Sugar Daddies & Sickle Cell Patients: Unpacking Evolution of Homosexuality | Pieter Adriaens

Many biologists consider human homosexuality to be an evolutionary puzzle. If there are indeed such things as gay genes, how can they spread through a population if homosexuals do not reproduce?
In this talk, Pieter Adriaens will debunk a number of solutions for this puzzle - solutions that include colourful figures such as sugar uncles and sickle cell patients - simply by unveiling their erroneous assumptions. He will also explain that human homosexuality can be considered an interesting case study to set up a dialogue between the life sciences and the human sciences.
Pieter R. Adriaens is associate professor at the Institute of Philosophy (KU Leuven, Belgium). He works on topics related to the history and philosophy of psychiatry and sexology. In this context, he recently co-authored a book on science and homosexuality, Of Maybugs and Men: A History and Philosophy of the Sciences of Homosexuality (The University of Chicago Press, 2022). He is also interested in the relationships between humans and other animals, and he enjoys doing public philosophy.
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