In this paper, I examine disputes over recent claims that male circumcision reduces HIV risk to s... more In this paper, I examine disputes over recent claims that male circumcision reduces HIV risk to suggest a complicated relationship between risk individualization and categorization. Whereas randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted in sub-Saharan Africa appear to have provided key evidence for the World Health Organization's endorsement of male circumcision as an HIV prevention strategy, RCTs alone did not provide evidence for the underlying causal mechanism. For that, medical authorities have turned to histo-immunological studies of the foreskin's biomolecular vulnerability to HIV, thus molecularizing risk. Some actors used these studies both as a way of shoring up results of RCTs conducted in sub-Saharan Africa and as an important rationale in arguments for making neonatal circumcision more widely available. Others, however, resisted this move to generalize the RCT results to other parts of the world, citing both contextual differences in HIV transmission patterns and conflicting scientific details regarding the biomolecular basis of the foreskin's susceptibility. Nevertheless, by locating an abstract notion of relative risk in the body itself, I argue that histological studies of foreskin have played a key role in stabilizing male circumcision status as a new risk category, largely independent of a given individual's risk profile.
Imagine being told by a doctor that a twin, one you never knew you had, exists inside you. It is ... more Imagine being told by a doctor that a twin, one you never knew you had, exists inside you. It is well known that fraternal twins arise from two fertilized eggs that develop into nonidentical siblings. Less well known is that these two zygotes sometimes overlap and fuse so completely as to develop into one body with two distinct sets of DNA, a phenomenon called tetragametic chimerism (Tippett 1983). We explore how this rare occurrence exposes complex links between understandings of DNA, human subjectivity, and definitions of motherhood. We focus on cases in the United States of two chimeric women, Lydia and Karen, who were subjected to genetic tests for parentage and subsequently deemed by medical authorities not to be the mothers of their children. The stories of these two women offer opportunities to investigate how definitions of motherhood are constructed, legitimized, and contested by and through science.
Using data from a national probability sample of heterosexual U.S. adults (N=2,281), the present ... more Using data from a national probability sample of heterosexual U.S. adults (N=2,281), the present study describes the distribution and correlates of men’s and women’s attitudes toward transgender people. Feeling thermometer ratings of transgender people were strongly correlated with attitudes toward gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals, but were significantly less favorable. Attitudes toward transgender people were more negative among heterosexual men than women. Negative attitudes were associated with endorsement of a binary conception of gender; higher levels of psychological authoritarianism, political conservatism, and anti-egalitarianism, and (for women) religiosity; and lack of personal contact with sexual minorities. In regression analysis, sexual prejudice accounted for much of the variance in transgender attitudes, but respondent gender, educational level, authoritarianism, anti-egalitarianism, and (for women) religiosity remained significant predictors with sexual prejudice statistically controlled. Implications and directions for future research on attitudes toward transgender people are discussed.
Using data from a US national probability sample of self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual ad... more Using data from a US national probability sample of self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults (N=662), this article reports population parameter estimates for a variety of demographic, psychological, and social variables. Special emphasis is given to information with relevance to public policy and law. Compared with the US adult population, respondents were younger, more highly educated, and less likely to be non-Hispanic White, but differences were observed between gender and sexual orientation groups on all of these variables. Overall, respondents tended to be politically liberal, not highly religious, and supportive of marriage equality for same-sex couples. Women were more likely than men to be in a committed relationship. Virtually all coupled gay men and lesbians had a same-sex partner, whereas the vast majority of coupled bisexuals were in a heterosexual relationship. Compared with bisexuals, gay men and lesbians reported stronger commitment to a sexual-minority identity, greater community identification and involvement, and more extensive disclosure of their sexual orientation to others. Most respondents reported experiencing little or no choice about their sexual orientation. The importance of distinguishing among lesbians, gay men, bisexual women, and bisexual men in behavioral and social research is discussed.
In recent years, epidemiologists have conducted dozens of surveys asking men around the world if ... more In recent years, epidemiologists have conducted dozens of surveys asking men around the world if they would be willing to be circumcised to reduce their HIV-risk. Men’s responses in turn constitute an important factor in predicting the overall success of circumcision campaigns. Whereas researchers often position survey responses as passive reflections of attitudes, my analysis reveals a more complex picture. The reviewed surveys invite men to consider a part of their bodies as posing a risk to themselves, their partners or their communities, and its removal as a means to permanently transition from the ‘high’ to the ‘low’ risk category. In the process, they position some bodies as inherently riskier than others, thereby carving out new HIV-risk subject positions based not on identity or behavior, but the body itself. Because claims about what one can do to mitigate the spread of HIV are not easily disentangled from what one ought to do, I suggest that these surveys simulta- neously imbue willingness to be circumcised with a sense of ethical obligation. In doing so, I argue that circumcision-willingness surveys constitute a discursive technology integral to male circumcision’s emergence as an HIV-risk reduction strategy, not simply a tool that identifies willing subjects passively awaiting the next public health intervention.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2003
Gangliosides are sialic acid-containing glycosphingolipids that are present on all mammalian plas... more Gangliosides are sialic acid-containing glycosphingolipids that are present on all mammalian plasma membranes where they participate in recognition and signaling activities. We have established mutant mice that lack GM3 synthase (CMP-NeuAc:lactosylceramide ﰃ2,3-sialyltransferase; EC 2.4.99.-). These mutant mice were unable to synthesize GM3 ganglioside, a simple and widely distributed glycosphingolipid. The mutant mice were viable and appeared without major abnormalities but showed a heightened sensitivity to insulin. A basis for the increased insulin sensitivity in the mutant mice was found to be enhanced insulin receptor phosphorylation in skeletal muscle. Importantly, the mutant mice were protected from high-fat diet-induced insulin resistance. Our results show that GM3 ganglioside is a negative regulator of insulin signaling, making it a potential therapeutic target in type 2 diabetes.
In this paper, I examine disputes over recent claims that male circumcision reduces HIV risk to s... more In this paper, I examine disputes over recent claims that male circumcision reduces HIV risk to suggest a complicated relationship between risk individualization and categorization. Whereas randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted in sub-Saharan Africa appear to have provided key evidence for the World Health Organization's endorsement of male circumcision as an HIV prevention strategy, RCTs alone did not provide evidence for the underlying causal mechanism. For that, medical authorities have turned to histo-immunological studies of the foreskin's biomolecular vulnerability to HIV, thus molecularizing risk. Some actors used these studies both as a way of shoring up results of RCTs conducted in sub-Saharan Africa and as an important rationale in arguments for making neonatal circumcision more widely available. Others, however, resisted this move to generalize the RCT results to other parts of the world, citing both contextual differences in HIV transmission patterns and conflicting scientific details regarding the biomolecular basis of the foreskin's susceptibility. Nevertheless, by locating an abstract notion of relative risk in the body itself, I argue that histological studies of foreskin have played a key role in stabilizing male circumcision status as a new risk category, largely independent of a given individual's risk profile.
Imagine being told by a doctor that a twin, one you never knew you had, exists inside you. It is ... more Imagine being told by a doctor that a twin, one you never knew you had, exists inside you. It is well known that fraternal twins arise from two fertilized eggs that develop into nonidentical siblings. Less well known is that these two zygotes sometimes overlap and fuse so completely as to develop into one body with two distinct sets of DNA, a phenomenon called tetragametic chimerism (Tippett 1983). We explore how this rare occurrence exposes complex links between understandings of DNA, human subjectivity, and definitions of motherhood. We focus on cases in the United States of two chimeric women, Lydia and Karen, who were subjected to genetic tests for parentage and subsequently deemed by medical authorities not to be the mothers of their children. The stories of these two women offer opportunities to investigate how definitions of motherhood are constructed, legitimized, and contested by and through science.
Using data from a national probability sample of heterosexual U.S. adults (N=2,281), the present ... more Using data from a national probability sample of heterosexual U.S. adults (N=2,281), the present study describes the distribution and correlates of men’s and women’s attitudes toward transgender people. Feeling thermometer ratings of transgender people were strongly correlated with attitudes toward gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals, but were significantly less favorable. Attitudes toward transgender people were more negative among heterosexual men than women. Negative attitudes were associated with endorsement of a binary conception of gender; higher levels of psychological authoritarianism, political conservatism, and anti-egalitarianism, and (for women) religiosity; and lack of personal contact with sexual minorities. In regression analysis, sexual prejudice accounted for much of the variance in transgender attitudes, but respondent gender, educational level, authoritarianism, anti-egalitarianism, and (for women) religiosity remained significant predictors with sexual prejudice statistically controlled. Implications and directions for future research on attitudes toward transgender people are discussed.
Using data from a US national probability sample of self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual ad... more Using data from a US national probability sample of self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults (N=662), this article reports population parameter estimates for a variety of demographic, psychological, and social variables. Special emphasis is given to information with relevance to public policy and law. Compared with the US adult population, respondents were younger, more highly educated, and less likely to be non-Hispanic White, but differences were observed between gender and sexual orientation groups on all of these variables. Overall, respondents tended to be politically liberal, not highly religious, and supportive of marriage equality for same-sex couples. Women were more likely than men to be in a committed relationship. Virtually all coupled gay men and lesbians had a same-sex partner, whereas the vast majority of coupled bisexuals were in a heterosexual relationship. Compared with bisexuals, gay men and lesbians reported stronger commitment to a sexual-minority identity, greater community identification and involvement, and more extensive disclosure of their sexual orientation to others. Most respondents reported experiencing little or no choice about their sexual orientation. The importance of distinguishing among lesbians, gay men, bisexual women, and bisexual men in behavioral and social research is discussed.
In recent years, epidemiologists have conducted dozens of surveys asking men around the world if ... more In recent years, epidemiologists have conducted dozens of surveys asking men around the world if they would be willing to be circumcised to reduce their HIV-risk. Men’s responses in turn constitute an important factor in predicting the overall success of circumcision campaigns. Whereas researchers often position survey responses as passive reflections of attitudes, my analysis reveals a more complex picture. The reviewed surveys invite men to consider a part of their bodies as posing a risk to themselves, their partners or their communities, and its removal as a means to permanently transition from the ‘high’ to the ‘low’ risk category. In the process, they position some bodies as inherently riskier than others, thereby carving out new HIV-risk subject positions based not on identity or behavior, but the body itself. Because claims about what one can do to mitigate the spread of HIV are not easily disentangled from what one ought to do, I suggest that these surveys simulta- neously imbue willingness to be circumcised with a sense of ethical obligation. In doing so, I argue that circumcision-willingness surveys constitute a discursive technology integral to male circumcision’s emergence as an HIV-risk reduction strategy, not simply a tool that identifies willing subjects passively awaiting the next public health intervention.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2003
Gangliosides are sialic acid-containing glycosphingolipids that are present on all mammalian plas... more Gangliosides are sialic acid-containing glycosphingolipids that are present on all mammalian plasma membranes where they participate in recognition and signaling activities. We have established mutant mice that lack GM3 synthase (CMP-NeuAc:lactosylceramide ﰃ2,3-sialyltransferase; EC 2.4.99.-). These mutant mice were unable to synthesize GM3 ganglioside, a simple and widely distributed glycosphingolipid. The mutant mice were viable and appeared without major abnormalities but showed a heightened sensitivity to insulin. A basis for the increased insulin sensitivity in the mutant mice was found to be enhanced insulin receptor phosphorylation in skeletal muscle. Importantly, the mutant mice were protected from high-fat diet-induced insulin resistance. Our results show that GM3 ganglioside is a negative regulator of insulin signaling, making it a potential therapeutic target in type 2 diabetes.
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Papers by Aaron T Norton