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Homosexualities
Breathtaking in its historical and geographical scope, this book provides a sweeping examination of the construction of male and female homosexualities, stressing both the variability of the forms same-sex desire can take and the key recurring patterns it has formed throughout history.
"[An] indispensable resource on same-sex sexual relationships and their social contexts. . . . Essential reading." — Choice
"[P]romises to deliver a lot, and even more extraordinarily succeeds in its lofty aims. . . . [O]riginal and refreshing. . . . [A] sensational book, part of what I see emerging as a new commonsense revolution within academe." —Kevin White, International Gay and Lesbian Review
"[An] indispensable resource on same-sex sexual relationships and their social contexts. . . . Essential reading." — Choice
"[P]romises to deliver a lot, and even more extraordinarily succeeds in its lofty aims. . . . [O]riginal and refreshing. . . . [A] sensational book, part of what I see emerging as a new commonsense revolution within academe." —Kevin White, International Gay and Lesbian Review
507 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 23, 2025
It should become the key book for every scholar, teacher, or anyone interested in understanding and grasping the sexual dimension of same-sex attraction/relations (“homosexuality,” “lesbianism”) from an anthropological, historical, and social perspective. Many prejudices and absurdities would be eradicated if the scientific and descriptive knowledge that Stephen O. Murray offers us here were well known and widely disseminated. Especially today, when in Europe certain figures reappear on social media claiming that homosexuality is not “normal” or should be hidden—statements that reveal a profound (and often Eurocentric) ignorance of this sexual phenomenon.
Stephen O. Murray dispels false assumptions and grounds his theory in the purely scientific and descriptive observation of different “homo” and “lesbi” sexualities across the globe, even including statistics in the final chapter to demonstrate their complexity and diversity. His didactic division between “homosexualities” based on age difference, gender difference, and egalitarianism proves useful for identifying possible underlying cultural or economic logics (although, as he himself notes, we can never truly reduce sexual diversity to any strict socioeconomic patterns).
Although some have criticized Murray for being overly functionalist and for not taking into account parameters such as love, or contemporary concepts of gender, feminism, or LGBTQ issues, I find such criticism absurd in this case. Murray, sine ira et studio, offers us an anthropological and pedagogical map through which we can view the homosexual phenomenon in its full breadth, leaving to others its moral or ethical judgment, or its philosophical or ideological use or interpretation. Without this first step—this kind of encyclopedia of homosexuality—no subsequent discourse could be meaningfully constructed.
Stephen O. Murray dispels false assumptions and grounds his theory in the purely scientific and descriptive observation of different “homo” and “lesbi” sexualities across the globe, even including statistics in the final chapter to demonstrate their complexity and diversity. His didactic division between “homosexualities” based on age difference, gender difference, and egalitarianism proves useful for identifying possible underlying cultural or economic logics (although, as he himself notes, we can never truly reduce sexual diversity to any strict socioeconomic patterns).
Although some have criticized Murray for being overly functionalist and for not taking into account parameters such as love, or contemporary concepts of gender, feminism, or LGBTQ issues, I find such criticism absurd in this case. Murray, sine ira et studio, offers us an anthropological and pedagogical map through which we can view the homosexual phenomenon in its full breadth, leaving to others its moral or ethical judgment, or its philosophical or ideological use or interpretation. Without this first step—this kind of encyclopedia of homosexuality—no subsequent discourse could be meaningfully constructed.
January 21, 2012
He specializes in world sexualities (the plural is important) and this is a sort of anthology of his work over times and places. It travels everywhere. See his specific-area books. It's big and there's a lot here. Get outside the European mold - though he covers the old ancient Greece and Rome too.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews