Queer Nature

Nature is the gay:

In her research, Bohannon said she found that female bodies often are not “normalized” in scientific and medical research. In experiments, male rats are used more often than females, in part, because they are cheaper, and, until a couple of decades ago, women of reproductive age frequently were excluded from clinical trials, she said. As a result, society knows less about things like the impact of opioids on women and treatment options for various medical conditions, she said. “It means that we often lack information about, are these drugs affecting women more when it comes to things like depression, anxiety, [and] suicidality. There are really big unanswered questions … we haven’t thought to ask because, again, we’re centering male bodies in a way that is deleterious for female health,” she said. Manne praised Bohannon’s work for focusing on the “feminist philosophy of science.” She brought up examples of “androcentric bias” that have “distorted some of our observations over the years.” One involved male scientists studying the female orgasm in monkeys and ignoring same-sex activity that led to more enjoyable sex for the females. The “male norm is affecting the kind of science we’re able to do and the kind of knowledge that we’re able to gather about mammals generally,” Manne said. Bohannon said another problem is “hetero assumptions” in science due to “queasiness” — and “obviously homophobia.”

Or maybe nature isn't as gay as she thinks...