Series Information:
Routledge Research in Gender and Society

In recent year, pro-gay and anti-gay rights activists have engaged in a struggle to sway public opinion in their favor through the use of ideologically charged rhetoric in an effort to win support from an undecided public. The author contends, however, that the debate is stalemated precisely because each side stereotypes and pathologizes the other's perspective, thereby becoming perfect enemies divided on every issue and with such intensity that consensus seems nearly impossible. Providing a panoramic view of both perspectives, this unique book traces the contested issues to fundamental conceptual differences within the field of religious, scientific, and political studies. Caramagno carefully examines the centuries of thought behind the questions involved and encourages readers to consider the arguments in order to draw their own conclusions.

This book is not about the wrongs or rights of the gay-rights debate. Nor is it a condemnation of the sides involved in the debate. Instead, it shows how the two sides have engaged in the battle and how they have marshaled evidence from a variety of sources (often the same ones) to muster public support but without addressing the conceptual changes needed to conduct a more profitable dialog. Treating both sides of the debate respectfully and objectively, Irreconcilable Differences? opens the discussion up so that all ideas and arguments can be understood as having something valuable to bring to the table. In this way, readers are challenged to consider the ways arguments are formed, how culture disseminates ideas, and how a debate can be shaped so that consensus-building is a real, not an imagined, outcome.

Tongzhi: Politics of Same-Sex Eroticism in Chinese Societies examines Chinese societies where the family-kinship system, rather than sexuality, is taken as the basis of an individual's identity. With Tongzhi, you will come to understand the variations of same-sex erotica in different Chinese societies. Examining past and present treatment of the subject, including instances of discrimination against homosexuals, Tongzhi explores same-sex eroticism in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and explains the variations of categories and experiences of tongzhi in these countries. Just what is Tongzhi?Tongzhi is the most popular contemporary Chinese word for lesbians, bisexuals, and gay people. The word, which has very positive historical references, was a Chinese translation from the Soviet communist term comrade. It was appropriated by a Hong Kong gay activist in 1989 for the first Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in Hong Kong by its organizers, who wanted to employ an indigenous representation of same-sex eroticism. The term 'homosexual'was inappropriate because of its use as a medical term denoting sickness and pathology. Within a few years, tongzhi became a widely used term in Hong Kong and Taiwan and is often used interchangeably with the English term gay. But terms such as gay, lesbian, and queer are Anglo-Saxon in origin, with specific histories that cannot capture the indigenous features of Chinese same-sex relationships. Tongzhi implies and includes much more. S/Mers, transvestites, and other fetishists who are members of the Chinese sexual counterculture who may be quite heterosexual are also tongzhi. And the term has meaning beyond the sexual: it embodies a strong sentiment for integrating the sexual (legitimizing same-sex love), the political (sharing the goals of fighting heterosexism) and the cultural (reappropriating their Chinese identity). Tongzhi brings you fascinating insight into: the history of same-sex eroticism in China coming out in Chinese society how colonialism has affected sexual nonconformists in this region racial and sexual dynamics in Colonial Hong Kong the cultural politics of being a tomboy/girl in modern Hong Kong "queering the mainstream" with tongzhi identity politics sexual/cultural diversities and differences among contemporary Chinese societies . . . and much more Tongzhi shows how culture influences identity and demonstrates how you can develop relevant strategies for successful activist movements. Discussing political movements for gay/lesbian/bisexual rights and the societal implications of same-sex eroticism, this intelligent book provides you with a clear understanding of the attitudes toward and meanings of being tongzhi today.

Explore how lesbians have become more visible in our society This fascinating book traces the development of lesbian geographies throughout history and examines intangible and physical space that is defined by lesbians. Through intellectual and powerful essays and poems, From Nowhere to Everywhere reveals how lesbian identities and lifestyles today are becoming more publicly articulated in the urban and rural landscape.Throughout this valuable reference you will explore visibility and geographical concepts of "public" and "private" space in the workplace, the home, the university, the street, and the neighborhood and how this space is identified by such things as dress, language, music, and many other ways. You will gain an insider's look at the many facets of lesbian homes, communities, and neighborhoods, including: the multiple meanings of lesbian homes, in relation to race, class, religious, or ethnic identity, and as places of liberation and oppression due to harassment opposing views of lesbians and the myths and stereotypes of lesbians in the East-end and West-end of Vancouver how white, feminist anti-violence activism is being used in anti-oppression struggles a personal geography of harassment an exploration of feminist prototypes, (Salamander, Dryad, Soothsayer, and Virgin), and lesbian interpretations of these archetypes social support, coming out, and relationship satisfaction in lesbian couplesFrom Nowhere to Everywhere is a powerful collection of essays that marks a step forward in the transformation in visibility of lesbian geographies and geographers from nowhere and everywhere.

Vital information on family services, custody, and access rights for gay parents!Queer Families, Common Agendas: Gay People, Lesbians, and Family Values examines the real life experience of those affected by current laws and policies regarding homosexual families. The book will help policy makers, lawyers, social workers, and the general public better understand these families. Here you will be able to compare the progress of policy in the U.S. and Canada for gay and lesbian parents and their children and explore relevant legal approaches in the two countries. In Queer Families, Common Agendas: Gay People, Lesbians, and Family Values, a range of strategies for advancing the rights of sexual minority parents are considered for legal feasibility and political viability. You will gain insight into the contradictions in policies and practices that ultimately disadvantage children based on their family origins, and you will discover alternative approaches for improved services to homosexual families. Queer Families, Common Agendas explores: family law and protection of women-headed households legal definitions of motherhood and fatherhood in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom family and adoption idealogies concerning gay families and their rights to adopt new ways to make social services responsive to minority families the lesbian and gay "agenda" the value of family and the family of values--as opposed to the worn-out phrase "family values" Queer Families, Common Agendas serves as a primer to assist you in understanding the legal struggles that lesbian and gay families are facing today. You will explore concerns about family law, protection of women-headed households, motherhood, fatherhood, adoption and family ideology, and how to make social services responsive to gay and lesbian families. This excellent reference provides you with the necessary background and techniques to create services that are responsive and effective with sexual minority families.

Explore how lesbians have become more visible in our society!This fascinating book traces the development of lesbian geographies throughout history and examines intangible and physical space that is defined by lesbians. Through intellectual and powerful essays and poems, From Nowhere to Everywhere reveals how lesbian identities and lifestyles today are becoming more publicly articulated in the urban and rural landscape.Throughout this valuable reference you will explore visibility and geographical concepts of "public" and "private" space in the workplace, the home, the university, the street, and the neighborhood and how this space is identified by such things as dress, language, music, and many other ways. You will gain an insider's look at the many facets of lesbian homes, communities, and neighborhoods, including: the multiple meanings of lesbian homes, in relation to race, class, religious, or ethnic identity, and as places of liberation and oppression due to harassment opposing views of lesbians and the myths and stereotypes of lesbians in the East-end and West-end of Vancouver how white, feminist anti-violence activism is being used in anti-oppression struggles a personal geography of harassment an exploration of feminist prototypes, (Salamander, Dryad, Soothsayer, and Virgin), and lesbian interpretations of these archetypes social support, coming out, and relationship satisfaction in lesbian couplesFrom Nowhere to Everywhere is a powerful collection of essays that marks a step forward in the transformation in visibility of lesbian geographies and geographers from nowhere and everywhere.

Is the closet just a metaphor? Closet Space, provides a highly original account of the spatial metaphor of "the closet", and is the first geography text to focus on this important issue. Using a variety of research techniques and materials, the book explores the closet through texts including:
* the oral histories of gay men in the UK and US
* the sexualised landscape of a New Zealand city
* the national census of Britain and the US
* international travel guides and travelogues
and refers to the work of Butler, Lefebure and Foucault.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203801407

Discover how gay men 's health care can be improved Smearing the Queer: Medical Bias in the Health Care of Gay Men explores how social prejudices embedded in scientific research and practice often act as a detriment to gay men 's health. This book provides an agenda for addressing heterosexism in the health sciences and in medical care while broadening approaches to gay male wellness beyond the limited scope of HIV infection. This groundbreaking book explore a number of neglected concerns affecting the sexual health of gay men, calling for the recognition of their scientific, political, and cultural significance. In Smearing the Queer, gay men, HIV prevention workers, health care providers, mental health professionals, policymakers, researchers, and instructors in related fields will appreciate the in-depth examination of such issues as: research and development on rectal microbicides why many gay men should be receiving periodic anal Pap smears to screen for anorectal cancer an in-depth critique of the problematic diagnosis of "Gay Bowel Syndrome" gay men 's use of the Reality Female Condom for anal sex Viagara 's impact on gay men 's sexual cultures, erectile dysfunction, and recreational drug use a broad-based advocacy agenda for improving relations between gay men and the health sciences the politics surrounding gay men 's restricted access to new and prospective safer sex technologies Smearing the Queer challenges heterosexist bias within the health care delivery and health sciences research and calls for the development of public policy initiatives that address gay men 's wellness in more sophisticated and complex ways. This is the only publication that provides in-depth social, cultural, and political analysis of the topics of Gay Bowel Syndrome, gay men 's use of the female condom, rectal microbicides, and anal Pap smears while examining the social forces that direct scientific research under the guise of objectivity.

In reading The Lesbian Polyamory Reader: Open Relationships, Non-Monogamy, and Casual Sex, you'll quickly discover that the steps toward love and happiness are as easy as 1, 2, 3, and maybe even 4 or 5. And you'll find that if your own lesbian relationship lies outside the "traditional monogamous couple" model, you're definitely not alone. You'll explore many multifaceted and multifarious love relationships, each one applicable to your own liking, if you so choose. You'll find successful models of relationship styles--regardless of your own orientation--from cover to cover, and you'll discover the pleasing polyphony in the many, many female voices of authorities on love and love relationships.Whereas other similar studies project the limited view of one or two authors, The Lesbian Polyamory Reader calls upon a broad scope of writers, professional women and academics alike. You'll see that outside the gay rights movement that currently pushes for a traditional, monogamous marriage model of gay couplehood, there lies pleasing multiplicity in the arms and hearts of lesbians worldwide. Specifically, this collection offers: "first person" articles--stories that describe a variety of lesbian experiences relating to multiple lovers in the 1970s, '80s, and '90s "how-to" articles--descriptions of the various polyamorous relationship configurations, including ways of dealing with jealousy"theoretical" pieces--the history of multiple relationships, the social implications of practicing a love style other than monogamous coupling, and safer sex considerationsMuch, much more than a book on personal satisfaction, The Lesbian Polyamory Reader also focuses on the social implications of this love phenomenon, bringing it into a more inclusive circle of discussion for lesbians, educators, and students of sociology and sexology. You'll find satisfaction in seeing the love so many lesbian women have achieved by not mimicking the "marriage model" of living.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203801350

Homosexual Rites of Passage: A Road to Visibility and Validation will help you, as a gay or lesbian individual, work through identity issues, come out, and become visible in a healthy and safe manner. You will find this unique book to be an excellent resource for validation and support during your courageous acts of personal growth. Furthermore, you will discover a positive affirmation of homosexual identities as well as issues that impede or prevent your positive homosexual identity formation. Homosexual Rites of Passage facilitates your journey toward visibility and personal validation by naming fear and shame as obstacles of your growth and describing affirming homosexual rites of passage so that you will not feel alone in your journey through life. Throughout Homosexual Rites of Passage, you will explore the essential relationship between homosexual identity development and rites of passage, or life experiences or events that mark emotional, familial, and growth transitions in your life and that they are different for homosexuals than for heterosexuals. Compelling and informative, this important book discusses how homophobia and homosexuals'internalized shame often cause these rites of passage to be ignored or not considered valid rituals for gay men and lesbians. You will find helpful and insightful ideas in this informative book to help you affirm your homosexual identity, such as: discovering the definitions of the stages of homosexual identity formation and their significance in defining your view of self and others examining outlines and descriptions of obstacles that prevent positive homosexual identity development, such as fear, shame, and guilt learning to address the role and significance of rites of passage in creating personal identity and space analyzing the description of rites of passage that is specific to the homosexual community and that covers developmental milestones from birth to death, such as coming out or choosing a life partnerHomosexual Rites of Passage will assist your homosexual identity development through the celebration of homosexual rituals and rites of passage in a positive effective way. This valuable book addresses the issues that may impede your positive homosexual identity development and provides you with strategies to heal wounded and shamed identities, as well as providing you with a thorough description of homosexual rites of passage to help you understand and validate your homosexual identity.

When It's Time to Leave Your Lover: A Guide for Gay Men is for people who need help ending a gay male relationship that is no longer viable or for friends and family who want to support a gay man experiencing a breakup. This book provides tips on how to successfully cope with the post-breakup period and how to grow emotionally from the experience. You will discover how to tell a lover good-bye while learning about the psychological and social changes to be anticipated in this situation. When It's Time to Leave Your Lover gives you helpful, practical advice on how to cope with ending a relationship in a positive and constructive manner. This unique book contains actual interviews with gay men and vignettes that clearly illustrate the topics. They provide you with a deeper understanding of all aspects of the break-up period. When It's Time to Leave Your Lover is a unique how-to book that gives you helpful and practical advice on such important issues as: making an assessment of your relationship to determine if it is no longer viable constructively leaving your partner and making it a positive experience coping with the uncoupling experience by using specific techniques to avoid common mistakes such as the rebound relationship growing from your uncoupling experience so you can enjoy more fulfilling relationships in the future managing the social and psychological effects of a breakup through use of your support system of family and friends seeking support through specific organizations available in several different cities that help gay men deal with breakups Sincere and full of knowledgeable advice, When It's Time to Leave Your Lover offers proven suggestions that will help you revisit the mistakes you made during your relationship, preparing you for more satisfying relationships in the future that are based on compatibility, respect, and trust. A valuable and reader-friendly book, When It's Time to Leave Your Lover will enhance your understanding of the break-up experience and will help you understand, learn from, and get past the heartache of ending a relationship.

When It's Time to Leave Your Lover: A Guide for Gay Men is for people who need help ending a gay male relationship that is no longer viable or for friends and family who want to support a gay man experiencing a breakup. This book provides tips on how to successfully cope with the post-breakup period and how to grow emotionally from the experience. You will discover how to tell a lover good-bye while learning about the psychological and social changes to be anticipated in this situation. When It's Time to Leave Your Lover gives you helpful, practical advice on how to cope with ending a relationship in a positive and constructive manner. This unique book contains actual interviews with gay men and vignettes that clearly illustrate the topics. They provide you with a deeper understanding of all aspects of the break-up period. When It's Time to Leave Your Lover is a unique how-to book that gives you helpful and practical advice on such important issues as: making an assessment of your relationship to determine if it is no longer viable constructively leaving your partner and making it a positive experience coping with the uncoupling experience by using specific techniques to avoid common mistakes such as the rebound relationship growing from your uncoupling experience so you can enjoy more fulfilling relationships in the future managing the social and psychological effects of a breakup through use of your support system of family and friends seeking support through specific organizations available in several different cities that help gay men deal with breakups Sincere and full of knowledgeable advice, When It's Time to Leave Your Lover offers proven suggestions that will help you revisit the mistakes you made during your relationship, preparing you for more satisfying relationships in the future that are based on compatibility, respect, and trust. A valuable and reader-friendly book, When It's Time to Leave Your Lover will enhance your understanding of the break-up experience and will help you understand, learn from, and get past the heartache of ending a relationship.

'Powerful and provocative' - Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, author of the Sunday Times bestselling How to be an Antiracist 'A MUST read for any white women who consider themselves "feminist"' - Scarlett Curtis, author of the Sunday Times bestselling Feminists Don't Wear Pink 'An explosive and revelatory argument for deconstructing and confronting the entrenched notions of white supremacy and superiority that still reign today.' - Mireille Harper 'How is it that we have been so conditioned to privilege the emotional comfort of white people?' White tears possess a potency that is rarely acknowledged or commented upon, but they have long been used as a dangerous and insidious tool against people of colour, weaponised in order to invoke sympathy and divert blame. Taking us from the slave era, when white women fought in court to keep 'ownership' of their slaves, through centuries of colonialism, when women offered a soft face for brutal tactics, to the modern workplace, in which tears serve as a defense to counter accusations of bias and micro-aggressions, White Tears/Brown Scars tells a charged story of white women's active participation in campaigns of oppression. It offers a long-overdue validation of the experiences of women of colour and an urgent call-to-arms in the need for true intersectionality. With rigour and precision, Hamad builds a powerful argument about the legacy of white superiority that we are socialised within, a reality that we must all apprehend in order to fight.

Working with Gay Men and Lesbians in Private Psychotherapy Practice is written for private practitioners solely by private practice clinicians who specialize in the treatment of gay men or lesbians. Focusing on numerous clinical issues that gays and lesbians often deal with, Working with Gay Men and Lesbians in Private Psychotherapy Practice also offers you proven guidance for maintaining and promoting your psychotherapy practice as a business. You will explore issues such as whether the therapist should disclose her/his sexual orientation, and how the therapist should address the degree to which internalized stigma about sexual orientation may impact the client's concerns about the process of therapy in general. This insightful volume also focuses on the special complexities introduced to psychotherapy by managed care.You'll find detailed, practical information about: a strategic plan for establishing, marketing, and developing a private practice in l/g/b psychology staying abreast of the latest research and trends in gay/lesbian mental health treatment planning with gay and lesbian clients lesbian/gay couples counseling multiple identity and gender issues particular to culture and ethnicity boundary issues Working with Gay Men and Lesbians in Private Psychotherapy Practice tackles how to therapeutically respond to the issues of gay men and lesbians. The practical strategies and specific suggestions can be directly incorporated into your work with gay and lesbian clients to ensure your success in confronting the specific issues and challenges they face.

In Your Face: Stories from the Lives of Queer Youth is a unique collection of real-life accounts that explores the lives and identities of lesbian, gay, and bisexual teens. Fifteen youths, age 14-18, bravely tell of the hardships and emotions they experience because of their sexualities. Readers will explore stories that touch on several issues, such as:
-- coming out to yourself
-- coming out to family and friends
-- dealing with the school environment
-- getting involved in the queer community
-- realizing how religion impacts one's sense of self

For the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, an anthology chronicling the tumultuous fight for LGBTQ rights in the 1960s and the activists who spearheaded it June 28, 2019 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising - the most significant event in the gay liberation movement and the catalyst for the modern fight for LGBTQ rights in the United States. Drawing from the New York Public Library's archives, The Stonewall Reader is a collection of firsthand accounts, diaries, periodic literature and articles from LGBTQ magazines and newspapers that documented both the years leading up to and the years following the riots. Most importantly, this anthology shines a light on forgotten figures who were pivotal in the movement, such as Lee Brewster, head of the Queens Liberation Front and Ernestine Eckstine, one of the few out, African American, lesbian activists in the 1960s.

In reading The Lesbian Polyamory Reader: Open Relationships, Non-Monogamy, and Casual Sex, you'll quickly discover that the steps toward love and happiness are as easy as 1, 2, 3, and maybe even 4 or 5. And you'll find that if your own lesbian relationship lies outside the "traditional monogamous couple" model, you're definitely not alone. You'll explore many multifaceted and multifarious love relationships, each one applicable to your own liking, if you so choose. You'll find successful models of relationship styles--regardless of your own orientation--from cover to cover, and you'll discover the pleasing polyphony in the many, many female voices of authorities on love and love relationships.Whereas other similar studies project the limited view of one or two authors, The Lesbian Polyamory Reader calls upon a broad scope of writers, professional women and academics alike. You'll see that outside the gay rights movement that currently pushes for a traditional, monogamous marriage model of gay couplehood, there lies pleasing multiplicity in the arms and hearts of lesbians worldwide. Specifically, this collection offers: "first person" articles--stories that describe a variety of lesbian experiences relating to multiple lovers in the 1970s, '80s, and '90s "how-to" articles--descriptions of the various polyamorous relationship configurations, including ways of dealing with jealousy "theoretical" pieces--the history of multiple relationships, the social implications of practicing a love style other than monogamous coupling, and safer sex considerations Much, much more than a book on personal satisfaction, The Lesbian Polyamory Reader also focuses on the social implications of this love phenomenon, bringing it into a more inclusive circle of discussion for lesbians, educators, and students of sociology and sexology. You'll find satisfaction in seeing the love so many lesbian women have achieved by not mimicking the "marriage model" of living.

Originally written in the 1990s, this book remains a key resource for women in heterosexual marriages who discover, or are coming to terms with, their lesbianism or bisexuality. This classic edition includes a new foreword from Ann Northrop, veteran journalist, activist, and co-host of Gay USA that reflects on the changes in language, intersectionality, and understandings of gender since first publication. Celebrating 25 years since first publication, this book shares the author’s personal story, as well as the descriptive experience of others, to provide validation and empowerment to multitudes of women in their search for their true identities. The author gives women ways in which to structure and restructure their lives and their families after they realize their same-gender sexuality. Chapters consider questions such as how women make this discovery, reactions from loved ones, and the outcomes for marriages and families. Updated throughout with contemporary understandings of sexuality and gender, as well as updated language, this book includes a wealth of information, fresh narratives, and stories offering insight into women’s experiences across the country. This is an essential read for women and their partners who are discovering their true identity, as well as therapists, helping professionals, and students of women’s studies, gender studies, sexuality studies, and LGBTQ studies programs.

A follow-up to O?Hara's steamy and provocative book Autopornography: A Memoir of Life in the Lust Lane, Rarely Pure and Never Simple: Selected Essays of Scott O?Hara shares with you more intimate stories from former porn star Scott O?Hara. You?ll gain an even deeper sense of the man behind the "Biggest Dick in San Francisco" and come to understand his take on porn, sex, life, and loss. Discussing his ventures as a writer, playwright, and editor of the popular but short-lived journal Steam, Rarely Pure and Never Simple includes poems and stories by O?Hara that express his opinions and feelings about monogamy, safe sex, male beauty, morality, social politics, and "being queer." O?Hara also relates his childhood experiences to his adult life and uses many examples to link the past to his actions and thoughts concerning his sexuality.Bold, personal, and honest, Rarely Pure and Never Simple gives you an inside look into the life of this controversial author, who died in February 1998 of AIDS-related complications. O?Hara challenges the "norms" of society as he discloses intimate thoughts and details about his sex life and fantasies that are guaranteed to arouse your . . . curiosity.

Claude McKay's abandoned novel Romance in Marseille (circa 1929-1933), first published by Penguin Classics in February 2020, has been praised as a new-old text that transcends historical boundaries, resonating with both the present moment and the hundred-year-old era of the New Negro. This special issue offers the first-ever collection of academic essays on this novel, which arrived as an instant classic: both a benchmark of the Harlem Renaissance and a fresh statement that could have been written for twenty-first-century readers. Using McKay's Romance as a critical compass point, the authors map new directions and historical territories in Black modernism, queer theory, disability studies, Marxist/materialist thought, and other established and emerging areas. Contributors Stephanie J. Brown, Nissa Ren Cannon, Zainab Cheema, Rich Cole, Michael J. Collins, David B. Hobbs, Gary Edward Holcomb, William J. Maxwell, Eric H. Newman, Laura Ryan, Jesse W. Schwartz, Agnieszka Tuszynska, Laura Winkiel

Lesbian Step Families: An Ethnography of Love explores five lesbian step families'definitions of the step parent role and how they accomplish parenting tasks, cope with homophobia, and define and interpret their experiences. An intensive feminist qualitative study, the book offers guidelines for counselors and lesbian step families for creating healthy, functioning family structures and environments. It is the first book to concentrate exclusively on lesbian step families rather than on lesbian mothering in general.In Lesbian Step Families: An Ethnography of Love, you'll explore in detail the different kinds of step relationships that are developed and what factors may lead to the different types of step mothering in lesbian step families. The book helps you understand these relationships and parent roles through in-depth discussions of: how a step mother and legal mother who live together negotiate and organize parenting and homemaking tasks how members of lesbian step families define and create the step mother role strategies family members use to define and cope with oppression how sexism is transmitted within the family and how mothering may limit and/or contribute to female liberation the opinions and viewpoints of the children of these families The findings in Lesbian Step Families: An Ethnography of Love challenge traditional views of mothering and fathering as gender and biologically based activities; they indicate that lesbian step families model gender flexibility and that the mothers and step mothers share parenting--both traditional mothering and fathering--tasks. This allows the biological mother some freedom from motherhood as well as support in it. With insight such as this, you will be prepared to help a client, a loved one, or yourself develop and maintain healthy family relationships.