title: A Case for the Demedicalization of Queer Bodies.
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.
authors.affiliation: University of California San Francisco / University of California Berkeley Joint Medical Program.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eckhert
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D011057:Politics; D000072339:Sexual and Gender Minorities; D012962:Sociology, Medical
keywords: LGBT; heteronormativity; history of medicine; medicalization; nature; pathologization; queer