Gay Macho: The Life and Death of the Homosexual Clone

by Martin P. Levine, Michael Kimmel

A sociological examination into the emergence of male homosexuality with a traditional masculine ethos

Before gay liberation, gay men were usually perceived as failed men―"inverts," men trapped in women's bodies. The 1970s saw a radical shift in gay male culture, as a male homosexuality emerged that embraced a more traditional masculine ethos. The gay clone, a muscle-bound, sexually free, hard-living Marlboro man, appeared in the gay enclaves of major cities, changing forever the face of gay male culture.

Gay Macho presents the ethnography of this homosexual clone. Martin P. Levine , a pioneer of the sociological study of homosexuality, was among the first social scientists to map the emergence of a gay community and this new style of gay masculinity. Levine was a participant in as well as an observer of gay culture in the 1970s, and this perspective allowed him to capture the true flavor of what it was like to be a gay man before AIDS. Levine's clone was a gender conformist, whose masculinity was demonstrated in patterns of social interaction and especially in his sexuality. According to Levine, his life centered around the "four D' disco, drugs, dish, and dick."

Later chapters, based on Levine's pathbreaking empirical research, explore some of the epidemiological and social consequences of the AIDS epidemic on this particular substratum of the gay community. Although Levine explicitly refuses to pathologize gay men afflicted with HIV, his work develops a scathing, feminist-inspired critique of masculinity, whether practiced by gay or straight men.

Genres: LGBT, Queer, Nonfiction, Sociology

274 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1988

About the author

Martin P. Levine was a Professor of Sociology at Florida Atlantic University and a Research Associate at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Mitchell Clifford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m really happy I read this book and appreciative of the work Levine did in sociological studies in regards to homosexuality, especially his foundational work I’ve seen cited more than once during the AIDS crisis.

It was because of references from gay nonfiction authors I enjoyed like Atherton Lin that I picked up this book. However, while I think I could recommend specific chapters of this text based on individual interest I think what is struggles with is the extensive academic jargon that makes the text inaccessible or not enjoyable to read at times.

I think a strength of some of my favourite queer nonfiction writers I’ve read such as Cervini, Zmith, and Atherton Lin is that they weave facts with storytelling to entertain and educate anyone that reads. Unfortunately, this work is many of Levine’s original studies, including methodology, discussions, conclusions and more, reading like a sociology textbook.

Overall, I appreciate the work contained in this text, but would warn anyone reading that this text is strictly didactic and missing entertainment.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eu tenho um encanto muito especial por saber que um quadrinho como o Kake e toda a obra de Tom of Finland inspirou uma subcultura gay, a dos clones de São Francisco, e continua inspirando a cultura gay como um todo. Por isso fui atrás deste livro que pretende contar mais sobre a cultura clone, seu nascimento e sua morte. Porém, ao ler o livro, percebe-se que o tal nascimento e morte são eufemismo, já que o autor não fala de sua gênese e derrocada, mas sim algo diferente. Sobre a cultura clone não temos uma conceituação ou ainda caracterização de elementos dela. São vários artigos descrevendo pequenos aspectos dela, como os bairros de cidades estadunidenses onde ela se desencadeou. Isso me deixou frustrado. A tal morte dos gays clones é referida como a ascensão da AIDS nos EUA, o que me chateou mais ainda, porque resume gays a atividades sexuais e, pior ainda, à promiscuidade sexual. Um pensamento retrógrado, antigo, datado e uma pena que um livro da década de 1990 perpetue esse estereótipo da comunidade gay através da análise de apenas uma subcultura, os clones de São Francisco.

[thedailyflannel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. I was asked to read it for my Sociology of Minority Cultures class, and found that it provided an in-depth analysis of the gay clone character of the 70's, as well as a time capsule of the thoughts during the AIDS epidemic. The most interesting part of the book were the field notes, which allowed the reader to truly see what the people and times were like during this period. It was a good read, although not one I would have necessarily picked up if not for a class.

[K.D. McQuain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reads like a doctorial thesis, and maybe it was. It would have been nice if it had been more of a novel, though I do appreciate the research and personal anecdotes.

[Korn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part about gay sexual culture in NYC is interesting but the second part about HIV became boring and irrelevant.

[Ian Martyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting study of clone culture that I wish were longer. Clone culture itself could indeed use many more studies, particularly as it was such an integral part of gay male life leading up to the start of the AIDS crisis.

The first half of this book focuses on the gay male clone, including a discussion of pre-clone culture that leads up to this era. It is an interesting lens into a past that is definitely deserving of more study, and I enjoyed this section so much that I wish it went into more depth. Particularly interesting are Levine's interviews with various men who provide their own experiences in clone culture. The second half of this book revolves around the AIDS crisis, consisting of essays by Levine which discuss the growing pandemic. Of course, a discussion of clone culture is incomplete without a discussion of AIDS and the way in which it ravaged the gay male community (and was sadly largely ignored by government agencies).

Overall, I'd say that this is a great look into clone culture, and I hope that it inspires further study of this culture.

[Freyja Vanadis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this book was great. It went into detail about a certain subset of gay men called the "clone", which were urban gays who lifted weights, acted and dressed in a masculine way, and whose lives revolved around the so-called Four Ds: disco, drugs, dish and dick. But the last half of the book was a very dry synopsis of HIV/AIDS, how it ravaged the gay male community, and all the percentages and numbers. Because of that, I only give the book three stars. The editor should have stopped after the first half.