Galileo's middle finger : heretics, activists, and the search for justice in science

by Alice Domurat Dreger     (Get the Book)
Raised by conservative Catholic parents, Dreger (One of Us, 2004) rejects the church that persecuted Galileo both as champion of evidence-based science and as forerunner of rights-endowing democracy. But in two decades as a bioethicist committed to progressive causes, she has encountered unexpected conflict between the political and scientific branches of Galileo’s legacy. The author indeed takes readers into the dangerous no-man’s land separating warriors for political enlightenment from tough-minded researchers reporting unwelcome empirical findings about human identity, especially sexually identity. Seasoned by her own combat on behalf of intersex individuals, Dreger understands that those attacking women and sexual minorities have often (mis)used science. But she fears the consequences when political crusaders—including her allies—­reject empirical science and slander those who do it. In a disarmingly candid narrative, she chronicles her political-scientific struggles dealing with passion-laden issues such as transgender rights, rape, child sexual abuse, and prenatal fetal experimentation. Readers see repeatedly the high costs when Galileo’s scientific epigones clash with his political heirs. A sobering report from a hotly contested cultural battlefield. --Booklist