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My Genes Made Me Do It!-Homosexuality and the Scientific Evidence, authored by Neil Whitehead, biochemist and science researcher/consultant, and edited by Briar Whitehead, journalist and author of Craving for Love (2003)-is a facetious title for a book whose main point is that our genes don't and can't make us do anythingl That includes feeling or acting on homosexual or same-sex attractions (SSA).
The 2010 version of My Genes is a thorough revision of the original 1999 edition. For more than twenty years, Neil Whitehead has personally dedicated himself to reviewing the historical and current professional and scholarly papers relevant to the development and enactment of SSA. By his conservative estimate, he has reviewed more than "10,000 scientific papers" (back cover). The updated 2010 version alone involves the citation of more than 460 scientific and professional papers and publications, almost 200 more than the 1999 edition. These additional citations include the most up-to-date literature from the past decade that is relevant to understanding the origins and outcomes of homosexuality (SSA).
Where to Start Reading
While we agree that the book is a reasonably "comprehensive and accessible" book (back cover), we submit that the Whiteheads cover so many topics and cite so many studies and reports that at times the writing may be daunting for nonscientists. We strongly encourage readers to begin at the end with the book's summary (pp. 264-273). This final chapter lists all of the major conclusions of the preceding twelve, including sound-bite conclusions about the evidence for the changeability of SSA and evidence from the twin studies that SSA is not genetically determined. In addition to summaries at the end of each chapter, particular bullet-point summaries throughout the text are worth reading before tackling the chapters themselves (see, for example, pp. 36-37, 80-81, 144, and 159-160).
In the following ten sections, the reader will find further commentary on the idea that our genes can't and don't make us do anything and on other major ideas specifically concerning homosexuality.
Section 1. Our genes do not make us do anything!
In spite of a cultural bias that human beings are genetically determined to behave in certain ways, the Whiteheads' review of the biogenetic literature leads them to assert otherwise. In Chapter 1 ("Can genes...