Opposite Sex: Gay Men on Lesbians, Lesbians on Gay Men

by Sara Miles (Editor), Eric Rofes

The past decade has seen an extraordinary outpouring of research, writing, and talk about lesbian and gay sexuality, triggered in part by the confluence of the AIDS epidemic, the feminist sex wars, and the development of queer studies. Yet many lesbian and gay writers and readers have been frustrated by recurring gaps and absences in the queer studies approach to sexuality, as well as by the limitations of explicit queer community discourse around sex.
Opposite Sex brings the sex back into queer studies, making real bodies, acts, and desires central to analysis of the complex relationships between male and female homosexualities, and their impact on lesbian and gay culture. The contributors to this volume--scholars, artists, activists, and journalists--redress the remarkable dearth of thoughtful discourse about the many ways in which lesbian and gay men are implicated--and viewed within--in each other's sexual realities.
Opposite Sex includes writing by lesbians and gay men about each other's bodies, interpretations of different male and female homosexual sex cultures, and reflections on the history, sociology, and politics of changing discourses around queer sexuality. Passionate and challenging, this anthology shows the rich and complex forms through which individuals and communities make meaning from their quotidian sexual impulses, their utopian sexual mores, and their idiosyncratic sexual acts.
The contributors include Roberto Bedoya, Kaucylia Brooke, Lawrence Chua, Linnea Due, Sandra Lee Golvin, Jewelle Gomez, Francisco J. Gonzalez, Della Grace, Amber Hollibaugh, Robert Jensen, Kate Kane, Elizabeth A. Kelly, Monica Majoli, Mimi McGurl, Robert Reid-Pharr, Gayle Rubin, Lawrence Schimel, Richard Schimpf, and Susan Stryker.

Genres: LGBT, Nonfiction, Queer

Hardcover

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

Sara Miles is the founder and director of The Food Pantry, and serves as Director of Ministry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Her other books include "Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion," and her writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, Salon, and on National Public Radio.

Reviews

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This thought-provoking book pushed me in a lot of ways. It took me out of my comfort zone and into worlds that challenged me. The essays in this were very personal and physical accounts of dealing with gender and sexuality, especially their inversion and conversion. It really made me ponder the nature of attraction and gender identity.

NOTE: There is a lot of frank language and discussion in this book. I wasn't offended or scandalized but if you are easily so, this is probably not the book for you.