"Gay Science" is the first comprehensive examination of the
ethical questions surrounding sexual orientation research.
Bioethicist Timothy Murphy presents the views of many gay men and
women who detect ominous motives behind this research. If a genetic
marker were discovered for homosexual tendencies would genetic
screening be used to further discriminate against gay people? If a
method for changing sexual orientation were developed would it
would be forced upon gay adults, or children whose parents
suspected they might grow up to be gay? Given the potential for its
misuse, is sexual orientation research fundamentally unethical?
Murphy acknowledges that much of sexual orientation research to
date has been bad science, questionable in its motives and
methodologically unsound. He examines the social and historical
conditions, from the 1880s to the present, that spawned this
research and reviews the findings that have often perpetuated
confusion about homosexuality. He assesses five major studies on
sexual orientation undertaken in the 1990s, from neuroanatomist
Simon leVay's study of certain brain structures in gay men to the
work of psychologist Joseph Nicolosi. He questions the flawed and
simplistic assumptions about sexuality made by much of this
research, Murphy argues that a true science of sexual orientation
would not be focused exclusively upon homosexuality nor presuppose
its pathology.
Throughout the book Murphy argues that concerns about the
potential misuses of this research do not justify its prohibition.
Tackling gay science's most troubling aspects, he contends that if
this research leads to the development of effective sexual
orientation therapies, informed adults should have the choice to
undergo them; he also examines the factors that weigh in favor of a
parental right to choose or attempt to influence the sexual
orientation of a child, and the ethical limits to such a right.
Pointing to the potential benefits of sexual orientation
research as well as acknowledging its potential for harm, Murphy
ultimately defends gay science in the name of free scientific
inquiry. "Gay Science" argues that the way to ensure the future of
gay people is not through censoring sexual orientation research but
through working toward a society which uses reseach as a way of
dinstinguishing myth from fact and not as an instrument of
discrimination.
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