It takes a brave woman to question the century-old theories of Charles Darwin, but evolutionary biologist Joan Roughgarden doesn’t hold back. Spurred in part by the stunning diversity of people she saw at an LGBT Pride parade in the ‘90s, Roughgarden spent years debunking Darwin’s theories. Her audacious attack became the groundbreaking and brilliant tome, Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender and Sexuality in Nature and People, in which the scientist argued that the diversity of gender and sexuality found in many species suggests that Darwin was wrong about sexual selection and the gender binary.
Roughgarden, a Professor Emerita at Stanford University, has authoredfive books and over 120 articles, including her critically acclaimed The Genial Gene:Deconstructing Darwinian Selfishness. The Harvard-trained Roughgarden, who taught at Stanford for nearly 40 years, didn’t come out as transgender until she was well into her career.
You didn’t come out until you were 52. Were you worried about the impact on your career?
Yes, of course I was worried. I was fully prepared to leave academia and wait on tables for a living if necessary. None other than Condolezza Rice, then provost at Stanford, gave me permission to remain on the faculty.
Evolution’s Rainbow was so groundbreaking and definitely controversial. Did you expect the criticism you got? Is Darwin above reproach in scientific circles?
I did not expect the homophobic and personally disrespectful comments from professional biologists. And yes, Darwin is beyond reproach in scientific circles.
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