In 1993 a paper in the prestigious scientific journal Science announced the discovery of a linkage between genetics and male homosexuality. The linkage was promptly dubbed the `gay gene' by the media, and the paper was widely reported. This article examines the reporting of the `gay gene' in the British press and television news, and compares it with commentary in scientific journals. The article focuses on the representation of homosexuality and the representation of science. It considers the charges levelled at the media by some critics and finds many of them wanting. Finally, it concludes with some comments about the public understanding of science and the need for the scientific understanding of the media and the public.
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References
1.
Hamer D. , Hu, S., Magnuson, V., Hu, N., and Pattatucci, A., 1993, A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. Science, 261, 16 July, 321-327.
2.
The sample included all coverage in what can best be termed the `British national press': daily and Sunday papers produced in London for British circulation (these were: the Star, the Sun, the Daily Mirror, Today, the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, The Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the Financial Times, the Sunday Sport, the News of the World, the People, the Sunday Mirror, the Sunday Express, the Mail on Sunday, the Sunday Telegraph, the Sunday Times, the Observer and the Independent on Sunday), plus the London evening paper the Evening Standard and the main British network television news bulletins (early evening and main evening bulletins by the BBC for BBC1 and by Independent Television News for ITV, together with Channel Four News and BBC2's Newsnight). The sample period was from the 16 July 1993, the date the press first covered the story, until 6 August 1993. The bulk of the press coverage was concentrated in the first three days (16-18 July). It was only on these days that more than half the newspapers covered the story. From 24 July to 6 August the story mainly appeared in the letters pages of the press, with some news coverage on the comments of Lord Jakobovits that any `gay gene' should be eliminated. The television news programmes only covered the story on 16 July.
3.
The sample of scientific journal coverage is based on a search of the Science Citation Index and of Embase. All articles on homosexuality and genetics between January 1993 and June 1994 were retrieved and those specifically dealing with the paper in Science were analysed.
4.
Kitzinger, J. , and Kitzinger, C., 1993, Doing it: representations of lesbian sex. Outwrite: Lesbianism and Popular Culture, edited by G. Griffin (London: Pluto).
5.
Cited in Tatchell, P., 1993, The British Bigotry Corporation. Gay Times, May, 8-9.
6.
Tatchell, P. , 1993, The British Bigotry Corporation. Gay Times, May, 8.
7.
Altman, D. , 1988, Legitimation through disaster: AIDS and the gay movement. AIDS: The Burdens of History, edited by E. Fee and D. Fox (Berkley, CA: University of California Press).
8.
Watney, S. , 1987, Policing Desire: Pornography, AIDS and the Media (London: Comedia).
9.
The term `homophobia' is problematic for two reasons. First is its psychologizing tendency in which anti-gay discourse is seen as the result of individual prejudice (or psychological disorder) which can be countered by `education'. Analysis of the institutional, legal and political structures and ideologies which maintain discriminatory practice is thus impeded. Secondly, divisions and competition between perspectives which do not accept lesbians and gay men as fully human can often be disguised in the catch-all term `homophobia'. Nevertheless, it is in common usage and will be used in this article to denote anti-gay perspectives.
10.
Hamer D. , Hu, S., Magnuson, V., Hu, N., and Pattatucci, A., 1993, A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. Science, 261, 16 July, 326.
11.
For an analysis of press formats see Miller, D., 1994, Don't Mention the War: Northern Ireland, Propaganda and the Media (London: Pluto Press), Chap. 4.
12.
Daily Mirror, 1993, It's in the genes—how homosexuals are born different; and Seek out and destroy fears, 17 July.
13.
Daily Express, 1993, The gay gene, 17 July, p. 19. It should be noted that this piece was in the features section of the Express known as `Expressions', which is targeted especially at women readers. It is here that tabloid papers often give a more nuanced view than that available in the news pages.
14.
Watson, P. , 1993, Mums pass gay gene to sons say doctors. Sun, 17 July.
15.
Sarler, C. , 1993, Moral majority gets it's genes all in a twist. People, 25 July, p.27.
16.
Lewis, J. , 1993, Abortion hope after `gay genes' find. Daily Mail, 16 July, p.29.
17.
For more material on the impact of gender ideology on news values see Miller, D., Reilly, J., Macintyre, S., and Eldridge, J., 1994, The Role of the Media in the Emergence of Food Panics, End of Award Report to ESRC Ref No. L209-25-2011.
18.
Jones, S. , 1993, Genes, gays and a moral minefield. Daily Mail, 17 July, p.8.
19.
Hope, J. , 1993, Genes that may chart course of a sex life. Daily Mail, 17 July.
20.
ITN Early Evening News, 17.40, 16 July 1993.
21.
McKellen, I. , 1993, Through a gay viewfinder. Guardian, 22 July, p.18.
22.
See also Green, S., 1992, The Sexual Dead-End (London: Broadview Books), where Green endorses `curing' homosexuality.
23.
Cited in Fernbach, D., 1993, Hyping the hypothalamus. Gay Times, July, 60-61.
24.
Revill, J. , 1993, `Gay gene' claims spark anger and dismay. Evening Standard, 16 July.
25.
Daily Express, 1993, The gay gene, 17 July, p.19.
26.
Cited in Rose, H., 1995, Gay brains, gay genes and feminist science theory. Sexual Cultures, edited by J. Weeks, J. Hollandet al. (London: Macmillan).
27.
Miller, D. , and Williams, K., 1993, Negotiating HIV/AIDS information: agendas, media strategies and the news. Getting the Message: News, Truth and Power, edited by the Glasgow University Media Group (London: Routledge).
28.
Curran, J. , 1987, Media Coverage of the London Councils: Interim Report (London: Goldsmiths College).
29.
MacDonald, T. , 1993, Children of five will learn that it's natural to be gay. Daily Express, 20 July, p.15.
30.
For examples see Nelkin, D., 1987, Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology (New York: W.H. Freeman).
Maddox, J. , 1993, Wilful public misunderstanding of genetics. Nature, 364, 281. Maddox is well known for his controversial statements. However, it is clear that those cited here are typical of critiques of science in the media and furthermore are of intrinsic interest because of Maddox's status as editor of one of the most prestigious British science journals.
33.
The original paper is Le Vay, S., 1991, A difference in hypothalamic structure between heterosexual and homosexual men. Science, 253, 1034-1037.
34.
For critiques of some of this material see Hubbard, R., and Wald, E., 1993, Exploring the Gene Myth (Boston: Beacon Press). However, none of these gained widespread coverage in the British media. These papers, like the paper in Science, did not discount genetic explanations. However, there is one key reason why they did not lead to publicity: precisely that they were not published in Science. Science has a very high credibility for journalists, and is regularly used, along with a small number of other journals, as a source of stories by medical and science journalists in Britain and the USA. Clearly, the status of Science is nurtured by the promotional activities of the journal itself.
35.
Nelkin, D. , 1987, Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology (New York: W. H. Freeman).
36.
McKie, R. , 1993, The myth of the gay gene. Observer, 18 July, p.21.
37.
BBC1 , Six O'Clock News, 16 July 1993.
38.
Fenton, J. , 1993, It's not in the genes, it's in the culture. Independent, 19 July, p.19.
39.
Julian Clary is a popular camp gay comedian. See Deer, B., 1993, Knit one for me too, mum. Sunday Times, 18 July, p.1/12.
40.
See for example Radford, T., 1993, Code of conduct. Guardian, II, 21 July, pp.2-3.
41.
Murrell, R. K. , 1987, Telling it like it isn't: representations of science inTomorrow's World. Theory, Culture and Society, 4, 89-106.
42.
Collins, H. M. , 1987, Certainty and the public understanding of science: science on television. Social Studies of Science, 17, 710.
43.
Pool, R. , 1993, Evidence for homosexuality gene. Science, 261, 291-292.
44.
King, M.-C. , 1993, Sexual orientation and the X. Nature, 364, 288-289.
45.
Maddox, J. , 1993, Wilful public misunderstanding of genetics. Nature, 364, 281.
46.
As Miron Baron argued in a British Medical Journal editorial: `the scientific question is a complex one, and the interpretation of these results is hampered by methodological uncertainties. Further study is crucial to confirm or refute this finding'. See Baron, M., 1993, Genetic linkage and male homosexual orientation. British Medical Journal, 307, 337-338.
47.
Collins, H. , and Pinch, T., 1993, The Golem: What Everyone Should Know About Science (Cambridge University Press), pp. 144-145.
48.
Diamond, R. , 1993, Genetics and male sexual orientation. Science, 261, 1258-1259.
49.
See Rose, H., 1995, Gay brains, gay genes and feminist science theory. Sexual Cultures, edited by J. Weeks, J. Hollandet al. (London: Macmillan).
50.
Thompson, E. P. , 1978, The Poverty of Theory (London: Merlin Press).
51.
This piece of knowledge has, however, apparently passed by some scientific journals, Nature Genetics, for example, claimed that correlation of this type is `an unambiguous and proven method of calculating the statistical likelihood that an association is real as opposed to one that has come about by chance'. See Nature Genetics, 1993, Straight genetics, 5(1), September, 2. In the case of the `gay gene', statistical methods are invoked to suggest that the observed correlation had a one in 10 000 chance of being an anomaly.
52.
Hamer D. , Hu, S., Magnuson, V., Hu, N., and Pattatucci, A., 1993, A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. Science, 261, 321.
53.
Science also reported that the `discovery' of these genes had failed to be replicated, but only in arguing for a model of incremental science rather than as a critique of methodology or media coverage. See Pool, R., 1993, Evidence for homosexuality gene. Science, 261, 291-292.
54.
Hamer, D. , Hu, S., Magnuson, V., Hu, N., and Pattatucci, A., 1993, A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. Science, 261, 325.
55.
Rose, H. , 1995, Gay brains, gay genes and feminist science theory. Sexual Cultures, edited by J. Weeks, J. Hollandet al. (London: Macmillan).
56.
It certainly is more consistent, since all observations are explained in terms of the prior theory. The problem of explaining homosexuality in terms of natural selection is notoriously difficult and leads sociobiologists into all sorts of tangled arguments, none of which is convincing even to themselves. Richard Dawkins, for example, has himself concluded that `intriguing as several of these theories may be, I have to conclude that it remains a problem'. See Dawkins, R., 1993, Could a gay gene really survive?Daily Telegraph, 16 August, p.12.
57.
Rose, S. , Lewontin, R., and Kamin, L., 1984, Not in our Genes: Biology, Ideology and Human Nature (London: Penguin).
58.
New Scientist, 1993, A gene for our times? Comment, 24 July, 3
59.
For statements about the promise of the Human Genome Project in solving social (or should we say genetic?) problems see Koshland, D., 1989, Sequences and consequences of the human genome. Science, 246, 189.
60.
See also Lewontin, R. C., 1993, The Doctrine of DNA: Biology as Ideology (London: Penguin), pp. 48-53 and 61-83.
