A Case for the Demedicalization of Queer Bodies

Yale J Biol Med. 2016 Jun 27;89(2):239-46. eCollection 2016 Jun.

Abstract

The medicalization of queer bodies in the clinic and the lab is inexorably linked to the history of LBGTQ politics. Increasingly, activists and scholars are recognizing that while the natural origins of queer sexualities carry a certain political weight, invoking the naturalness of being "born this way" fails to articulate a more substantive challenge to the effects of unexamined cis- and heteronormativity on our social institutions. With this in mind, it is crucial to understand the way these biases operate in scientific research and healthcare so their impact on what we know and how we care can be addressed. It what follows, it will be shown that the medicalization of queer bodies not only fails to diminish these deep-seated biases from sexuality research and clinical practice, but that it also impedes care providers from addressing the healthcare disparities facing queer patients today.

Keywords: LGBT; heteronormativity; history of medicine; medicalization; nature; pathologization; queer.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Humans
  • Politics
  • Sexual and Gender Minorities*
  • Sociology, Medical