Coming Out: The Emergence of LGBT Identities in Britain from the 19th Century to the Present

by Jeffrey Weeks

Book by Weeks, Jeffrey

Genres: LGBT, Nonfiction, History, Gay, Politics, Queer, Queer Studies

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Jeffrey Weeks OBE (born 1945) is a gay activist and an historian and sociologist specialising in work on sexuality.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey...


Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Evander · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't dislike this book but frankly, it'd have made more sense to keep the subtitle as "homosexual politics" than the updated version of "LGBT identities" because the trans community in particular was little more than a footnote until the afterword. Even for example in parts when the narrative quoted something about "sex changes", went into some detail of Magnus Hirschfeld's work or spoke about Stonewall, trans people were not even mentioned. In the afterword, the author discusses (very briefly) some prominent trans people and the work of trans organisations like WPATH and Press For Change, which would have made much more sense to talk about when he was going through the relevant time periods throughout the book. Trans-specific legislation like the GRA was only briefly mentioned. Groups like genderqueer people and intersex people were mentioned even less frequently. Not only is the concept of these groups far from new, but they were there the whole time alongside homosexual people fighting for rights, law reform, forming organisations etc. It is already a glaring omission from the history but particularly with an updated subtitle of "LGBT identities". Intersectionality was also barely touched upon and in fact, if I remember correctly, more space was given to a quote implying that groups like Black queer people forming their own organisations led to more division than the actual racism etc. in groups like GLF. This book could be made much better if such omissions were addressed properly.

[Mikaela]

Very interesting to read this book nearly 50 years after its publishing, as it is now about gay history and a part of it. The criticisms of pride events as corporatized, money-making endeavors is particularly interesting because when people today level these critiques, they look back at the mid to late 20th century as the good old days.
The whole book makes me feel very grateful for everyone who has come before me, to everyone who worked to change society to make it more accepting of gay people.

[Carlos · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this book is great source of information regarding the struggle for homosexual acceptance in Britain it is more than a little hard to get through. Weeks does a great job of identifying the people and associations that moved the needle forward in this cause, but he tends to dwell a bit too much on certain details at the expense of the fluidity of the work. Overall, I would recommend this book only for people seriously interested in specific early periods of the LGBT movement.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5