A review by audaciaray
Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body by Armand Marie Leroi
3.0
I'm not a dumb lady. But science hasn't really ever been my thing (which is why it's funny that I teach my human sexuality course in a biology department). I've been wanting to read more science stuff but also a little apprehensive about it, so a book about genetic mutations with a cover as awesome as this one was just what I needed. There were pieces of the book that lost me a little bit in their attention to scientific detail, but overall the writing was sharp and often funny, as well as thoroughly thought provoking. The line between mutation and evolution is a thin one indeed, and that's just a piece of what made this book so intriguing. If you want to just dip into this book, you can totally read a chapter here and there. There isn't really a big thread through the whole book, so no reason to feel obligated to read cover to cover. Except that you just might want to read all of it - I did.
My absolute favorite chapter was the one about skin ("A Fragile Bubble"). Leroi teases out fascinating threads about race, culture, and the meaning of hair through this chapter. Plenty of food for thought.
The reason I didn't give the book more than three stars is that the chapter about sex made me kind of furious. There is some really beautiful writing in the chapter about intersex conditions, plus some great historical illustrations. But the underpinings of the chapter are fucked up: Leroi keeps using the word "gender" to mean the biological manifestation of reproductive organs. No. No. NO. Ugh - I really don't understand how competent (though I guess that's questionable) writers/researchers mix up sex and gender, especially in the biological context. Though there has been some (inconclusive) research about the link between gender identity and biological sex (the latter is the combination of hormones, chromosomes, and genitals - so the identified sex at birth doesn't always correspond to biology), gender is an innate sense of being, NOT explicitly biological. Point being, Leroi keeps writing "gender" when he should be using the word "sex" - and it made me want to scream. It also seems like he couldn't really flex his head around issues of queer identities and orientations, which is a pity in an otherwise pretty awesome book.
My absolute favorite chapter was the one about skin ("A Fragile Bubble"). Leroi teases out fascinating threads about race, culture, and the meaning of hair through this chapter. Plenty of food for thought.
The reason I didn't give the book more than three stars is that the chapter about sex made me kind of furious. There is some really beautiful writing in the chapter about intersex conditions, plus some great historical illustrations. But the underpinings of the chapter are fucked up: Leroi keeps using the word "gender" to mean the biological manifestation of reproductive organs. No. No. NO. Ugh - I really don't understand how competent (though I guess that's questionable) writers/researchers mix up sex and gender, especially in the biological context. Though there has been some (inconclusive) research about the link between gender identity and biological sex (the latter is the combination of hormones, chromosomes, and genitals - so the identified sex at birth doesn't always correspond to biology), gender is an innate sense of being, NOT explicitly biological. Point being, Leroi keeps writing "gender" when he should be using the word "sex" - and it made me want to scream. It also seems like he couldn't really flex his head around issues of queer identities and orientations, which is a pity in an otherwise pretty awesome book.