Biology as an insider science: Sexual minorities and the genetics of sexual orientation.

• In Event: Science and Activism: Medical Approaches

Abstract

Our talk will examine the intersections of science and activism through the case of biology of sexual orientation. Some studies have stressed that some of the most renowned scientists in the field, mostly developed in the US and the UK, are openly members of the LGB community. Despite the traditional norms of neutrality and impartiality that are supposed to prevail in science, these scientists chose to self-disclose repeatedly and publicly one of their most personal feature, their sexual orientation. One example among many others, Dean Hamer, in 2004, chief of the gene structure and regulation section at the US National Cancer Institute, announce in the New York Times his same sex marriage while recalling that “he published evidence suggesting a genetic predisposition for male homosexuality”. Moreover, it is quite often that these famous researchers mobilize in the public debate their scientific knowledge to support the extension of sociopolitical rights of sexual minorities and to weight on public policies.
In our presentation, we will address a set of questions, in particular why did scientists chose through the practice of self-disclosing to personalize their scientific authorship? Are LGB values, interests and funds shaping, directly or indirectly, their research program? We will check also whether through the dual process of personalization and advocacy, scientists aim not only to support a minority political agenda, but more deeply to build biology of sexual orientation as an “insider science” that could be more easily embraced by the LGB community than any other possible preexisting “outsider” science.

Author

• Guaspare-Cartron Catherine, CNRS, UMI Epidapo