It's here and it's queer -- popular culture inhabits all our lives, whether it comes in the form of movies or magazines, TV or shopping. "A Queer Romance" brings together critics, writers and artists to debate the possibilities of popular culture for lesbians and gay men.
In this profusely illustrated and challenging collection, the contributors variously revisit debates about the gaze to provide a new theory of Queer viewing; discuss texts coded as queer -- from lesbian vampires to Hollywood's use of gay codes in mainstream films such as "Top Gun" and "Black Widow;" consider the sexual and cultural narratives at play in the world of home shopping catalogs in Gregg Woods' essay "We're Here, We're Queer, and We're Not Going Catalog Shopping"; explore the pleasures and perils of gay cultural production, from the radically queer film-maiking of Monika Treut to the wild world of homocore fanzines, and address the possibilities of texts claiming to be "for" the gay spectator -- from pornography "by women, for women and about women" to "Out" TV.
Contributors: Paul Burston, Steven Drukman, Carloine Evans, Lorraie Gamman, Tanya Krzywinska, Bruce LaBruce, Colin Richardson, Anne Marie Smith, Cherry Smyth, Monika Treut, Gregg Woods

It's here and it's queer -- popular culture inhabits all our lives, whether it comes in the form of movies or magazines, TV or shopping. "A Queer Romance" brings together critics, writers and artists to debate the possibilities of popular culture for lesbians and gay men.
In this profusely illustrated and challenging collection, the contributors variously revisit debates about the gaze to provide a new theory of Queer viewing; discuss texts coded as queer -- from lesbian vampires to Hollywood's use of gay codes in mainstream films such as "Top Gun" and "Black Widow;" consider the sexual and cultural narratives at play in the world of home shopping catalogs in Gregg Woods' essay "We're Here, We're Queer, and We're Not Going Catalog Shopping"; explore the pleasures and perils of gay cultural production, from the radically queer film-maiking of Monika Treut to the wild world of homocore fanzines, and address the possibilities of texts claiming to be "for" the gay spectator -- from pornography "by women, for women and about women" to "Out" TV.
Contributors: Paul Burston, Steven Drukman, Carloine Evans, Lorraie Gamman, Tanya Krzywinska, Bruce LaBruce, Colin Richardson, Anne Marie Smith, Cherry Smyth, Monika Treut, Gregg Woods

Gay Ethics is an anthology that addresses ethical questions involving key moral issues of today--sexual morality, outing, gay and lesbian marriages, military service, anti-discrimination laws, affirmative action policies, the moral significance of sexual orientation research, and the legacy of homophobia in health care. It focuses on these issues within the social context of the lives of gay men and lesbians and makes evident the ways in which ethics can and should be reclaimed to pursue the moral good for gay men and lesbians. Gay Ethics is a timely book that illustrates the inadequacies of various moral arguments used in regard to homosexuality. This book reaches a new awareness for the standing and treatment of gay men and lesbians in society by moving beyond conventional philosophical analyses that focus exclusively on the morality of specific kinds of sexual acts, the nature of perversion, or the cogency of scientific accounts of the origins of homoeroticism. It raises pertinent questions about the meaning of sexuality for private and public life, civics, and science.Some of the issues covered: Sexual Morality Outing Same-Sex Marriage Military Service Anti-Discrimination Laws Affirmative Action Policy The Scientific Study of Sexual Orientation Bias in Psychoanalysis Homophobia in Health Care Gay Ethics presents a wide range of perspectives but remains united in the common purpose of illuminating moral arguments and social policies as they involve homosexuality. The chapters challenge social oppression in the military, civil rights, and the social conventions observed among gay men and lesbians themselves. This book is applicable to a broad range of academics working in gay and lesbian studies and because of its current content, is of interest to an educated lay public. It will be a standard reference point for future discussion of the matters it addresses.

Starting from the historical link between criminality and sexual deviancy, this text builds a complex theory in which the shadow of the lesbian animates representations of violent women in literature, plays, films and performance. Chapters detail this theory in diverse areas, including: Frank Wedekind's "Lulu Plays"; "Thelma and Louise" and "Basic Instinct"; the performance art of Karen Finley in the context of censorship debates; "The Split Britches" performance, "Lesbians Who Kill", and "Fatal Women".

This challenging new study examines gender and sexuality in relation to the 'roving colonialism' of sport mega-events. Built around four case studies in postcolonial and settler colonial contexts-the Olympics in Vancouver, London and Sochi and soccer fans in the Egyptian revolution-the book examines sporting 'homonationalism' and anti-colonial resistance. The first part discusses different moments of 'homonationalism' in sport. The second part explores how indigenous and anti-colonial protests against mega-sport events lead to different views about gender and sexuality politics in sport. It offers a critical counter-narrative to the view that gay and lesbian inclusion in global sporting events is simply a matter of universal human rights. The book calls for LGBT social movements in sport to move away from complicity with neoliberalism, nationalism and colonial-racial logics, particularly Islamophobia, toward a decolonial politics of solidarity. Theoretically sophisticated and empirically grounded, this book draws together important threads in the contemporary study of sport to illuminate the relationship between sport and wider society. It will be fascinating reading for any student or researcher interested in the sociology of sport, Olympic studies, gender and sexuality studies, postcolonial studies, indigenous studies, settler colonial studies or the politics of race and inclusion.

The youngest ever winner of the Griffin Prize mines his personal history in a brilliant new essay collection seeking to reconcile the world he was born into with the world that could be.

For readers of Ocean Vuong and Maggie Nelson and fans of Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot, A History of My Brief Body is a brave, raw, and fiercely intelligent collection of essays and vignettes on grief, colonial violence, joy, love, and queerness.

Billy-Ray Belcourt’s debut memoir opens with a tender letter to his kokum and memories of his early life in the hamlet of Joussard, Alberta, and on the Driftpile First Nation. Piece by piece, Billy-Ray’s writings invite us to unpack and explore the big and broken world he inhabits every day, in all its complexity and contradiction: a legacy of colonial violence and the joy that flourishes in spite of it; first loves and first loves lost; sexual exploration and intimacy; the act of writing as a survival instinct and a way to grieve. What emerges is not only a profound meditation on memory, gender, anger, shame, and ecstasy, but also the outline of a way forward. With startling honesty, and in a voice distinctly and assuredly his own, Belcourt situates his life experiences within a constellation of seminal queer texts, among which this book is sure to earn its place.

Eye-opening, intensely emotional, and excessively quotable, A History of My Brief Body demonstrates over and over again the power of words to both devastate and console us.

"Reclaiming Sodom" surveys how the view of homosexual activities as socially dangerous has been perpetuated by the state, the church, the law and other institutions. The collection covers a wide range, from biblical scholarship, to the legal mobilization towards the catagory of sodomy in 18th- and 19th-century England, to an analysis of the ways in which the Judeo-Christian tradition has shaped anthropological accounts of same-sex practices of non-western people. This text explores alternatives to the force of the Sodomitic biblical narrative in Islamic, western and non-western traditions, and discusses ways in which sodomy calls into question definitions of gender and sexuality. The collection examines the relations between sex/gender identities and sexual acts, and argues for the political usefulness of both Sodom and sodomy. It makes a contribution to literature on sexuality and gender, as well as the nature of sex in our culture.

Acclaimed author Michael G. Long tells the story of the devastating AIDS crisis and the trailblazing activists who fought for dignity, compassion, and treatment.

Act up! Fight back! Fight AIDS!

This was the slogan for ACT UP―or AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power―an activist organization that emerged in the 1980s during the height of the AIDS epidemic. The group was loud, direct, and confrontational as it fought for access to treatment, compassionate care, and recognition for everyone with HIV and AIDS.

Tracing the history of the LGBTQ+ community from the Stonewall Riots and “gay liberation” movements to the groundbreaking protests of the 1980s and 1990s, Fight AIDS! is a gripping narrative of the AIDS epidemic for young readers, told through the lens of the activism it fostered. Focusing on the people most directly affected by the crisis and on the individuals who fought for justice, it is an intimate and humane account of one of the most devastating eras in United States history and an electrifying celebration of the power ordinary citizens have to enact meaningful change.

50 throughout

Homographesis brings provocative, rigorous and controversial readings of literary and cultural texts to gay critical analysis. Lee Edelman uses post-structuralist discourse and Lacanian psychoanalysis to revise and rearticulate the politics of sexuality.
Homographesis addresses some of the most deeply felt and hotly debated issues of our time: sexual identity; homophobia and its relations to racism; men and their relation to feminism; 'AIDS' and its representations; and the place of theory in literary study. This exciting book marks an important moment in contemporary theory.

"Erotics and Politics" examines the intersection of the study of sexuality (particularly gay male studies) and gender (spceifically those concerned with feminist issues). In doing so, it covers a wide range of subjects important to gay and feminist movements of the past 25 years. These issues include gay liberational sexuality, sado-masochism, pornography, promiscuity, personal relationships, AIDS and postmodernity. The central focus of attention throughout is the nature and development of gay male sexuality and masculinity. This book is unique in its coverage of a wide range of topics and its analytical connection of these topics which are usually examined in isolation. Drawing upon both academic material as well as personal accounts, "Erotics and Politics" discusses such issues as how feminism and gay male sexuality enjoy a simultaneously collaborative and antagonistic relationship; how society has conflated issues of gay liberation, child abuse and sadomasochism.

This book attempts to provide an interface between the study of sexuality (particularly gay male studies) and gender (primarily feminism). In doing so it covers a wide range of issues of concern to gay and feminist movements over the past twenty five years including gay liberational sexuality, sado-masochism, pornography, promiscuity, personal relationships, AIDS and postmodernity. The central focus of attention throughout is the nature, development and consequence of gay male sexuality and masculinity. The text is unique in its coverage of a wide range of issues and connecting subjects which are typically examined separately.

'A hymn to life, love, family, and spirit' DAVID MITCHELL, author of Cloud Atlas The vividly told, gloriously illustrated memoir of an artist born with disabilities who searches for freedom and connection in a society afraid of strange bodies. ***WINNER OF THE BARBELLION PRIZE*** ***SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD*** In 1958, amongst the children born with spina bifida is Riva Lehrer. At the time, most such children are not expected to survive. Her parents and doctors are determined to 'fix' her, sending the message over and over again that she is broken. That she will never have a job, a romantic relationship, or an independent life. Enduring countless medical interventions, Riva tries her best to be a good girl and a good patient in the quest to be cured. Everything changes when, as an adult, Riva is invited to join a group of artists, writers, and performers who are building Disability Culture. Their work is daring, edgy, funny, and dark-it rejects tropes that define disabled people as pathetic, frightening, or worthless. They insist that disability is an opportunity for creativity and resistance. Emboldened, Riva asks if she can paint their portraits-inventing an intimate and collaborative process that will transform the way she sees herself, others, and the world. Each portrait story begins to transform the myths she's been told her whole life about her body, her sexuality, and other measures of normal. Written with the vivid, cinematic prose of a visual artist, and the love and playfulness that defines all of Riva's work, Golem Girl is an extraordinary story of tenacity and creativity. With the author's magnificent portraits featured throughout, this memoir invites us to stretch ourselves toward a world where bodies flow between all possible forms of what it is to be human. 'Riva Lehrer is a great artist and a great storyteller. This is a brilliant book, full of strangeness, beauty, and wonder' AUDREY NIFFENEGGER 'This astonishing, heart soaring and often shocking memoir of a Jewish woman with spina Bifida born in the 50's is bright and dark, terrifying and wonderful. An ode to art and the beauty of disability' CERRIE BURNELL

"Queer Looks" is a collection of writing by video artists, filmmakers, and critics which explores the recent explosion of lesbian and gay independent media culture. A compelling compilation of artists' statements and critical theory, producer interviews and image-text works, this anthology demonstrates the vitality of queer artists under attack and fighting back. Each maker and writer deploys a surprising array of techniques and tactics, negotiating the difficult terrain between street pragmatism and theoretical inquiry, finding voices rich in "chutzpah" and subtlety. From guerilla Super-8 in Manila to AIDS video activism in New York, "Queer Looks" zooms in on this very queer place in media culture, revealing a wealth of strategies, a plurality of aesthetics, and an artillary of resistances.

The agenda and significance of women in antiquity has gained considerable attention in recent years. In this book diverse roles for and attitudes to women in ancient societies are explored: women as witches, as courtesans, as mothers, as priestesses, as nuns, as heiresses and typically as deranged. The shifting focus is variously economic, social, biological, religious and artistic. The studies cover a wide geographic and chronological range, from the ancient Hittite kingdom to the Byzantine Empires. This book has been brought thoroughly up to date with the addition of a new introduction and addenda to individual chapters.

The debate on whether or not people are born homosexual (biological essentialist theory) or become homosexual during the course of their lives (social constructionist theory) continues as each side claims to prove the truth through research and clinical findings. This breakthrough book shows the fissures in concepts of the gay and lesbian identity and the one-sidedness of both biological essentialist and social constructionist versions of both sexual and gender identity. The editors present an alternative view--sexual and gender expression is a product of complementary biological, personal, and cultural influences in If You Seduce a Straight Person, Can You Make Them Gay?Through theoretical analysis, ethnographic and empirical data, and case studies, the editors show how the one-sidedness of both biological essentialist and social constructionist versions of sexual and gender identity make it difficult, if not impossible, to conceptually determine the origin of an individual s sexual expression. This thought-provoking book covers many topics that are sure to cause readers to re-evaluate their thinking about the origins of gay and lesbian identity. Among the topics examined with this fresh perspective are: Childhood Cross-Gender Behavior and Adult Homosexuality Gay and Lesbian Teachers and Coming Out Homosexuality, Marriage, Fidelity, and the Gay Community: Case of Gay Husbands Can Seduction Make Straight Men Gay? Gay and Lesbian Identities in Non-industrialized Societies--Surinam (Dutch New Guinea), Turkey, Nicaragua, and Argentina Political-Economic Construction of Gay Male IdentitiesReaders will clearly see that the controversy over the being born gay or becoming gay debate is far from resolved. From the beginning, the book explores how human beings are less constrained by biology than many would like to believe. Social circumstances and economics cause some determination of identity, but not exclusively. Theoretical introductions to each chapter attempt to synthesize elements on both sides of this most contemporary debate.

After an introduction which offers historical perspective, articles address corporate career issues; fields where being gay is charged with especial stress (the military, the church, the helping professions, education, sports); and AIDS in the workplace. A final section considers social-psychologic

The debate on whether or not people are born homosexual (biological essentialist theory) or become homosexual during the course of their lives (social constructionist theory) continues as each side claims to prove the truth through research and clinical findings. This breakthrough book shows the fissures in concepts of the gay and lesbian identity and the one-sidedness of both biological essentialist and social constructionist versions of both sexual and gender identity. The editors present an alternative view--sexual and gender expression is a product of complementary biological, personal, and cultural influences in If You Seduce a Straight Person, Can You Make Them Gay?Through theoretical analysis, ethnographic and empirical data, and case studies, the editors show how the one-sidedness of both biological essentialist and social constructionist versions of sexual and gender identity make it difficult, if not impossible, to conceptually determine the origin of an individual s sexual expression. This thought-provoking book covers many topics that are sure to cause readers to re-evaluate their thinking about the origins of gay and lesbian identity. Among the topics examined with this fresh perspective are: Childhood Cross-Gender Behavior and Adult Homosexuality Gay and Lesbian Teachers and Coming Out Homosexuality, Marriage, Fidelity, and the Gay Community: Case of Gay Husbands Can Seduction Make Straight Men Gay? Gay and Lesbian Identities in Non-industrialized Societies--Surinam (Dutch New Guinea), Turkey, Nicaragua, and Argentina Political-Economic Construction of Gay Male IdentitiesReaders will clearly see that the controversy over the being born gay or becoming gay debate is far from resolved. From the beginning, the book explores how human beings are less constrained by biology than many would like to believe. Social circumstances and economics cause some determination of identity, but not exclusively. Theoretical introductions to each chapter attempt to synthesize elements on both sides of this most contemporary debate."

If you lifted this book from the shelf, you're probably interested in learning more about gender. You could be in the earliest stages of questioning, newly out, well into your transition, or an ally hoping to receive some extra tips and tricks. No matter your starting point, you're in the right place. Moving beyond pronouns, the basics of social and physical transition and how to be a good ally, this definitive guide explores the ins and outs of gender - from affirming language, how to explore and question gender, coming out to parents, finding gender euphoria, supporting loved ones and yourself, and advice on what not to say - to help you understand the nuances of gender and the lived realities of trans people. With self-reflective exercises, personal anecdotes and example scenarios, this book will teach you the secrets to becoming the best gender ally you can be. Written by a young black queer trans adult, this empowering and contemporary guide is your 'gender friend' who is ready to actively listen, advise you as needed, and provide you with support as you grow as an ally, or approach the next steps in your own unique gender journey. Welcome to the gender book you've been waiting for.

Homosexuality is not what it used to be. When the modern lesbian and gay movements erupted on the world-wide cultural and political stage during the early 1970s few could have seen the enormous ramifications. For although homosexuality still has its critics and its enemies, the modern lesbian and gay community has proliferated into distinctive ways of living together, of relating sexually, of responding to AIDS, of establishing identities and communities, of being political. "Modern Homosexualities" documents some of this rich and developing experience. It presents "fragments" of an experience that has become remarkably diverse. In 19 original essays from activists and social scientists in eight countries, this diversity is charted. It is a collection which draws together essays on a wide range of experience. A major section examines the development and recognition of new patterns of "families of choice" such as the Danish experiment on "Registered Partnerships", the Australian immigration definition of lesbian and gay couples, the debate over lesbian motherhood, and the issue of "mixed marriages" where one partner is gay.

This book of nineteen original essays by activists and academics documents and analyses the dramatic changes in lesbian and gay experience over the last twenty years. It charts the growth of lesbian and gay studies, and examines key issues around communitites, identities, relationships, sexualities and politics. These essays, edited by a leading author in the field, herald a new confidence and maturity for the growing field of lesbian and gay studies.

This collection considers how religious identity interplays with other forms and contexts of identity, specifically those related to sexual identity. It asks how these intersections are formed, negotiated and resisted across time and places, including the UK, Europe, North America, Australia, and the Global South. Questions around 'queer' engagements in same-sex marriages, civil partnerships and other practices (e.g. adoption) have created a number of provoking stances and policy provisions - but what remains unanswered is how people experience and situate themselves within sometimes competing, or 'contradictory', moments as 'religious queers' who may be tasked with 'queering religion'. Additionally, the presumed paradoxes of 'marriage', queer sexuality, religion and youth combine to generate a noteworthy generational absence. This leads to questions about where 'religious queers' reside, resist and relate experiences of intersecting religious and sexual lives. In looking at interconnectedness, this collection offers international contributions which bridge the 'contradictions' in queering religion and in making visible 'religious queers.' It provides insight into older and younger people's understandings of religiosity, queer cultures, and religious groups. A small but active religious minority in the US has received much attention for its anti-gay political activity; much less attention has been paid to the more positive, supportive role that religious-based groups play in e.g. providing housing, education and political advocacy for queer youth. Queer methodologies and intersectional approaches offer a lens both theoretically and methodologically to uncover the salience of related social divisions and identities. This collection is both innovative and sensitive to 'blended' identities and their various enactments.

Feminists have long challenged the ways in which men tend to sexualize women. But pioneering activist, biologist, and trans woman Julia Serano argues that sexualization is a far more pervasive problem, as it's something that we all do to other people, often without being aware of it. Why do we perceive men as sexual predators and women as sexual objects? Why are LGBTQ+ people stereotyped as being sexually indiscriminate and deceptive? Why are people of color still being hypersexualized? These stereotypes push minorities farther into the margins, and even the privileged are policed from transgressing, lest they also become targets. Many view sexualization as a mere component of sexism, racism, or queerphobia, but Serano argues that liberation from sexual violence comes through collectively confronting sexualization itself.

The Cultural Politics of Queer Theory in Education Research represents the editors' intention to disrupt cycles of thinking about the place of queer theory in educational research. The book aims to encourage dialogue about the objects and subjects of queer research, the forms of politics incited by the use of queer theory in education, and the methodological approaches used by scholars when queer(y)ing. The contributions to this book come from those who find queer theory problematic, as well as from those who continue to see a productive place for queer research in education, however that may be defined. The editors have collected contributions that attend to the boundaries that are placed around queer research in education by researchers themselves, and by peers, ethics committees, funding bodies and university and government bureaucracies. Considering how key researchers in gender and education identify with, or deliberately distance themselves from, queer theory, this collection grapples with the contemporary cultural politics of doing queer theoretical work in different education spaces and places. In short, it seeks to disrupt what people think they already know about the 'place' of queer theory in education. This book was originally published as a special issue of Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education.

The social constructionist controversy is perhaps the central issue in lesbian and gay studies. Social constructionism is the view that the categories of sexual orientation (the category homosexual in particular, but also the categories heterosexual and bisexual) are cultural constructs rather than universal categories of nature. According to this view, it makes no sense to say, for example, that Socrates was a homosexual because the cultural kind had not yet been constructed. Forms of Desire brings together essays by social constructionists and their critics, representing several disciplines and several different approaches, to this debate about the history and science of sexuality. Contributors are: John Boswell, Arnold Davidson, Wayne R. Dynes, Steven Epstein, Michel Foucault, Ian Hacking, Mary McIntosh, Robert Padgug, Edward Stein, Leonore Tiefer, and James Weinrich.