Why Homosexuality Is Abnormal And Homes
22
Michael Levin
1 Introduction
This essay defends the view that homosexuality is abnormal and hence undesirable - not because it is immoral or sinful, or because it weakens society or hampers evolutionary development, but for a purely mechanical reason. It is a misuse of bodily parts. Clear empirical sense attaches to the idea of the use of such bodily parts as genitals, the idea that they are for something, and consequently to the idea of their misuse. I argue on grounds involving natural selection that misuse of bodily parts can with high probability be connected to unhappiness. I regard these matters as prolegomena to such policy issues as the rights of homosexuals, the rights of those desiring not to associate with homosexuals, and legislation concerning homosexuality, issues which I shall not discuss systematically here. However, I do in the last section draw a seemingly evident corollary from my view that homosexuality is abnormal and likely to lead to unhappiness ....
2 On "Function"
To bring into relief the point of the idea that homosexuality involves a misuse of bodily parts,
I will begin with an uncontroversial case of misuse, a case in which the clarity of our intuitions is not obscured by the conviction that
they are untrustworthy. Mr Jones pulls all his teeth and strings them around his neck because he thinks his teeth look nice as a necklace. He takes pureed liquids supplemented by intravenous solutions for nourishment. It is surely natural to say that Jones is misusing his teeth, that he is not using them for what they are for, that indeed the way he is using them is incompatible with what they are for. Pedants might argue that
Jones 's teeth are no longer part of him and hence that he is not misusing any bodily parts.
To them I offer Mr Smith, who likes to play
"Old MacDonald" on his teeth. So devoted is he to this amusement, in fact, that he never uses his teeth for chewing - like Jones, he takes nourishment intravenously. Now, not only do
we
Michael Levin
1 Introduction
This essay defends the view that homosexuality is abnormal and hence undesirable - not because it is immoral or sinful, or because it weakens society or hampers evolutionary development, but for a purely mechanical reason. It is a misuse of bodily parts. Clear empirical sense attaches to the idea of the use of such bodily parts as genitals, the idea that they are for something, and consequently to the idea of their misuse. I argue on grounds involving natural selection that misuse of bodily parts can with high probability be connected to unhappiness. I regard these matters as prolegomena to such policy issues as the rights of homosexuals, the rights of those desiring not to associate with homosexuals, and legislation concerning homosexuality, issues which I shall not discuss systematically here. However, I do in the last section draw a seemingly evident corollary from my view that homosexuality is abnormal and likely to lead to unhappiness ....
2 On "Function"
To bring into relief the point of the idea that homosexuality involves a misuse of bodily parts,
I will begin with an uncontroversial case of misuse, a case in which the clarity of our intuitions is not obscured by the conviction that
they are untrustworthy. Mr Jones pulls all his teeth and strings them around his neck because he thinks his teeth look nice as a necklace. He takes pureed liquids supplemented by intravenous solutions for nourishment. It is surely natural to say that Jones is misusing his teeth, that he is not using them for what they are for, that indeed the way he is using them is incompatible with what they are for. Pedants might argue that
Jones 's teeth are no longer part of him and hence that he is not misusing any bodily parts.
To them I offer Mr Smith, who likes to play
"Old MacDonald" on his teeth. So devoted is he to this amusement, in fact, that he never uses his teeth for chewing - like Jones, he takes nourishment intravenously. Now, not only do
we