Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!
Health:
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Conrad, P.
Right arrow Articles by Markens, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Conrad, P.
Right arrow Articles by Markens, S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

Constructing the ‘Gay Gene’ in the News: Optimism and Skepticism in the US and British Press

Peter Conrad

Brandeis University & Temple University, USAconrad{at}brandeis.edu

Susan Markens

Brandeis University & Temple University, USA

In the 1990s the discovery of a ‘gay gene’ was widely reported in the news media, often as front-page stories. Focusing on the print media presentation of Dean Hamer’s 1993 and 1995 scientific papers reporting finding a genetic marker for homosexuality, we examine how these studies were framed in a selected sample of US and British newspapers and news magazines. We found disparate constructions of the ‘gay gene’ in each press culture. The US press reported Hamer’s study as good science and treated it with ‘cautious optimism’ while the British press reported the research as ‘the perils of the gay gene.’ We discuss how these studies received such widespread attention and the sources and implications of the variant images of the ‘gay gene’ in the news.

Key Words: gay gene • homosexuality • public understanding of genetics • science reporting • US and British pressw

Health:, Vol. 5, No. 3, 373-400 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/136345930100500306
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Group Processes Intergroup RelationsHome page
T. E. Jayaratne, O. Ybarra, J. P. Sheldon, T. N. Brown, M. Feldbaum, C. A. Pfeffer, and E. M. Petty
White Americans' Genetic Lay Theories of Race Differences and Sexual Orientation: Their Relationship with Prejudice toward Blacks, and Gay Men and Lesbians
Group Processes Intergroup Relations, January 1, 2006; 9(1): 77 - 94.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Science CommunicationHome page
A. Anderson, S. Allan, A. Petersen, and C. Wilkinson
The Framing of Nanotechnologies in the British Newspaper Press
Science Communication, December 1, 2005; 27(2): 200 - 220.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Public Understanding of ScienceHome page
B. R. Bates
Public culture and public understanding of genetics: a focus group study
Public Understanding of Science, January 1, 2005; 14(1): 47 - 65.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 CMAJHome page
T. M. Bubela and T. A. Caulfield
Do the print media "hype" genetic research? A comparison of newspaper stories and peer-reviewed research papers
Can. Med. Assoc. J., April 27, 2004; 170(9): 1399 - 1407.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 BMJHome page
G. Hart and K. Wellings
Sexual behaviour and its medicalisation: in sickness and in health
BMJ, April 13, 2002; 324(7342): 896 - 900.
[Full Text] [PDF]