In Body Work by Sara Paretsky, the Guaman family's homophobia harms their family by causing both Allie's rape and death, and their cover-up. Homophobia manages to cause all this harm because it is a powerful mechanism of social control, meaning it drives individuals towards conformity and shames and/or ostracizes those who do not conform to the social norm. In this case, the social norm is heterosexuality, and homosexuals are shamed and ostracized for deviating from that norm. Allie is ashamed of being a lesbian and decides to serve in Iraq in hopes that she can repent of her "sins", and her family is so ashamed of her homosexuality that they have to deny it, which allows Tintrey to hide the truth behind La Allie's death. Shame comes from many different sources. In Allies' case, her shame stems from the belief that her homosexuality is a sin. Her religion has made her homophobic and so she feels the same way about being exactly what she believes is sinful. We see this belief as a driving force for his trip to Iraq, especially when he writes about the advice he received from his priest. “I must remember these words in moments of temptation,” Father Vicente said when he urged me to accept this work. A chance to start over, he said, to leave your sinful tendencies in America and serve your country abroad. I thought maybe he was right” (381). The most important thing here is that Allie thinks Father Vicente is right. Her Catholic upbringing told her that she must repent of her lesbianism, and she believed this idea wholeheartedly. We see this when Clara talks about Allie's diary. “Allie told me she was going to Iraq to earn more money so I could go to a good college. Then it turned out that it was an act of p... middle of paper... a powerful social mechanism, in the sense that it drives individuals towards conformity, and shames and/or ostracizes those who do not conform to the norm . social norm. In this case, the social norm is heterosexuality, and homosexuals are shamed and ostracized for deviating from that norm. Allie is ashamed of being a lesbian and decides to serve in Iraq in the hopes that she can repent of her "sins", and her family is so ashamed of her homosexuality that they have to deny it, which allows Tintrey to hide the truth behind La Allie's death. There is something ironic in the fact that homophobia can actually harm those who are themselves homophobic. The horrible consequences of bigotry have been seen in the past and unfortunately it still exists in many forms today, of which homophobia is significant. Hopefully, stories like Body Work will contribute to the worsening of homophobia.