Gay Liberation after May '68

Theory Q

by Guy Hocquenghem, Gilles Deleuze (Foreword), Scott Branson (Translator)

In Gay Liberation after May ’68 , first published in France in 1974 and appearing here in English for the first time, Guy Hocquenghem details the rise of the militant gay liberation movement alongside the women’s movement and other revolutionary organizing. Writing after the apparent failure and eventual selling out of the revolutionary dream of May 1968, Hocquenghem situates his theories of homosexual desire in the realm of revolutionary practice, arguing that revolutionary movements must be rethought through ideas of desire and sexuality that undo stable gender and sexual identities. Throughout, he persists in a radical vision of the world framed through a queerness that can dismantle the oppressions of capitalism and empire, the family, institutions, and, ultimately, civilization. The articles, communiques, and manifestos that compose the book give an archival glimpse at the issues queer revolutionaries faced while also speaking to today’s radical queers as they look to transform their world.

Genres: Queer, LGBT

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Guy Hocquenghem, essayist and activist, is often considered the father of Queer theory. He was the author of Homosexual Desire (1972) and L'Amour en relief (1982). The Screwball Asses is his first work available from Semiotext(e).

Reviews

[jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a remarkable set of documents!

[Clara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for my masters dissertation and it feels weird giving it a star rating. It was certainly very interesting, with a lot of good moments, and will be extremely useful for my research. I do not however feel comfortable giving it five stars due to the nature of some of the author’s views, notably on childhood sexuality.

[Sean Wallace · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a little bit underwhelmed by this book. Definitely a fun read, but I don’t think it does much theoretically for Marxism that a book like The Communist Hypothesis does not. My favorite parts were the passages on music and family abolition.

[Kaden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. I particularly like the critique of moralistic/professional leftists/militants.

[Alaska · Rating 4 out of 5]

It feels weird rating a book I read for my research. However, this was interesting and useful. Loads of great things, and some really bad.