How To Be Gay
How To Be Gay by David M. Halperin, published by Harvard University Press on March 31, 2014, is a thought-provoking exploration of male homosexuality as a cultural practice rather than merely a sexual identity. This reprint edition spans 560 pages and delves into the complexities of gay male culture, challenging conventional perceptions and stereotypes. Halperin argues that understanding gayness involves recognizing the unique subjectivity and social relations that define it, rather than reducing it to simplistic notions.
Readers will find a critical examination of how gay men learn from one another to shape their identities, emphasizing the importance of cultural expression over sexual orientation. Halperin’s insights into the aesthetic and social dimensions of gay culture reveal its richness and depth, offering perspectives that resonate beyond the LGBTQ+ community. This book engages with themes of gender studies and literary criticism, making it a significant contribution to the discourse surrounding LGBTQ+ studies and the semiotics of identity.
Official synopsis Publisher
“Provocatively argues that when it comes to defining what it means to be a homosexual man, sex is overrated…Culture matters more…[How To Be Gay] is never a bore.” —Dwight Garner, New York Times
No one raises an eyebrow if you suggest that a guy who arranges his furniture just so, rolls his eyes in exaggerated disbelief, likes techno music or show tunes, and knows all of Bette Davis’s best lines by heart might, just possibly, be gay. But if you assert that male homosexuality is a cultural practice, expressive of a unique subjectivity and a distinctive relation to mainstream society, people will immediately protest. Such an idea, they will say, is just a stereotype-ridiculously simplistic, politically irresponsible, and morally suspect. The world acknowledges gay male culture as a fact but denies it as a truth.
David Halperin, a pioneer of LGBTQ studies, dares to suggest that gayness is a specific way of being that gay men must learn from one another in order to become who they are. Inspired by the notorious undergraduate course of the same title that Halperin taught at the University of Michigan, provoking cries of outrage from both the right-wing media and the gay press, How To Be Gay traces gay men’s cultural difference to the social meaning of style.
Far from being deterred by stereotypes, Halperin concludes that the genius of gay culture resides in some of its most despised features: its aestheticism, snobbery, melodrama, adoration of glamour, caricatures of women, and obsession with mothers. The insights, impertinence, and unfazed critical intelligence displayed by gay culture, Halperin argues, have much to offer the heterosexual mainstream.
Author
Publisher
Topics
FAQ
What is “How To Be Gay” about?
Who is the author of “How To Be Gay”?
When was “How To Be Gay” published?
What is the ISBN for “How To Be Gay”?
What are the book details (language, pages, edition)?
