Free Thinking 2012 - Julie Bindel
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 20 November 2012
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Julie Bindel gives a talk arguing that sexuality is a choice at the Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival. In a talk titled Not Born This Way, the feminist, lesbian, columnist and writer Julie Bindel challenges liberal thinking by arguing that sexuality is indeed a choice, and that the current scientific quest to identify a gay gene is both pointless and dangerous. The event is chaired by Night Waves presenter Samira Ahmed and recorded at The Sage Gateshead on Saturday 3 November 2012.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps |
| 0:21.2 | that it's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream |
| 0:26.1 | van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC sounds. |
| 0:32.1 | This is a download from the BBC. For more information and our terms of use, go to BBC.com.uk slash radio three. |
| 0:40.6 | What is normal when it comes to sexuality? |
| 0:44.0 | Scientific research continues to explore the thesis that we are born, gay or straight. |
| 0:49.2 | Mainstream popular culture certainly celebrates the idea, |
| 0:52.1 | as does the mainstream gay rights movement. |
| 0:54.8 | And social attitude surveys suggest year by year we are becoming more tolerant. Perhaps the current battle over |
| 1:01.0 | gay marriage within traditionalist institutions, such as the Church of England and the Conservative Party, |
| 1:06.8 | proves that they are merely laggards in an inexorable move forwards towards true equality. |
| 1:13.1 | Gay, straight, don't we all just want the same rights and structures? |
| 1:18.1 | Well, maybe not. There is a powerful and growing religious backlash against gay rights, |
| 1:22.9 | notably in the United States where gay conversion therapies are widely promoted. |
| 1:28.8 | In fact, California recently became the first state there to try to outlaw them, but only for the under-18s. |
| 1:34.6 | So does it help or hinder our understanding of homosexuality to put total emphasis on the idea |
| 1:40.9 | of being born this way? My guest here at the sage gateshead, Julie Bindle, |
| 1:45.4 | wants to challenge the consensus. She's a feminist, a lesbian woman and a journalist. She's a |
| 1:50.8 | controversial figure in gay politics for challenging the mainstream drive for equivalent rights. |
| 1:56.4 | In the 1970s and 80s, feminists talked openly about patriarchy, a system of male-based power |
| 2:02.5 | being the heart of the problem. For free thinking, 2012, Julie Bindle questions whether the belief |
| 2:07.9 | that we are born gay is a liberation or a dangerous trap. Please join me and welcome her. |
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