Le rose et le noir

by Frédéric Martel‏

This book examines the development of France and the acceptance of homosexuality almost as a given. The book concludes with a thoughtful epilogue on the integration of minority communities into French society.

Genres: Nonfiction, France, Sociology, History, Queer

Mass Market Paperback

Published August 19, 2000

About the author

Frédéric Martel holds a PhD in social sciences and several graduate degrees in philosophy, political science and law. After being project manager for the French Embassy in Romania (1990–1992) and the French ministry of culture (1992); and being advisor to the former Prime Minister Michel Rocard (1993–1994), he served the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, deputy-Prime minister Martine Aubry, as one of her political senior advisors (1997–2000). From 2001 to 2005 he was cultural attaché for the French embassy in the US. He has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University and New York University (2004–2006). He wrote, or currently writes, for numerous publications (including Magazine Littéraire, L'Express, Dissent, The Nation and Slate) and produces its own radio show, "Soft Power", a weekly live talk show on the entertainment, the medias and "the internets" for the French national public radio station France Culture. He is also editor in chief of the Internet-based cultural magazine nonfiction.fr and a columnist at Slate.

Additionally, he has had high-level academic activities by giving conferences in major American universities (such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Berkeley and the MIT), universities in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Hong Kong, China, Japan, India, Egypt (and dozens others countries) and by teaching, from 2005 to 2014, at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (also known as Sciences Po Paris) and at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris (also known as HEC Paris). In 2008–2010 he was a researcher for the French Foreign Affairs' Analysis and Forecasting Centre and he founded the research web site of the Institut National de l'Audiovisuel concerning creative industries and medias around the world.

From 2012 to 2013, he was a senior researcher at IRIS, Institut de Relations Internationales & Stratégiques. Since 2014, he is a senior researcher on culture and the internet at ZHdK University in Zurich (Switzerland).

Reviews

[Amy Layton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm all about homosexuality, and I'm all about France, so this was the perfect nonfiction book for me.  It was so nice to read something less America-centric, though it was obviously very European-centric.  Still!  I'm loving the recognition that Stonewall wasn't the be all end all of every gay liberation movement.  Even so, there was a lot of dialogue and discussion in this book from the publication of Gai Pied, the closeted homosexuality of Michel Foucault, and the Le Pens (always a nuisance, aren't they?).  

Moreso, what I found most captivating and horrifying was the discussion of HIV/AIDS.  As an American myself, I'm familiar with the history and stigma that HIV/AIDS had and still has today, but not how it's affected other western countries.  Reading about how France handled it was horrifying, from the ignorance and lack of acknowledgement that a pandemic was on the loose, to the dichotomy between living and dying and having safe sex and just going wild.  

Additionally, Todd's translations appear to be extremely accurate and well-toned.  I'm definitely impressed with this book, and I think it'd be a wonderful start for those interested in non-American homosexual liberation movements.  

Review cross-listed here!

[Celestica · Rating 4 out of 5]

On se passerait des commentaires de l'auteur sur le communautarisme et le multiculturalisme et de l'avis de Finkielkraut sur les homosexuels mais j'ai appris pleins de trucs, croisé pleins de références aujourd'hui complètement oubliées et j'ai dévoré ça comme un thriller