| Abstract: | Recent biological research into homosexuality has been heavily publicized in the media and has been central to intense political and cultural debates over sexuality. This paper presents an analysis of how biological ideas about sexuality have been represented in the media, and of the role that the media have played in circulating ideas about biology and sexuality throughout society. The content of media coverage of scientific research on homosexuality is influenced by the conventions of scientific journalism, which require discussion of the scientific context of particular studies and qualified statements about the conclusions that can be drawn from the research. The coverage is deeply contradictory, however. Biology is popularly understood as biological determinism and in terms of a dichotomy between being born gay and choosing to be gay. The idea that being gay is a choice is prominent in the political agenda of the religious right, but the role of the right as political actor in debates over sexuality is not included in most media coverage of specific scientific studies. Instead, only the claims of gay people are presented as self-interested and political, and science is presented as an arbiter that will grant or deny legitimacy to these claims. |
