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There’s nothing like a “deviant” to excite scientific curiosity: over the
past 200 years or so, boffins have diligently measured the ears of criminals,
and the facial contours of “perverts”, all in a vain attempt to discover visible
signs of putative social pathology. But are such poisonous pursuits securely
banished to the past? Not according to Deviant Bodies (Indiana University Press,
£14.99/$18.95, ISBN 0 253 20975 7), edited by Jennifer Terry and
Jacqueline Urla. The authors point to the contemporary zeal for brain scans and
genetic analyses of schizophrenics, homosexuals and violent offenders.