The Columbia Reader on Lesbians and Gay Men in Media, Society, and Politics

Here at last is a comprehensive and highly approachable introduction to lesbian and gay studies for students and general readers. More than one hundred articles, essays, and primary documents cover the formation of gay identity, religious, scientific, medical, and legal perspectives, the mainstream media, lesbian and gay media, and community prospects and tactics. From Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's essay, "How to Bring Your Kids Up Gay," to Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger's "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons," to a 1947 Newsweek article, "Homosexuals in Uniform," The Columbia Reader explores experiences and representations of lesbian and gay people in an engaging and accessible format.

The Columbia Reader features:

• concise introductions to each section, as well as a substantial general introduction

• viewpoints—ranging from radical to conservative—of lesbian and gay scholars and community writers, as well as nongay intellectuals and public figures

• essays, articles, and primary documents from both mainstream and lesbian/gay sources

• detailed exploration of mainstream media representations of gays and lesbians in films, television, and print as well as the rise of lesbian/gay media outlets

• broad coverage of history and identity, social, cultural, legal, medical, and religious regulation, AIDS, and lesbian and gay political agendas and strategies

• current topics, such as the recent development of a cybercommunity, as well as questions of censorship and pornography, same-sex marriage, the ethics of "outing," gay and lesbian activism, and the conservative backlash

Grounded in key social and political topics rather than wholly theoretical approaches, The Columbia Reader on Lesbians and Gay Men in Media, Society, and Politics will be a valuable resource for years to come.

ISBN-13: 9780231104470

Media Type: Paperback(New Edition)

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Publication Date: 05-07-1999

Pages: 672

Product Dimensions: 7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

Age Range: 18 Years

Series: Between Men-Between Women: Lesbian and Gay Studies

Larry Gross is Sol Worth Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Contested Closets: The Politics and Ethics of Outing and editor of Image Ethics: The Moral Rights of Subjects in Photographs, Film and Television, and On the Margins of Art Worlds.James D. Woods was assistant professor of communications at the College of Staten Island, CUNY, and author of The Corporate Closet: The Professional Lives of Gay Men in America.

What People are Saying About This

Esther Newton

The most up-to-date, media-savvy conception of how to organize and teach an introductory course on lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender studies to undergraduates. I can't wait to use it.

— Esther Newton, author of Cherry Grove, Fire Island: Sixty Years in America's First Gay and Lesbian Town

. - Gregory Herek

A source book destined to be widely cited by activists and academics alike.... a lively and unique anthology of articles analyzing, illustrating, and challenging the sexual prejudice that pervades American society. Students of mass media and those simply trying to understand Ellen's coming out episode in historical context will find it tremendously useful.

Gregory Herek

A source book destined to be widely cited by activists and academics alike.... a lively and unique anthology of articles analyzing, illustrating, and challenging the sexual prejudice that pervades American society. Students of mass media and those simply trying to understand Ellen's coming out episode in historical context will find it tremendously useful.

— .
— Gregory Herek, editor of Stigma and Sexual Orientation and Out In Force: Sexual Orientation and the Military

Leroy Aarons

A lively, irreverent one-stop-shopping reader on lesbian and gay male sensibility. Its impact is cumulative and subtly subversive: these are protean journalists, authors and activists giving voice to the depth and variety of gay experience----a voice that will no longer tolerate being squelched.

— Leroy Aarons, founder, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association

Margaret Cruikshank

Casts a much wider net than previous anthologies. It is unique in its combination of historical documents and current work. A major contribution to lesbian and gay studies.

— Margaret Cruikshank,, author of The Gay and Lesbian Liberation Movement

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Table of Contents

Introduction: Being Gay in American Media and Society, by Larry Gross and James D. Woods
One Identity: The Modern Homosexual
A. Other Times Other Customs
1. A Matter of Difference, by Martin Duberman
2. "Intimate Friendships", by Erica E. Goode with Betsy Wagner
3. Categories, Experience, and Sexuality, by John Boswell
4. Capitalism and Gay Identity, by John D'Emilio
5. A Worm in the Bud: The Early Sexologists and Love Between Women, by Lillian Faderman
6. The Bowery as Haven and Spectacle, by George Chauncey
B. Who's a Queer? Identities in Question
7. Making Ourselves from Scratch, by Joseph Beam
8. Becoming Lesbian: Identity Work and the Performance of Sexuality, by Arlene Stein
9. Gay Men, Lesbians, and Sex: Doing It Together, by Pat Califia
10. Maiden Voyage: Excursion Into Sexuality and Identity Politics in Asian America, by Dana Y. Takagi
11. Strangers at Home: Bisexuals in the Queer Movement, by Carol A. Queen
12. Just Add Water: Searching for the Bisexual Politic, by Ara Wilson
13. To Be or Not to Be, by Leslie Feinberg
Two Institutions and Opinion Makers
A. Inventing Sin: Religion and the Church
14. The Abominable Sin: The Spanish Campaign Against "Sodomy " and Its Results in Modern Latin America, by Walter Williams
15. Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
16. Homophobic? Re-Read Your Bible, by Peter J. Gomes
17. Biblical Verse: Is It a Reason or an Excuse?, by Deb Price
18. The Homosexual Movement: A Response by the Ramsey Colloquium, by Ramsey Colloquium
19. In God's Image: Coming to Terms with Leviticus, by Rebecca Alpert
B. Making Us Sick: The Medical and Psychological Establishment
20. The Product Conversion—From Heresy to Illness, by Thomas Szasz
21. Homosexuals in Uniform, by Newsweek
22. I Was Raising a Homosexual Child, by Flora Rheta Schreiber
23. The Psychologist—Dr. Evelyn Hooker, by Eric Marcus
24. A Symposium: Should Homosexuality Be in the APA Nomenclature?, by Judd Marmor, Irving Bieber, Ronald Gold
25. If Freud Had Been a Neurotic Colored Woman: Reading Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, by Essex Hemphill
C. Causes and Cures: The Etiology Debate
26. Boys Will Be Girls: Sexology and Homosexuality, by Janice Irvine
27. How to Bring Your Kids Up Gay: The War on Effeminate Boys, by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
28. Studying the Biology of Sexual Orientation Has Political Fallout, by David J. Jefferson
29. Are Gay Men Born That Way?, by Kay Diaz
D. Creating Criminals: Government and the Legal System
30. Crime Story, by Sten Russell
31. Public Policy and Private Prejudice: Psychology and Law on Gay Rights, by Gary B. Melton
E. Denial and Erasure: Education and Culture
33. Who Hid Lesbian History?, by Lillian Faderman
34. Stolen Goods, by Michael Bronski
35. Remembering Lenny: Parting Notes on a Friend Who Never Quite Came Out, by Paul Moor
36. Willa Cather, by Sharon O'Brien
37. Closets in the Museum: Homophobia and Art History, by James Saslow
38. Imagine a Lesbian a Black Lesbian, by Jewelle Gomez
39. Too Queer for College: Notes on Homophobia, by Esther Newton
40. The Gay and Lesbian Publishing Boom, by William J. Mann
41. A Lesson in Tolerance, by David Ruenzel
42. Gay Teachers Make Their Lives Whole Again, by Deb Price
43. Pop Tune Can Comfort Teens Unsure of Their Sexuality, by Victoria Brownworth
Three Mainstream Media
A. Up From Invisibility: Film and Television
44. Stereotyping, by Richard Dyer
45. Lesbians and Film: Some Thoughts, by Caroline Sheldon
46. Where Is the Life That Late He Led? Hollywood's Construction of Sexuality in the Life of Cole Porter, by George F. Custen
47. Old Strategies for New Texts: How American Television Is Creating and Treating Lesbian Characters, by Marguerite J. Moritz
48. Culture Stays Screen-Shy of Showing the Gay Kiss, by Frank Bruni
49. Do Ask, Do Tell: Freak Talk on TV, by Joshua Gamson
50. More Than Friends, by David Ehrenstein
51. Anything But Idyllic: Lesbian Filmmaking in the 1980s and 1990s, by Liz Kotz
B. Fit to Print? Journalism
52. Perverts Called Government Peril, by New York Times
53. The Homosexual in America, by Time
54. A Rebuke for TIME's Pernicious Prejudice, by Kay Tobin
55. A Minority's Plea: U.S. Homosexuals Gain in Trying to Persuade Society to Accept Them, by Charles Alverson
56. Homo Nest Raided! Queen Bees Are Stinging Mad, by Jerry Lisker
57. The "Gay" People Demand Their Rights, by Lacey Fosburgh
58. The Lesbian Issue and Women's Lib, by Judy Klemesrud
59. Uptight on Gay News: Can the Straight Press Get the Gay Story Straight?, by Ransdell Pierson
60. Out at the New York Times, by Michaelangelo Signorile
C. Cries and Whispers: AIDS and the Media
61. Illness and Deviance: The Response of the Press to AIDS, by Edward Albert
62. The Second Wave, by James Kinsella
63. A Test of Who We Are As a People, by Vito Russo
64. More to the Shilts Story, by Jessea Greenman
65. Big Science: What Ever Happened to Safer Sex?, by Richard Goldstein
D. Naming Names: Outing
66. Contested Closets: The Politics and Ethics of Outing, by Larry Gross
67. How I Brought Out Malcom Forbes and the Media Flinched, by Michelangelo Signorile
68. Why Outing Must Stop, by C. Carr
69. The Inning of Outing, by Gabriel Rotello
Four Lesbian and Gay Media
A. In Our Own Voices: The Lesbian and Gay Press
70. "Gay Gal"—Lisa Ben, by Eric Marcus
71. "News Hound"—Jim Kepner, by Eric Marcus
72. The Advocate: Setting the Standard for the Gay Liberation Press, by Rodger Streitmatter
73. Representation, Liberation, and the Queer Press, by Polly Thistlewaite
74. Flaunting It! A Decade of Gay Journalism from The Body Politic, by Ed Jackson
75. I Want My Gay TV, by Larry Closs
B. The Good Parts: Pornography
76. Coming to Terms: Gay Pornography, by Richard Dyer
77. Gender, Fucking, and Utopia: An Essay in Response to John Stoltenberg's Refusing to Be a Man, by Scott Tucker
78. Free Speech or Hate Speech: Pornography and Its Means of Production, by Charles I. Nero
79. My History with Censorship, by Joan Nestle
80. My Mother Liked to Fuck, by Joan Nestle
81. Lesbian Pornography: Cultural Transgression and Sexual Demystification, by Lisa Henderson
82. Looking for My Penis: The Eroticized Asian in Gay Video Porn, by Richard Fung
C. Queers in Cyberspace
83. Notes on Queer 'N Asian Virtual Sex, by Daniel C. Tsang
84. We're Teen, We're Queer, and We've Got E-mail, by Steve Silberman
85. Logging On, Coming Out, by Jeff Walsh
Five Community Prospects and Tactics
A. Queer Positions and Perspectives
86. With Downcast Gays: Aspects of Homosexual Self-Oppression, by Andrew Hodges and David Hutter
87. The Woman-Identified Woman, by Radicalesbians
88. Lesbianism: An Act of Resistance, by Cheryl Clarke
89. I Paid Very Hard for My Immigrant Ignorance, by Mirtha Quintanales
90. Our Right to the World: Beyond the Right to Privacy, by Scott Tucker
91. Chasing the Crossover Audience and Other Self-Defeating Strategies, by Michael Denneny
92. Queers Read This: I Hate Straights, by Anonymous Queers
B. The New Right = The Old Wrongs?
93. The Boys on the Beach, by Midge Decter
94. Straight Talk About Gays, by E. L. Pattullo
95. In God's Country, by John Weir
C. A Place at Which Table?
96. Here Comes the Groom: A (Conservative) Case for Gay Marriage, by Andrew Sullivan
97. Why Gay People Should Seek the Right to Marry, by Thomas B. Stoddard
98. Since When Is Marriage a Path to Liberation?, by Paula L. Ettelbrick
99. Homocons, by Matthew Rees
100. The Naked Truth, by Candace Chellew
101. Out of Asia, by Jeff Yang
102. Backlash?, by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
103. Blacks and Gays: Healing the Great Divide, by Barbara Smith
D. Parting Glances
104. Why I'm Not a Revolutionary, by Sarah Schulman
105. In an Afternoon Light, by Essex Hemphill Show More