Finding (Homo)sexuality in the genome

Abstract

The genetic study of sexuality has not just been limited to insects. In human beings, Dean Hamer in 1993 published a paper in the journal Science, reporting a particular mutation in a particular locus on the X-chromosome that was seen to be more prevalent in homosexual men. His data came from ‘DNA linkage analysis of a selected group of 40 families in which there were two gay brothers and no indication of non-maternal transmission’ (Hamer et al. 1993). Since, then, multiple such studies have been published that have tried to localize sexuality and sexual orientation in the genetic make-up of human beings. Although these studies have been heavily critiqued by scholars of feminism, gender studies, sexuality studies, women’s studies and science–technology–society studies, genetic investigations into human sexuality and sexual orientation is still rampant. The techniques used now have become rather sophisticated and opaque. This chapter is a critical review of the various lines of research into human sexuality and sexual orientation that have happened throughout the twentieth century and continues till today.