The Mismeasure of Desire

The Mismeasure of Desire: The Science, Theory, and Ethics of Sexual Orientation

Cover of the first edition
Author Edward Stein
Country United States
Language English
Series Ideologies of Desire
Subject Sexual orientation
Published 1999 (Oxford University Press)
Media type Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages 388
ISBN 978-0195142440

The Mismeasure of Desire: The Science, Theory, and Ethics of Sexual Orientation is a 1999 book about sexual orientation research by philosopher Edward Stein, in which Stein provides an account of the debate between "social constructionists" and "essentialists" and criticizes the way other authors have discussed social constructionism. Part of the "Ideologies of Desire" series edited by queer theorist David M. Halperin,[1] The Mismeasure of Desire has been praised by philosophers and other commentators.

Summary

Discussing the debate over sexual orientation between "essentialists" and "constructionists", Stein observes that essentialists generally see heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual orientations as "natural human kinds" that can be found in other cultures and throughout history, whereas constructionists maintain that sexual orientations are "social human kinds", linguistic constructs that capture certain culturally derived meanings about sexual behavior.[2]

In his discussion of sexual orientation research, Stein criticizes several other authors for their views on the subject. He finds research that claims to have identified genes that cause homosexuality in drosophilia (fruit flies), including a 1995 study by Jean-François Ferveur et al. that was published in Science magazine, to be guilty of anthropomorphism. He argues that such research is irrelevant to understanding sexual orientation in humans. Stein calls journalist Chandler Burr's A Separate Creation (1996) "unsophisticated" and criticizes Burr for failing to discuss social constructionist views and uncritically accepting "courtship" behavior between male fruit flies as an example of animal homosexuality. Stein criticizes Michael Ruse's views on social constructionism as expressed in Homosexuality: A Philosophical Inquiry (1988). Stein criticizes neuroscientist Simon LeVay, writing that in The Sexual Brain (1993), LeVay fails to discuss social constructionism even though it is relevant to the subject of his book. Stein argues that in Virtually Normal (1995), Andrew Sullivan fails to show that social constructionism is false. Stein argues that it has not been shown that sexual orientations are non-arbitrary groups ("natural kinds") and that the ethics of sexual orientation research are open to question.[3]

Discussing Halperin's social constructionist views, Stein writes that Halperin's claims about the development of contemporary categories of sexual orientation in One Hundred Years of Homosexuality (1990) are not universally shared: while Halperin maintains that the word "homosexual" was coined by Karl-Maria Kertbeny in 1869 and attaches significance to this event, others such as John Boswell argue that the concept the word refers to has existed for centuries.[4]

Stein calls Sexual Preference (1981) one of the most detailed retrospective studies relating to sexual orientation. Stein writes that while the study has been criticized on various grounds, including that all of its subjects were living in San Francisco, arguably an atypical place with respect to the sexual orientation of its inhabitants, Bell et al.'s "conclusions with respect to experiential theories seem to have been confirmed and accepted." Stein adds that Sexual Preference "suggests that early sexual experience does not play an important role in the development of sexual orientation", and that it also fails to support theories relating homosexuality to family dynamics. Stein summarizes its data as showing no difference between gay men and straight men in the strength of their attachment to their mothers, and only a weak connection between unfavorable relationships with the father and male homosexuality and gender non-conformity, with similar findings for women. Stein writes that the study does not support the "parental manipulation theory" according to which "children with no siblings would almost never be lesbian or gay and...children with a large number of siblings would be likely to be so." Stein observes that many other retrospective studies have been conducted on childhood gender non-conformity partly because of Bell et al.'s finding that it is related to homosexuality.[5]

Scholarly reception

Philosopher Martha Nussbaum praised The Mismeasure of Desire, although she also criticized it on some details, suggesting that Stein's account of natural kinds, and hence also the debate over social constructionism, is unclear.[6] Anthropologist Roger Lancaster described The Mismeasure of Desire as a "methodical, meticulous, and highly readable critique of scientific research on sexual orientation". Lancaster added that while Stein covers many of the problems of the research of LeVay, Dean Hamer, J. Michael Bailey, and Richard Pillard, his "important and cautionary text was given less attention than it deserved in the gay press, and it was hardly noticed at all in the mainstream media".[7] In 2013, Stein's work was described by philosopher John Corvino as a "dated but still excellent" book on the limitations and relevance of sexual orientation research.[8]

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Stein 1999. pp. ii
  2. ↑ Jones 2007. p. 29.
  3. ↑ Stein 1999. pp. iii, 78, 105, 166, 338, 350, 366.
  4. ↑ Stein 1999. p. 100
  5. ↑ Stein 1999. pp. 235-237.
  6. ↑ Nussbaum 2002.
  7. ↑ Lancaster 2003. pp. 270-271
  8. ↑ Corvino 2013. p. 101.

Bibliography

Books
  • Corvino, John (1999). What's Wrong With Homosexuality?. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-985631-2. 
  • Jones, Stanton L.; Yarhouse, Mark A. (2007). Ex-gays? A Longitudinal Study of Religiously Mediated Change in Sexual Orientation. Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic. ISBN 978-0-8308-2846-3. 
  • Lancaster, Roger N. (2003). The Trouble with Nature: Sex in Science and Popular Culture. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520236202. 
  • Stein, Edward (1999). The Mismeasure of Desire: The Science, Theory, and Ethics of Sexual Orientation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514244-6. 
Journals
  • Nussbaum, Martha (May 2002). "Millean Liberty and Sexual Orientation: A Discussion of Edward Stein's The Mismeasure of Desire". Law and Philosophy (Kluwer Academic Publishers) 21 (3): 317–334. 


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