Born This Way

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"Across protests and courtrooms, LGBTQ activists argue that true sex or sexuality is encoded deep down, that it circulates in blood and is an expression of brain shapes and genetic codes. Their opponents incite panic over luring child groomers and a contagious "gender ideology" which corrupts the brains-and then bodies-of susceptible teenagers. In Born This Way: Science, Citizenship, and Inequality in the American LGBTQ Movement, Joanna Wuest tells the history of the LGBTQ rights movement, the modern scientific study of gender and sexuality, and the identity politics that formed at the nexus. She too reveals how conservative leaders have undermined science's ability to assist equal rights campaigns, reproductive rights, and climate change policies alike. Born This Way is at once a celebratory and cautionary tale, one which delineates a minority rights movement's impressive victories, its powerful and persuasive allies, and the ongoing assault on equality and science alike"--