But Fingerprints Don't Lie, EH?

Abstract

For more than a decade, feminist theorists have found fault with studies that purport to find significant gender differences with regard to cognitive ability and personality. This article demonstrates the continuing validity of these critiques by considering a series of recent studies that report a higher incidence of dermatoglyphic asymmetry (DA), that is, asymmetry with regard to fingerprint patterns, among females and homosexual males compared to heterosexual males. This analysis suggests that at least some of the key findings reported in these studies are an artifact of the methodology used. It is argued that this case supports the feminist claim that studies whose results reinforce gender stereotypes that prevail in society at large (in this case, the societal construction of male homosexuals as effeminate) are subjected to less scrutiny by the scientific community than those that do not.