All the Rage: The Story of Gay Visibility in America / Edition 1

by Suzanna Danuta Walters

Overview

Splashed against the tumultuous Clinton years and framed by the clash between gay political might and anti-gay activism, All the Rage presents the first authoritative guide to the new gay visibility. From the public outing of Ellen DeGeneres to the vicious murder of Matthew Shepard, gay lives and images have moved onto the center stage of American public life. Lesbians and gay men are indeed everywhere, from television sitcoms to Budweiser ads, from the White House to the Magic Kingdom. Combining personal stories with incisive analysis, Suzanna Danuta Walters chronicles this historic moment in our culture, arguing that we live in a time when gays are seen, but not necessarily known.

Many consider the new gay visibility a sign of social acceptance, while others charge that it is mere window dressing, obscuring the dogged persistence of discrimination. Walters moves beyond these positions and instead argues that these realities coexist: gays are simultaneously depicted as the sign of social decay and the chic flavor of the month. Taking on the common wisdom that visibility means progress, All the Rage maps the terrain on which gays are accepted as witty accessories in movies, gain access to political power, and yet still fall into constrictive stereotypes. Walters warns us with clarity and wit of the pitfalls of equating visibility with full integration into the fabric of American society. From the playful TV fantasies of lesbian weddings on Friends to the very real obstacles confronting gay marriage, from the award-winning comedy Will & Grace to Bible-thumping radio superhost Dr. Laura, All the Rage takes on naive celebrants and jaded naysayers alike. With a sophisticated mix of caution and optimism, it provides an illuminating guide through these exciting, controversial times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226872315
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	10/01/2001
Edition description:	1
Pages:	356
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Suzanna Danuta Walters is an associate professor of sociology and director of the Women's Studies Program at Georgetown University. She is the author of Material Girls: Making Sense of Feminist Cultural Theory and Lives Together/Worlds Apart: Mothers and Daughters in Popular Culture.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Prologue
Part One: It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times
1. The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name: The Explosion of Gay Visibility
2. Pride and Prejudice: The Changing Context of Gay Visibility
Part Two: A Kiss Is Just a Kiss
3. Ready for Prime Time? TV Comes Out of the Closet
4. Dossier on Ellen
5. All Gay, All the Time?
Part Three: Coming Soon To a Theater Near You
6. Hiding, Dying, and Dressing-Up
7. Out Is In: Liberal Narratives for the Nineties
Part Four: In the Family Way
8. Wedding Bell Blues: Imagining Marriage
9. Mom, I've Got Something to Tell You: The Coming-Out Story in the Age of Visibility
10. It Takes a Lesbian Village to Raise a Child: Parenting Possibilities
Part Five: Money Makes the World Go Round
11. Consuming Queers: Advertising and the Gay Market
12. If It's Pink We'll Sell It: Gay Entrepreneurship
Conclusion: Beyond Visibility (Welcome to Our Rainbow World)
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"After introducing readers to the main threats to birds and regions at high risk, Bird Watch presents a visually stunning and scientifically accurate flight over the major bird habitats."—Guardian

Guardian

"Walters has written a provocative book about the implications of the new gay visibility. . . . A smart, sharply argued book."—San Jose Mercury News

San Jose Mercury News - Charles Matthews

"So now we have our visibility. Time to take our self-esteem and shut up? In All the Rage, Suzanna Walters sets out to weigh this question in a balanced and systematic way."—Voice Literary Supplement

Voice Literary Supplement - Michael Warner

"Walters is attentive to confusing contradictions and to the possibilities for progressive change they present. . . . It's hard to argue with her insistence that a critical consciousness of both the pitfalls and possibilities presented by today's increased visibility is essential to advancing the gay agenda in the new millennium."—Nation

The Nation - George de Stefano

"Walters' argument rarely falters and her assessment of how we utilize popular culture as a sop to escape granting full citizenship is succinctly stated. . . . Sharp and savvy, Walters has a keen sense of pop culture and the mores it represents."—Baltimore Sun

Baltimore Sun - Victoria A. Brownworth

So now we have our visibility. Time to take our self-esteem and shut up? In All the Rage, Suzanna Walters sets out to weigh this question in a balanced and systematic way.—Voice Literary Supplement

— Michael Warner

Voice Literary Supplement

Walters is attentive to confusing contradictions and to the possibilities for progressive change they present. . . . It's hard to argue with her insistence that a critical consciousness of both the pitfalls and possibilities presented by today's increased visibility is essential to advancing the gay agenda in the new millennium.—Nation

— George de Stefano

The Nation

Walters' argument rarely falters and her assessment of how we utilize popular culture as a sop to escape granting full citizenship is succinctly stated. . . . Sharp and savvy, Walters has a keen sense of pop culture and the mores it represents.—Baltimore Sun

— Victoria A. Brownworth

Baltimore Sun

Walters has written a provocative book about the implications of the new gay visibility. . . . A smart, sharply argued book.—San Jose Mercury News

— Charles Matthews

San Jose Mercury News

The love that once dared not speak its name now dances at Disneyland's annual gay day and sells Bud Lite. Heck, even Bart Simpson questions his sexuality, while nobody questions South Park's Big Gay Al's, and there is no ambiguity about Saturday Night Live's Ambiguously Gay Duo. This comprehensive survey of gay and lesbian visibility in popular culture offers a whirlwind of facts, figures and documentation of gay representations. Acknowledging television's past e.g., Mike Wallace's 1967 CBS report reconfirming many homophobic stereotypes Walters concentrates on post-AIDS entertainment in which gay characters and themes appear everywhere from HBO's Oz to The Drew Carey Show to that bastion of backlash, Ally McBeal. A double edge runs through Walters's countless examples: does this visibility indicate acceptance, or does "gay chic" just characterize a profitable niche market? Moreover, are these trends destructive? An associate professor of sociology and director of women's studies at Georgetown, Walters (Material) quotes activist and writer Sarah Schulman as criticizing "the creation of a false public homosexuality that is palatable and containable and... not authentic." Walters's analyses are often astute the Roseanne gay marriage show was more about Dan and Roseanne confronting their own homophobia than about homosexuality but occasionally reductive, like her assertion that the film Boys in the Band is "filled with... self hatred" mightn't it be commenting on self-hatred? Citing academics Kath Weston, Josh Gamson and responding to mainstream critics, Walters's initial distrust of this visibility gives way to grudging appreciation in a clear, up-to-date map of the basic debate overhomosexuality in the media. (Oct.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Should gays and lesbians exult in the recent spate of media depictions of their lives or shudder at the homogenized sterilization of their diversity? Against the backdrop of the 1980s and '90s, Walters (Sociology & Women's Studies/Georgetown Univ.; Lives Together/Worlds Apart, 1992) analyzes the promise and the threat of queer portrayals in contemporary media: although the number of these programs and personalities has skyrocketed, the resulting depictions of gay and lesbian life often emerge as disturbingly skewed. In a nutshell, her thesis contends that increased gay representations in the media may entail that America sees the gay and lesbian community more frequently than ever; however, due to the stereotypical visions of queer life-such as psycho dykes, ditzy fashion homos, and lesbian chic-this visibility does not correspond with an increased knowledge about homosexuality. With a sweeping range, Walters probes the cultural repercussions of such characters as Dynasty's tortured bisexual Steven Carrington and the all-too-chaste Matt of Melrose Place, as well as examining specific episodes of programs including Roseanne (when Mariel Hemingway kissed the eponymous heroine) and the coming-out episode of Ellen. Films also come under scrutiny, as Walters considers the differences between queer portrayals in mainstream Hollywood and those in independent films. And there are chapters on gay marriages, coming-out stories, and queer parenting-and an analysis of advertising images of gay and lesbian life, in which Walters dissects the commercialization of the queer community (pointing to a predictable display of gleaming teeth and toned bodies). A frenetic packing of materials that leavesin-depth analysis mostly sacrificed for a panoramic view-but the resulting picture nevertheless emerges as detailed and refined.

Kirkus Reviews