genetic mapping--a wee bit reminiscent of eugenics, no?

Understanding the genetic components of diseases is certainly the primary step in disease treatment and prevention. At the same time, this mind-frame that "everything is in the genes" is actually a bit alarming.

Sounds a lot like the eugenics movement of the 20's/30's that medicalized the prostitute, the drunkard, the criminal, et cetera--and deemed them all feeble-minded. Let's not forget the 1927 Supreme Court ruling, Buck v. Bell, that allowed for the compulsory sterilization of such persons.

I have heard all of banter that alcoholism is genetic, eating disorders are genetic, sexuality is genetic, and the like. But when you really think about it, genetic composition dramatically predates alcohol, and I have a hard time imagining our early ancestors taking out emotions on food; they were busy trying to fight off animals and stay alive.

I suppose tendencies toward addiction can conceivably be genetic, but as for particular substances--I should think not. It would make sense that a person coming from a line of drug-abusers would be raised within a certain environment that would frame a developing mind for the habit--as opposed to an ominous genetic composition.

As for sexuality--positing sexuality as a genetic product makes absolutely zero sense, because it fails to explain the variability of sexuality throughout cultures and across time, and contemporaneously.

This tendency to geneticize and medicalize personalities and behaviors is treading on thin ice in my book. The idea of genetically crafting some super-immune ideal human is eerily similar to racial purification. Engineering babies gives me the heeby jeebies. While I agree that genetics are crucial in shaping a person, I do not believe that genetics determine a person.

I need to dig up an anthropology reading by Jonathan Marks calling for the abolishment of racial categories...but in the end, he proclaims that even without biological differences....we would still have differences based on culture, religion, language, education, family, et cetera.

Also, I think that this idea that everything is in the genes is implying a sort of essential self, that I absolutely do not believe in (I am NOT proclaiming the opposite, free will). The idea of a pre-set, genetically determined self undermines the dramatic changes a person can undergo through aging, maturation, cognitive behavioral therapy, and internal work.

As soon as crucial elements of a person become genetic, people become susceptible to hierarchies of value. And that my friends, is pseudo science.