Natural History of Homosexuality

Erscheinungsjahr 1996
ISBN: 978-0-8018-5440-8
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 304 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 503 g

Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title

A terrible sin, a gift from the gods, a mental illness, a natural human variation—over the centuries people have defined homosexuality in all of these ways. Since the word homosexual was coined in 1869, many scientists in a variety of fields have sought to understand same-sex intimacy. Drawing on recent insights in biology and genetics, psychiatrist Francis Mondimore set out to explore the complex landscape of sexual orientation.

The result is A Natural History of Homosexuality, a generous work that synthesizes research in biology, history, psychology, and politics to explain how homosexuality has been understood and defined from ancient times until the present. Mondimore narrates tales of love and courage as well as discrimination and bigotry in settings as diverse as ancient Greece and Victorian England, early America and fin de siecle Vienna. He also tells fascinating stories about societies which accepted, incorporated, or institutionalized homosexuality into mainstream culture, stories illustrating that same-sex eroticism was often accepted as a normal aspect of human sexuality. In twentieth-century America, researchers first recognized that homosexuality might not be "pathological" when Alfred Kinsey and Evelyn Hooker conducted the first studies of sexuality not biased by preconceived notions of "normal" sexual behavior.

After exploring sexual development in the human fetus, Mondimore reviews current biological research into the nature of sexual orientation and examines recent scientific findings on the role of heredity and hormones, as well as Simon LeVay's 1991 brain studies. He then turns to a very important focus: on people and their individual experiences. He explores "what happens between childhood and adulthood in an individual that makes him or her come to identify himself or herself as having a sexual orientation." He also explains our current understanding of bisexuality and the transgender phenomena of transsexualism and transvestism.

Finally, Mondimore analyzes the circumstances of such prominent scandals as the anti-homosexual trials of Oscar Wilde and Philip von Eulenberg, and recounts the Nazi persecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust. This far-reaching discussion includes a description of the ex-gay ministries and reparative therapy as well as the Stonewall riots and AIDS, ending with the emergence of gay pride and community.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mondimore, Francis Mark

Mondimore

Fachgebiete

• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Geschichte der Medizin
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies: Homosexualität, LGBTQ+

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I: Sexual Histories
Chapter 1. Before Homosexuality
Chapter 2. Sodomites and Urnings
Chapter 3. Peversion and Inversion
Chapter 4. Women's Voices
Chapter 5. Psychoanalysis
Chapter 6. Surveys and Inkblots
Part II: Sexual Biology
Chapter 7. Sexual Biology I
Chapter 8. Sexual Biology II
Chapter 9. Sexual Genetics
Chapter 10. Nature and Nurture
Part III: Sexual Identities
Chapter 11. Homosexual Identity Development
Chapter 12. Stigma Management
Chapter 13. Bisexual and Transgender Identities
Part IV: Sexual Politics
Chapter 14. From the Inquisition to the Holocaust
Chapter 15. Salvation and Repair
Chapter 16. Community and Power
Summing Up
Notes
Suggested Readings
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Mondimore, Francis Mark
Francis Mark Mondimore, MD (NORTH BEACH, MD), is an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the founding director of the Mood Disorders Clinic at the Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. He is the author or coauthor of five books on mental health issues, including Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for You and Your Loved Ones, Adolescent Depression: A Guide for Parents, and Borderline Personality Disorder: New Reasons for Hope.

Francis Mark Mondimore, M.D., is a psychiatrist and a member of the clinical faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is author of Depression, The Mood Disease, also available from Johns Hopkins.