The Gay Man's Guide to Heterosexuality

by Cathy Crimmins, Tom O'Leary

Offers a humorous look at the inexplicable habits of heterosexuals and includes answers to such questions as "What are they carrying in all those minivans?" "Why are their dogs so big?" and "Why do show tunes scare them?"

Genres: Humor, Gay, LGBT

155 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

(aka C.E. Crimmins)

Obituaries:
http://www.asja.org/newspub/x0911d.php
http://www.oliverbair.net/sitemaker/s...

Reviews

[Tessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very much from the 90s, with some things absolutely still relevant and very funny, but mostly things so outdated it is very very uncomfortable e.g. a very outdated and unfunny joke about AAE (referred to as "ebonics" bc this book is so old), writing this book specifically for gay men (not women/etc) and also specifically cis white american gay men (but Crimmins seems to have been a straight white woman so...that kinda tracks), very un-nuanced stereotypical representations of a straight/gay male binary.

Anyway, i dunno. I found this book in the bathroom of my copenhagen airbnb and read it in an hour. It was funnier before I found out who Crimmins was (i.e. not gay) and saw the parallels with other books she's written (i.e. lionizing white gay men in an absurdly stereotype-reinforcing way).

[Tyrannosaurus regina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted this to be hilarious. It was not. I also picked it up thinking it was a more recent book, but when it became blatantly clear that all of the references were well over a decade old, I had to go check and discovered it was from 1998 and only the ebook version was released last year. I may actually have found this funnier in 1998, when I still a baby queer and anything even remotely geared toward my POV was treasured. But then again, I've never subscribed to the idea that gay men should be flagrant misogynists, so maybe not. It can't help being dated, but it could help that. The book has its moments, but it never rises to clever or witty and mostly it's just a string of obvious stereotypes and cheap jokes.

[Lanay · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I thought it would be a funny tongue-in-cheek perspective on straight relationships.

It was not that. It was not that at all.

Instead, it is a hateful mean spirited monologue full of misogyny and stereotypes. All the jokes fall flat and the whole reading experience was just trashy feeling.

It’s like that bitchy cousin you avoid at family get together a in a book. If I could give it zero stars, I would.