Average annual US industrial chemical production 1919-2019

This paper argues that the concepts of “normal” reproductive development that biologists rely upon are undergirded by heterosexism, ableism, and white supremacism, even if implicitly. We illustrate our argument by critically analyzing toxicology’s use of reproductive fitness, focusing on the field of endocrine- disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Toxicology both informs and is informed by fundamental evolutionary and ecological questions, as well as environmental health. Throughout, biologists overwhelmingly assume that “abnormal” reproductive physiologies are both generated by EDC exposure and necessarily threaten species survival. Such assumptions unwittingly obscure fundamental scientific insights while further discriminating against queer, trans, nonbinary, and differently-abled human communities. We agree that scientists should be sounding the alarm over unavoidable, unevenly distributed, and highly hazardous EDC exposures—which cause metabolic dysregulation, cancer, and death—but not bec...