Social Science : Gay Studies

Daniel Juan Gil examines sixteenth-century English literary concepts of sexuality that frame erotic ties as neither bound by social customs nor transgressive of them, but rather as “loopholes” in people's associations. Engaging Sidney's Astrophil and Stella, Spenser's The Faerie Queene, and Shakespeare's Sonnets, among others Gil demonstrates how sexuality was conceived as a relationship system not institutionalized in a domestic realm. more...

Price: $66.00

‘To their way of thinking, what made it possible to desire a man or a woman was simply the appetite that nature had implanted in man’s heart for ‘beautiful’ human beings whatever their sex might be.’ Foucault, The Use Of Pleasure At the end of the 20th century, popular role models were profiting from the term Bisexual. Madonna, David Bowie, Mick Jagger and Anne Heche are a few who used bisexuality as a password to popularity and success. What is Bisexuality? In our cutting edge western society, bisexuality has come to mean patronising, provocative, promiscuous, presumptuous, pretentious, promotional, posturing, permissive, plausible, playful and perfidious. In other words, open to any suggestion. Critics of the bisexual lifestyle parrot two issues: bisexuality does not exist and bisexuality is a neurosis. Bisexuality is the attraction to same or opposite sex partners. It can be periodic or simultaneous. Bisexuals include eunuchs, hermaphrodites and transsexuals. What’s in it? The introductory essay highlights civilisations where bisexuality flourished. Queen Nzinga of Africa dressed as a warrior in battle, and at court, her male harem of Drag Queens served her. The Ancient Greeks practised bisexuality: the Hetairi (courtesans) had companions and masters tutored or apprenticed youths. But it was always tolerated - the Conquistadors turned their dogs on the Two-Spirited Incas. There are biographies, showcasing the lives and loves of famous bisexuals like Alexander the Great, Sappho, Casanova, Marquis de Sade, Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf. During the twenties bisexual talent blossomed in Hollywood, Harlem and Paris: Gertrude Stein, Ma Rainey, Greta Garbo, Bessie Smith, Libbie Holman, Countee Cullen, Marlene Dietrich, Josephine Baker, Billie Holiday and Langston Hughes. There is also an examination of Bisexuality in Film, including the bisexual escapades of actors and writers. more...

Price: $5.99

Considers the treatment of gender blenders by the medical framework, in literature, the press and telephone sex lines and examines its prominence in recent contemporary cultural and queer theory. more...

Price: $180.00

Boys at Sea is a study of homoerotic life in the Royal Navy during the age of sail. The book traces every feature of sexual life at sea, including seduction, rape, prostitution, courts martial, and the punishments meted out to those convicted of violating the stern moral code set down in the Articles of War . more...

Price: $69.95

In recent years, the economy of the Caribbean has become almost completely dependent on international tourism. And today one of the chief ways that foreign visitors there seek pleasure is through prostitution. While much has been written on the female sex workers who service these tourists, Caribbean Pleasure Industry shifts the focus onto the men. Drawing on his groundbreaking ethnographic research in the Dominican Republic, Mark Padilla discovers a complex world where the global political and economic impact of tourism has led to shifting sexual identities, growing economic pressures, and new challenges for HIV prevention. In fluid prose, Padilla analyzes men who have sex with male tourists, yet identify themselves as “normal” heterosexual men and struggle to maintain this status within their relationships with wives and girlfriends. Padilla’s exceptional ability to describe the experiences of these men will interest anthropologists, but his examination of bisexuality and tourism as much-neglected factors in the HIV/AIDS epidemic makes this book essential to anyone concerned with health and sexuality in the Caribbean or beyond. more...

Price: $21.00