This book examines the development of France's male and female
homosexual communities and its gay liberation movements after 1968.
The book focuses on the construction of social institutions,
treating gay activist organizations and their relation to post-1968
French feminism, gay ghettos in French cities, the gay press, the
impact of AIDS on political identity, and the renewed militancy of
the 1990s. While acknowledging the influence of America's gay
liberation movement on the French situation, the author emphasizes
the differences arising from the fact that homosexuality has not
historically been criminalized in France as it has been in the
United States.
The book is divided into four parts. Part I, "The Revolution of
Desire (1968-79)," which examines the activism of the early
post-1968 gay liberation movement, is preceded by a historical
summary that traces French cultural, political, and social
attitudes toward homosexuality. It also explores the relations
between the movements for gay and women's liberation in their
various incarnations. Part II, "The Time of Socialization
(1979-84)" describes the development of gay ghettos and the
dissemination of gay institutions (media, countercultural venues,
bars, baths, and the like). The pivotal year is 1981, which saw the
advent of Francois Mitterrand's government, with its pro-gay
policies, as well as the first tracking of AIDS in the United
States.
Part III, "End of the Carefree Life (1981-89)," deals with initial
reactions in France to the AIDS epidemic, reactions that included
the realization of its ubiquity, first with the death of Michel
Foucault in 1984, and then with the media spectacle of Rock
Hudson's death in 1985. The author describes the French
government's response to the epidemic, the role of French medical
researchers in searching for the causes of the infection, and the
development of Aides (meaning helpers), a social, medical, and
political-action group dedicated to raising public and personal
awareness of AIDS. Part IV, "The Time of Contradictions (1989-96),"
focuses on the changing social institutions of homosexuality in the
1990s: the development of ACT-UP, based on the American model, in
France; the campaign to promote safer sex; the integration of
seropositive individuals into the homosexual community; and the
acceptance of homosexuality almost as a given. The book concludes
with a thoughtful epilogue on the integration of minority
communities into French society.
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