If You Seduce a Straight Person, Can You Make Them Gay?: Issues in Biological Essentialism Versus Social Constructionism in Gay and Lesbian Identities

This breakthrough book shows the fissures in concepts of the gay and lesbian identity and the one-sidedness of both biological essentialist and social constructionist versions of both sexual and gender identity. The editors present an alternative view—sexual and gender expression is a product of complementary biological, personal, and cultural influences in If You Seduce a Straight Person, Can You Make Them Gay? Through theoretical analysis, ethnographic and empirical data, and case studies, the editors show how it is difficult, if not impossible, to conceptually determine the origin of an individual's sexual expression. This thought-provoking book covers many topics that are sure to cause many readers to re-evaluate their thinking about the origins of gay and lesbian identity.