Is Queer Biology a Useful Tool for Queer Theology?

Citation

Amy-Chinn D (2009) Is Queer Biology a Useful Tool for Queer Theology?. Theology and Sexuality, 15 (1), pp. 49-63. http://www.equinoxjournals.com/ojs/index.php/TSE/article/view/5787

Abstract
In recent years a number of queer theologians have drawn on the work of Judith Butler and Thomas Laqueur to provide a framework for their project of destabilising Christian understandings of the nature of sex, gender and sexuality. In this article I link this work with evidence drawn from biology to argue that, in addition to examples of bodies that, through nature or volition, disturb our notions of two distinct ontological categories – male and female – there is also a range of evidence that would indicate that all bodies are less sexually dimorphic than might be supposed. This evidence has potentially liberating and far-reaching implications for conservative theological understandings of the body, making it a useful tool in the armoury of queer theological discourse.

Keywords
biology; gender; queer; sex; sexuality; theology; butler; laqueur; Human evolution Philosophy; Religion and science

Journal
Theology and Sexuality: Volume 15, Issue 1