The Miseducation of Cameron Post deals with the social and political implications of sexual and gender identity. Cameron’s life embodies the argument around whether homosexual tendencies are natural or nurtured. For Cameron, her attraction to and romantic love for other women does not feel like something she can help or change. She is baffled when Lindsey lectures her on the political and revolutionary implications of lesbianism and queer identity: Cameron’s sexual preference has never felt like a choice. 

However, Gates of Praise, Ruth’s radical Christian church, and God’s Promise, the school for homosexual teens, insist that homosexuality stems from formative trauma and family dysfunction. This implication that homosexual behavior can be unlearned or “fixed” informs Cameron’s nascent shame around her sexual desire in the wake of her parents’ death. After her parents die, Cameron pins their passing on her kissing Irene. Coley, the instigator of the affair she and Cameron later share, exemplifies the idea of homosexuality as a sickness: Coley relinquishes responsibility for her and Cameron’s relationship, declaring that Cameron manipulated her into conducting homosexual acts. The theme of sexual shame continues with Mark’s self-mutilation, positing the impossibility of changing sexual preference and pointing to the dangers of suppressing sexual identity.