across three preliminary themes: (1) the circulation of knowledge claims in the media and the law, (2) contestation and politics in population science, and (3) the social lives of sexuality statistics. My case demonstrates the continued relevance, contested legitimacy, and sociopolitical influence of sexuality knowledge – as well as the high stakes of social science expertise on the national stage.

Author

• Jamie Louise Budnick, University of Michigan