Finding Out: An Introduction to LGBT Studies / Edition 2

by Jonathan F. Alexander, Deborah T. Meem, Michelle A. Gibson

Overview

Finding Out introduces readers to lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender (LGBT) studies. Unlike most books on LGBT, this textbook combines original material with esteemed journal articles. Chapter introductions, written by the authors, place current research findings in a clear context. Finding Out reviews the history of same-sex relationships and gender variance from ancient Greece to the present yet goes beyond a historical account to provide an in-depth examination of LGBT culture and society.

Key Features ·

• Includes chapter introductions that gives students a useful context for each research article
• Connects chapter topics to one another with Lambda Links, which help facilitate analysis and discussion
• Directs readers to relevant studies and information with “Find Out More” boxes in each chapter

“I am most impressed by this book’s blend of comprehensive scope with approachable, intelligent presentation. It provides material valuable for both students new to the field and those taking more advanced courses without excluding either group on the basis of approach or diction. … I just love this book!” –Sarah-Hope Parmeter University of California, Santa Cruz “

This text will give me a way to teach LGBT issues as central – that is, NOT as tangents, as add-ons, as side issues, but as a central area of inquiry. … This text is by far the best thing I have seen, and it is heads and shoulders above any other possibilities...” – Mary Armstrong, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Intended Audience
This core text is designed for Introduction to Sexuality Studies as well as other undergraduate courses that include LGBT topics. Anyone interested in the history, culture, and society of LGBT will find this book an informative resource.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412938655
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	01/28/2009
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	462
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Deborah T. Meem is professor and head of the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati. Her academic specialties are Victorian literature, lesbian studies, and the nineteenth-century woman’s novel. She earned a Ph D from Stony Brook University in 1985. Her work has appeared in Journal of the History of Sexuality, Feminist Teacher, Studies in Popular Culture, and elsewhere. She has edited three works by Victorian novelist and journalist Eliza Lynn Linton: The Rebel of the Family (Broadview, 2002), Realities (Valancourt, 2010), and The Autobiography of Christopher Kirkland (Victorian Secrets, 2011). With Michelle Gibson, she has coedited Femme/Butch: New Considerations of the Way We Want to Go (2002) and Lesbian Academic Couples (2005), both published by Haworth Press. With Jonathan Alexander, she wrote “Dorian Gray, Tom Ripley, and the Queer Closet” (CLCWeb 2003).

Michelle Gibson is Professor Emerita of the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati. Her scholarship focuses on sexuality studies and pedagogy. Her most recent writing applies queer and postmodern identity theories to pedagogical practice and popular culture. In retirement, she writes and publishes poetry and maintains a blog called Prof Spazz at profspazz.com. With Jonathan Alexander, she edited QP: Queer Poetry, an online poetry journal, and she and Alexander also edited a strain of JAC (Journal of Advanced Composition) titled “Queer Composition(s).” With Deborah Meem, she coedited Femme/Butch: New Considerations of the Way We Want to Go (2002) and Lesbian Academic Couples (2005).

Jonathan Alexander is professor of English and Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of California, Irvine. He is a three-time recipient of the Ellen Nold Award for Best Articles in the field of computers and composition studies, and in 2011 was awarded the Charles Moran Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Field of Computers and Writing. His books include Literacy, Sexuality, Pedagogy: Theory and Practice for Composition Studies (2008) and Digital Youth: Emerging Literacies on the World Wide Web (2005); the coedited collections Bisexuality and Queer Theory: Intersections, Connections and Challenges (2011), Bisexuality and Transgenderism: Inter SEXions of the Others (2004), and Role Play: Distance Learning and the Teaching of Writing (2006); and the coauthored books Argument Now: A Brief Rhetoric (2005) and Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Composition (2014).

Table of Contents

SECTION I: HISTORY
1. Before Identity: The Ancient World through the Nineteenth Century
Greek Paiderastia
Pederasty in Other Early Cultures: The Middle East and Far East
Gender Variance in Pre-Columbian America and India
Same-Sex Relationships and Desires in Judeo-Christian Cultures
Desires for Identity
Romantic Friendships and Boston Marriages
Molly-Houses: Early Homoerotic Subculture in England
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
2. Sexology: Constructing the Modern Homosexual
Victorian Sex: Some Background
Sexology: Defining a Field of Study
A Sexologist In-Depth: Havelock Elliss
Paving the Way for Freud
Sexology and Early Sexual Rights Movements
Sexology’s Legacy
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
3. Toward Liberation
Medical Models of Homosexuality
Urban Life and Sexual Expression
World War II and Homosexuality
Mc Carthy and the Purge of the “Perverts”
The Homophile Movement
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
4. Stonewall and Beyond
Emerging Visibility and Activism
AIDS Activism
Antigay Backlash
Gays in the Military and Hate Crimes Legislation
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
SECTION II: POLITICS
5. Nature, Nurture, and Identity
Kinsey
Kinsey Scale
After Kinsey
Klein's Sexual Orientation Grid
The Storms Sexuality Axis
The Quest for the Gay Gene
Nature-Nurture: What’s at Stake?
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
6. Inclusion and Equality
Civil and Human Rights in a Global Context
Inclusion versus Assimilation: Two Approaches to Securing Rights
Exclusion, Inequality, and Physical Violence
Exclusion and Inequality—Both “Outside” and “Inside”
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
7. Queer Diversities
L . . .G . . .T . . .: A Story of Push and Pull
Bisexual Erasure in the LGBT Community
Intersexuality
Q: Beyond Sexual Identity
“A” for Allies
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
8. Intersectionalities
The “Down Low” and Applied Intersectional Theory
Women, Class, and Internationality
Tools for Intersectional Analysis
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
SECTION III: LITERATURE AND THE ARTS
9. Homosexed Art and Literature
Whitman and His Descendants
The Expatriates
Performing Queer: Theater
Homosexed Literature: Global Disruptions
Fine Art: From the Beautiful to the Political
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
10. Lesbian Pulp Novels and Gay Physique Pictorials
Physique Magazines
Lesbian Pulp Novels
Gay Male Pulp Novels
Transgender Novels
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
11. Queer Transgressive Aesthetics
Theoretical Transgressions: The Emergence of Queer Theory
Art and Consumerism
From Pornography to Sadomasochism
Transgression and Politics
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
12. Censorship and Moral Panic
Censorship, moral panic, and protection: introduction
Oscar Wilde
Radclyffe Hall
Mapplethorpe and Riggs
Queering Children’s Books
Deepa Mehta
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
SECTION IV: MEDIA
13. Film and Television
Visibility and Representation
Varieties of Queerness in Contemporary Film
Small-Screen Queers
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
14. Queers and the Internet
Access, Connection, and Identity
Internet Censorship and Corporatization
Internet Activism
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
15. The Politics of Location: Alternative Media and the Search for Queer Space
Documentary Films
Film and Music Festivals
Queer Music
LGBT Journalism: Magazines, Newspapers, Comics
Many Journeys, Many Homes
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading