A Natural History of Homosexuality

Drawing on recent insights in biology and genetics, psychiatrist Francis Mondimore set out to explore the complex landscape of sexual orientation. This work synthesizes research in biology, history, psychology, and politics to explain how homosexuality has been understood and defined from ancient times until the present. The author 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 stories of 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 20th-century America, researchers first recognized that homosexuality might not be "pathological" when Alfred Kingsley and Evelyn Hooker conducted the first studies of sexuality not based on preconceived notions of normal sexual behaviour.After reviewing sexual developments in the human foetus, the author 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 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 transexualism 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 holcaust. this discussion includes a description of the ex-gay ministries and reparitive therapy as well as the Stonewall riots and AIDS, ending with the emergence of gay pride and community.