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"Every happy family is alike, and every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," wrote Leo Tolstoy. Families dealing with a child's homosexuality are certainly forced by a homophobic culture to experience a whole range of unhappiness. Beyond Acceptance deals with a variety of issues facing heterosexual parents of gay children, from facing what the neighbors will say to worrying about AIDS and social ostracism to feeling angry and guilt-ridden.
Various people speak about how they came to their misinformed views about gayness, their religious beliefs, their fears that friends will abandon them after finding out about their child's homosexuality, and their anxieties about AIDS. Often people find similar solutions to their problems, and sometimes different ones, but in all cases the message is that understanding, love, and a need to own up to, and dispense with, ignorant homophobic attitudes can bring families back together in a wholesome and nurturing manner. Frank, informed, and filled with insights and practical suggestions, Beyond Acceptance is a fine addition to the literature on homophobia and families. --Michael Bronski
Book Description
"Mom, Dad, I'm gay." When a parent hears these words, the initial shock is often followed by feelings ranging from anger and denial to fear and guilt. It's also the beginning of a difficult journey that, with understanding and emotional support, can lead to acceptance and beyond.Now fully revised and updated, Beyond Acceptance is a ground-breaking book that provides parents the comfort and knowledge they need to accept the gay children and build stronger family relationships. Based on the experiences of other parents, this book lets them know they are not alone and helps them through the emotional stages leading to reconciliation with their children.
Customer Reviews:
A most important book........2000-11-07
Beyond good, this book is important. A book from the voices of parents who have lesbian and/or gay children. We have "heard" plenty from lesbians and gays, pleading for understanding and acceptance, so this book gives the readers a voice from "the other" side.
With frank interviews and conversations, we are let in on the angst, the suffering, the fears and disappointments from parents. It covers many aspects of our lives. Most often, the burning question from parents is "what did I do wrong?" Religion, health, acceptance etc....all the way to "should the neighbours know?
This book is honestly written from the hearts of the writers, parents who have been through all of that and more. We learn of how they cope or didn't. The journeys they have taken and what the effects are with a lesbian/gay in the family unit. A must read, not just for parents, but also for lesbians and gays, and their siblings. And for everyone else too - I recommend this book. It creates understanding, not answers, through the conversations with various people. In all, it is almost like sitting in a crowd and listening in on an interesting discussion or conversation and gleaning knowledge and understanding!!
There is an earlier editon from 1990. Try to get the lastest one, I think 1996/7, with updates on issues like AIDS etc...
Buy or borrow this book, read it again and again. Pass it on. For everyone.
Read this book before you come out to your parents........2000-05-31
I told my parents I'm gay this past weekend. It went much better than expected. Friends said that there were books on the market that could help. I checked out Amazon's selection and found _Beyond Acceptance: Parents of Lesbians and Gays Talk About Their Experiences_ to be the extremely helpful in the coming-out-to-your-parents experience. The book was, for me, accurate in "predicting" my parents' reactions, down to the questions they would ask, the emotions they would go through, etc. It was touching, and inspiring as it brings you from the initial coming out event all the way through to parents who have taken action in their communities against homophobia. The book doesn't pretend that all parents will change so drastically, but it shows what's possible.
Note: While the book draws from the experiences of predominantly caucasian, middle-class families, the parents were from all across the country and from various religious backgrounds, i.e. Jewish, Christian, Catholic, agnostic, etc.
The book covers an amazing array of subjects including: Issues regarding your partner and the difficulties and triumphs in bringing partners into the family, the grandparents and extended family, the church, the sense of loss experienced by parents when their expectations for their gay child changes, the paradox of the general acceptance of married heterosexuals who don't have children versus gay committed, monogamous relationships, the fact gays can lead happy and full lives, gays in the military, about whether gayness is caused by nature or nurture or both, about whether being gay is a mental illness, about the removal of homosexuality from the APA's list of mental illnesses, about the failure of all forms of "treatment," and the list goes on . . .
I also enjoyed and drew wisdom from the Bernstein book, _Straight Parents, Gay Children: Inspiring Families to Live Honestly and With Greater Understanding_, but found _Beyond Acceptance_ to be better organized.
An Excellent Coming Out Tool.......1999-09-11
This book is written as a resource for parents. I bought and read it before coming out to my parents. Insightful and careful writing to help you understand what your parents might feel when you tell them. Then give them a copy when you have the big discussion. The authors use loads of real-life examples from many different people and situations to help parents understand and relate.
Great review of coming-out issues from a parent's perspectiv.......1997-08-19
This book is like having someone hold your hand as you accept the news that someone you love is gay. It is written by parents who share what were their reactions, questions and fears upon learning that their son or daughter is gay. Is is my fault? What will the neighbors think? What will my church think? The book presents parent's own answers to these questions and refers to current outside writing on the subjects addressed. It's "must read" for anyone trying to understand homosexuality, coming-out and how to best understand and love someone who is gay
Book Description
Perhaps more than any other issue, gender identity has galvanized the queer community in recent years. The questions go beyond the nature of male/female to a yet-to-be-traversed region that lies somewhere between and beyond biologically determined gender. In this groundbreaking anthology, three experts in gender studies and politics navigate around rigid, societally imposed concepts of two genders to discover and illuminate the limitless possibilities of identity. Thirty first-person accounts of gender construction, exploration, and questioning provide a groundwork for cultural discussion, political action, and even greater possibilities of autonomous gender choices. Noted scholar Joan Nestle is joined by internationally prominent gender warrior Riki Anne Wilchins and historian Clare Howell to provide a societal, cultural, and political exploration of gender identity.
Marketing Plans:
National Advertising: The Advocate
Academic mailing to gender studies and queer studies professors
Media campaign hilighting authors Nestle and Wilchins
Joan Nestle is the cofounder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives in New York and the writer and editor of six books including the groundbreaking Women on Women series. Riki Anne Wilchins is the executive director of GenderPAC, the national gender advocacy group, and the cofounder of the Gender Identity Project of New York City's Lesbian and Gay Center. She is the author of Read My Lips: Sexual Subversion and the End of Gender. Clare Howell is a senior librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library.
Customer Reviews:
Gender Tripping.......2007-08-09
Fascinating critters, slugs.
"True" hermaphrodites, each possess female and male reproductive organs. Although slugs can, and will, fertilize themselves, they prefer mating. Both mates lay eggs. Often in the process, "apophallation" occurs - that is, in order to disengage their sperm-producing organs, both slugs must undergo "castration." Starting out hermaphroditic, slugs default "female." Since slugs mate only once, it's a tidy arrangement. Baby slugs hatch independently and fend for themselves. Communists.
My daughter and I raised a clutch of eggs once. 55 of the little rice-sized goobers turned into slithering 6-inch mollusks. Big appetite for cucumbers and mushrooms. We took 'em to her kindergarten show 'n tell, put them all out on a big, wet plate, their eyeball stalks a-quivering. "EEEwwww!" groaned the gals. All the boys wigged, eyes-popping, challenged, upstaged. My little girl, ostensibly sugar and spice, was the class rebel hero. Now she's raising 9 rats. The neighborhood kids are impressed.
With a high-testosterone mom and a superfem dad, her parents, a gender-variant unity of opposites, often joke that we live the Munsters' life, two outcasts who produced, magically, a beautiful and socially normative Marilyn. Time (and puberty) will tell, however. I like to think normative will be an option by then; goth, hippie, punk, queer - imagine there's no genders, it's easy if you try.
Gender was bewildering to me "when I was a boy" - I thought I was in with the hopscotch girls 'til someone's older sister poured a cream soda on my head and told me to go - but soon I discovered Keith Richards' outfit on the cover of Satanic Majesties Request. It's no coincidence 1967 was the year of paisley, beads, long hair and flower power; what defied the draft better than fem? And, all these years later - consider the New York Dolls' reunion - rock and trans continue to crossfertilize, positively.
"Are you a man or a woman?"
"I'm Mick Jagger!"
Back to the garden.
After reading the dense, academic, postmodern Transgender Studies Reader (Stryker, Whittle), GenderQueer was a shock of pure pleasure!
Interesting ideologies, told personably, credibly, even forcefully through street-smart prose. Most essays are very short, and assume the readership has been around the block. Mercifully free of superstar surgery stories, GenderQueer troubles all TG hierarchies and identity politics. Men-horny lesbians and T-girls refusing to pass, and plenty inexplicable more: "It's a whole different generation" ["Disorderly Fashion"].
Smash.
A combination of fairytales ("Loving Outside Simple Lines"), tearjerkers ("Passing Realities," "Preadolescent Drag King"), horrorstories ("The A Train"), ravers ("World's Youngest"), mindbenders ("Wanting Men"), clarion calls ("Do It On The Dotted Line," "Transie," "Do I Dare?") and supertight essays by editor Riki Wilchins, GenderQueer is, to date, the latest word in the expanding, increasing visible TG universe.
Absolutely essential vitamins - and psychedelic, too.
fantastic.......2005-10-18
this book holds a great collection of people living outside the gender binary. few fall into the trap of political soapboxing and instead tell honest, beautiful stories. i'd recomend this over "from the inside out" by morty diamond if your looking for a well written and engaging book of writing by gender queers.
mindblowing!!!!!!!.......2005-09-13
this was an excellent book that completely blew my mind about what i previously thought i knew about gender, even about transgendered persons. it peaked and held my thirst for understanding, and though it is not all encompassing....it opens the door wide and then pushes you into the deep end frocing you to swim through all the preconceived ideas that we have always been taught about gender and sex roles and identities...every author should be commended for sharing their deeply personal and often touching stories...i highly recommend this book to any and everyone
A wonderful anthology.......2003-10-09
In this amazing collection, various first-hand stories and essays from people in the nebulous area between male and female make the case of deconstructing gender. Including sections from Nestle and Wilchins, who have both already contributed much to the gender discussion already, the book lets those who live in between male and female have a voice. Ranging the length of queer gender from intersexuals to transexuals to femmes, "GenderQueer" doesn't leave any gender stone unturned, and expands the gay and lesbian rights debate to include gender issues, which the editors feel are at the core of the argument and of the harassment of queers and perceived queers in the United States. I found myself inspired by many of these personal tales, and I found myself reflected there as well. The final essay by Wilchins is especially moving and is the luscious cherry on the delicacies here.
Remarkable Anthology.......2003-04-24
Saw it on the shelf at a local bookstore, started reading, and took it home. The individual pieces range from good, to stunning ("Packing a Rod" by Allen James and "The Gender Cops Work Overtime" by Gina Reiss are immediate standouts, both good enough to demand being read aloud). The authors address behavior, family relations, social relations, sex-reassignment surgery (whether or not to have it), the bi-gender system, and other topics.
"Genderqueer" is a "pull it off the shelf for guests" book - I don't know any other way of putting it. As a transgendered person, I have a number of books on the topic, including Riki Wilchins' excellent "Read My Lips." However this is the one that I find myself repeatedly grabbing for non-transgendered friends and family to highlight ideas and create awareness of the range of gender expression and identity issues. It is also a book that I have to work hard to keep it coming back to me - it has a tendency to go home with guests.
Be forewarned, though - this is not a book for the easily offended, be you straight, gay, queer, trans- or not. If you need your own feelings and ideas confirmed and validated, better to read something else. A number of the authors are brutal in their honesty, coarse in their language, and express disturbing opinions. For me, though, "Genderqueer" was enlightening, stimulating, often hilarious, and occasionally infuriating.
Average customer rating:
- Suspend your beliefs
- He explains the Scriptures
- Thoughtful and evocative book -- readable
- well worth reading and recommending
- Fascinating Fragments
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Faith Beyond Resentment
James Alison
Manufacturer: Crossroad General Interest
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On Being Liked
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Raising Abel: The Recovery of the Eschatological Imagination
ASIN: 0824519221 |
Book Description
For James Alison, a gay Catholic priest, the key to moving beyond resentment is faith.
Customer Reviews:
Suspend your beliefs.......2007-03-08
I bought this book because it was required for a class and the professor felt that this author is an up and coming one in the field of theology. That having been said, this book is written in a way where you have to suspend all your previous beliefs and enter into the world of the writer. As such, he has some interesting points to make, however, there are many places where he has clear "flights of fancy." Don't expect this book to confirm traditional biblical teaching or create rational argument for new ideas. This is part philosophy and part fantasy in its presentation.
He explains the Scriptures.......2005-08-12
Intellectualy very attractive and much more than intellectual considerations. Alison really explains Gospel to me so that it becomes a really Good News. And does it with brilliant style, a bit camp, what i like very much.
Thoughtful and evocative book -- readable.......2002-08-12
Everything James Alison writes has enabled me to see what Jesus is up to in a new refreshing and challenging way. He has helped me to reject bad atonement theory -- the sort of theory that makes God out to love sacrifice, the bloodier, the better, even the sacrifice of his beloved because his justice and honor requires such a sacrifice. In that understanding, Jesus' death becomes the best example of sacrifice. He has helped me to see Jesus' death as the subversion of the sacrificial system, as the end of the system of exclusion of a victim rather than the divine example of sacrifice. Jesus is up to ending a system of social solidarity from exclusion and violence and enabling humans to live based on gratuity. In brief, when I read James Alison, I ask myself -- perhaps I should become a Christian some day.
well worth reading and recommending.......2001-12-02
I have read all of James Alison's books and, as Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams said in the November 10th, 2001 London Tablet of this book, "The very best theological books leave you with a feeling that perhaps it's time you became a Christian; this is emphatically such a book."
Fascinating Fragments.......2001-11-08
James Alison's latest offering completely lives up to the praises on its book jackets. Joined to his profound interpretation of the New Testament, betraying an almost encyclopedic knowledge of scripture and the Catholic Tradition, is his firm grasp of the Girardian vision. But that is not all: the style of this masterpiece is witty and deeply personal, written from the ruins of contemporary culture and religion as well as the 'heart crack' of the self-identified 'much-loved queer.' Alison is asking questions that others have asked but, unlike so many others, he refuses to play the sacred victim in his critique of the church's attitudes towards homosexuality. At last we have a 'hermeneutics of suspicion' which is also turned upon the one who is suspicious, an unheard of gift in a time when so many church critics are possessed of such self- righteousness and infallibility as would make a grand inquisitor blush. The concluding section is surreal, springing perhaps from the author's time in Latin America; it is bizarre but instructive, a tragic-comic conclusion to a work of theology which is determined to burrow under the reader's skin. These 'fragments' are bombshells, exploding religious idols and making way for a whole new appreciation of the place of desire in our life with God.
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Beyond Flesh: Queer Masculinities and Nationalism in Israeli Cinema
Raz Yosef
Manufacturer: Rutgers University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Identity Politics on the Israeli Screen
ASIN: 0813533767 |
Book Description
Raz Yosef explores Israeli cinema's role in the creation of national identity and the complex ways the marginalization of queerness became necessary to that goal. Zionism was not only a political and ideological program but also a sexual one. The liberation of Jews and creation of a new nation were closely intertwined with a longing for the redemption and normalization of the Jewish male body. That body had to be rescued from anti-Semitic, scientific-medical discourse associating it with disease, madness, degeneracy, sexual perversity, and femininity—even with homosexuality. The Zionist movement was intent on transforming the very nature of European Jewish masculinity as it had existed in the diaspora. Zionist/Israeli films expressed this desire through visual and narrative tropes, enforcing the image of the hypermasculine, colonialist-explorer and militaristic nation-builder, an image dependent on the homophobic repudiation of the "feminine" within men.
The creation of a new heterosexual Jewish man was further intertwined with attitudes on the breeding of children, bodily hygiene, racial improvement, and Orientalist perspectives—which associated the East, and especially Eastern bodies, with unsanitary practices, plagues, disease, and sexual perversity. By stigmatizing Israel's Eastern populations as agents of death and degeneration, Zionism created internal biologized enemies, against whom the Zionist society had to defend itself. In the name of securing the life and reproduction of the new Ashkenazi Jewry, Israeli society discriminated against both its internal enemies, the Palestinians, and its own citizens, the Mizrahim (Oriental Jews).
Yosef's critique of the construction of masculinities and queerness in Israeli cinema and culture also serves as a model for the investigation of the role of male sexuality within national culture in general.
Book Description
Bolstered by national television exposure on Oprah and a cover story in the New York Times Magazine, the "down low"—a term used to refer to "straight" men who have sex with men—was thrust into the open in 2004. Keith Boykin, a former Clinton White House aide, goes beyond the hype with the first responsible, eye-opening look at the down low sensation. Unlike all previous accounts on the topic, Beyond the Down Low presents the DL not merely as a problem of gay and bisexual men living in the shadows, but more as an example of America's unwillingness to engage in critical but uncomfortable conversations about black sexuality. Boykin details how society has helped to create an environment where black gay and bisexual men feel compelled to lead double lives. Meanwhile, the dialogue that has taken place in the black community encourages an unhealthy battle of the sexes, ignores the complexity of the closet, demonizes bisexuality, disempowers women, and misdirects public resources and attention. This book is a timely and well researched answer to the question, "Why are so many black men on the DL?" More importantly, it is an essential tool to pry open the closet door in black America.
Customer Reviews:
Informative, Insightful, but Somewhat Repetitive........2007-02-23
I knew very little about the term "Down Low" and the ramifications it presents. After hearing about this book during a dinner conversation, I decided to give it a try with the goals of learning something new while expanding my cultural vision. Both came to fruition. I learned something new - primarily the backlog of information regarding the debates on DL and its impact, particularly on the Black community in the United States. I also learned that it is not a standardized term that explains the ambiguity that often shadows discussions on the issue.
What Boykin does well is present a number of facts that help someone understand what the current discussion is. What Boykin does not do well is present the facts in a manner that is conducive to a completely enjoyable read. I enjoyed the beginning of each chapter that were often peppered with personal anecdotes, but began to quickly lose interest mid-way through each section when presented with - what appeared to be - a super-saturated presentation of statistics. That would have been quite fine had the statistics not been repeated so often. I found a good portion of the book to be redundant.
All said, I this is a great primer on a timely issue. I would recommend it for anyone who has heard of the Down Low and is interested in learning more with facts.
MUST READ!!!!!!.......2007-02-16
This book was a great book. I must say when I first got the book I was in dout thats it was about anything pozitive or helpful to the black community. But I must say I was very happy with this book. Keith Boykin really did alot of resaerch to put this book togeather. I think that any on that read the book (ON THE DOWN LOW)By J. L. King. Should read this book to get a full understand of things, and take away some of the fears, Lies and myths about HIV and the down low. It is a must read!!!! :)
Definately a better read than J.L. King's book.......2006-05-05
Instead of sensationalizing the issue, I felt Mr. Boykin was aiming to educate people about homosexuality in black America instead of entertaining the masses. Great book!
Take it or leave it.......2005-07-20
I've just finished reading Boykin's book, "Beyond the Down Low." While I find it well written and his observations often on point, I come away from reading the final paragraph thinking, "So what?"
Really, Boykin has unearthed nothing "new" about sexuality or sexual identity as it has been played out since there have been men, women and the undecided.
Boykin's book gains much of its cachet because it is one of the few published books that addresses sexuality from the perspective of a gay black man. The very paucity of literature that focuses on the plight of gay black men in America alone makes Boykin's contribution invaluable, regardless of the quality of his prose. Ultimately, however, his work is forgettable.
A must read for all black americans.......2005-06-29
I have always admired Keith Boykin as an author. He is very passionate in what he believes in and is not afraid to tell the TRUTH. Every black home in America should have this book.
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Beyond Diversity Day: A Q&A on Gay and Lesbian Issues in Schools (Curriculum, Cultures, and (Homo)Sexualities)
Arthur Lipkin
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
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ASIN: 074252034X |
Book Description
Beyond Diversity Day is a handbook for teachers, counselors, administrators, policy makers, parents, and students who want to understand and affirm sexuality differences; promote and protect the well-being of all students; and reduce bigotry, self-hatred, and violence. In question-and-answer format, Arthur Lipkin offers advice to nurture positive relationships among glbt youth, their families, and the schools; welcome glbt families in the school community; support glbt educators; and incorporate sound and appropriate glbt-related curricula across disciplines. Written by a veteran high school and university teacher and staff developer, Beyond Diversity Day weaves sound scholarship with vivid real-world examples from classrooms and the media. It offers a compelling blueprint for working with diverse students and for improving schools. Visit our website for sample chapters!
Product Description
INCLUDES AN ATTACHED 70 MINUTE DVD OF THE FLOGGING DEMONSTRATION ILLISTRATED IN THE BOOK. With 62 Titles planned, of which this title is the second, under the overall editorship of Joseph W Bean, Nazca Plains has created the SM/Tech series. This series is focused on the Leather BD/SM community and features many nationally known presenters well recognized to significant and well-known audiences. This title is a life presentation of Mummification by Joseph W. Bean and includes two different demonstrations. Pansexual Material
Customer Reviews:
Essential information, entertainingly presented.......2007-07-19
I won't repeat what the others have said. I agree with it all.
I will instead say that I bought this book/DVD combo with the express purpose of learning how to do flogging safely, sanely, and with maximum enjoyment. My submissive loves a good flogging and I knew nothing about the techniques or practices. So I got this set.
WOW. Not only was it informative in both safety issues and technique, it was entertaining, funny, and erotic. By the time I finished it (and watched it a couple more times) I felt I was ready to proceed.
I bought a nice flogger and practiced on some stationary objects to get my aim and style down. Then I surprised my submissive with his first flogging at my hand. He was VERY impressed with my skills, and he's something of a connoisseur of the art. I have nothing but this book/DVD set and a bit of practice to thank for his compliments.
If you want to add flogging to your playtime, this is an EXCELLENT place to start!
The Basics and Beyond.......2007-04-10
I really enjoyed this DVD/Book combo. In my opinion, it's one of the better flogging information and how-to books out there because it's not like a boring instruction manual that uses big words and is hard to understand. Joseph W. Bean talks to you (the studio audience) in a way anyone can understand. He jokes around a bit, and is very detailed and informative. The book is basically a read-along for the DVD, but I suggest you read the book too, because it has a little more information than what Joseph says in the DVD.
In the beginning, there is an introduction about Joseph W. Bean and safety tips about no-strike zones, ankles, bleeding, etc. On the DVD, it begins with Joseph going through what you need to know about flogging: What You're Doing (the scene you are creating, from painful punishment to sensual massage), The Body Itself (how the body reacts to stimuli), The Person Inside (knowing that bottoms can lie about their pain tolerance), The Tools At Hand (from novelty floggers to vests, spatulas, belts or pipe insulation), and Techniques (*demonstrations*).
When Joseph gets into the Technique part of the DVD, he then brings out a [female] "willing victim" named Elorin. He explains the muscles in the back, and then begins to do a Soft flogging demonstration on her. He explains what he is doing throughout the demo. Then brings in a male volunteer named Adam, who has never been flogged before. Joseph then preceeds to "take him the whole way". There are many still frame photos in the book of the flogging from the DVD. After the demonstrations, there is a Q&A section that the studio audience is allowed to ask questions, that are also answered in the book. It also has a section in the book that explains the Tools used in the flogging demo.
Overall, I think this is a great combo. I recommend this DVD/Book to everyone, from tops to bottoms, beginners to experts and everyone in between that is in the leat bit interested in the art of FLOGGING.
Ouch! do that again..........2006-10-22
I purchased this book in hopes of finding something that will educate new comers to the world of SM; Even in today's open world of information, this book/DVD is a rare find.
When I recieved the book and DVD (if it is not clear this is a Book and DVD SET) I instant put in the DVD and sat down expecting a very dry tutorial; This was so far from the reality though. J.W. Bean is definately entertaining while getting across crusial information and safety tips. There is even a bit of world history (that I cross checked for accuracy) of where some of the flogging traditions origionate from I would recomend this set to anyone who is interested in flogging no matter their experience level.
The book is a quick read but is really an over view of the DVD, which is nice to have, but do not just look at one or the other. However, I strongly suggest reviewing both the book and DVD.
Play Safe.
Beat My Guest.......2005-04-21
In what promises to be a very exciting series, noted lifestyle presenter Joseph W. Bean has been enlisted to launch a series of instructional DVD/Book combinations that will provide safe and easy to follow instructions in BDSM play. The concept is simple: videotape a presentation in front of a studio audience, giving thorough and uncomplicated directions, and then transcribe the affair in a book that you can follow along while viewing the DVD in the privacy of your own home. The second volume in the DemLab series is "Flogging: The Basics and Beyond."
Mr. Bean is an expert presenter and more than an expert when it comes to flogging. Having already written a book on the topic ("Flogging" published in 2000 and also locatable on Amazon), standing in front of an audience and a trio of cameramen is an obvious (and for Mr. Bean, casual) progression. His two attractive subjects allow him to demonstrate the fine art of wailing on your friends. The DVD itself is better than an hour in length, and the book is well apportioned with color pictures. In addition to the transcript of the demonstration itself, there are additional notations.
Where this DemLab volume really stands out is the DVD presentation. The final 15 minutes during the flogging of Adam show that, when the chemistry is right, even "The Basics" can go farther and into deeper territory that you plan on. Suffice to say that things between Mr. Bean and Adam get intense, and the crowd certainly got more than it came for.
With a Volume One utilizing Mr. Bean's skills in the mummification arena already available and future releases promising ropeplay, fireplay, spanking and more, the DemLab series already looks like an essential series in the making. All in all, Volumes One and Two are a great way to introduce yourself to some spicier aspects of interpersonal play, and good for the adult entertainment value.
Book Description
Previously hard-to-find information on homosexuality in early America—now in a convenient single volume!
Few of us are familiar with the gay men on General Washington's staff or among the leaders of the new republic. Now, in the same way that Alex Haley's Roots provided a generation of African Americans with an appreciation of their history, Male-Male Intimacy in Early America: Beyond Romantic Friendships will give many gay readers their first glimpse of homosexuality as a theme in early American history.
Male-Male Intimacy in Early America is the first book to provide a comprehensive overview of the role of homosexual activity among American men in the early years of American history. This single source brings together information that has until now been widely scattered in journals and distant archives. The book draws on personal letters, diaries, court records, and contemporary publications to examine the role of homosexual activity in the lives of American men in the colonial period and in the early years of the new republic. The author scoured research that was published in contemporary journals and also conducted his own research in over a dozen US archives, ranging from the Library of Congress to the Huntington Library, from the United Military Academy Archives to the Missouri Historical Society.
Male-Male Intimacy in Early America explores:
the role of the open frontier and the unregulated seas as places of refuge for men who would not enter into heterosexual relationships
the sexual lives of American Indians—particularly the berdache tradition—and how the stereotypes associated with American Indian sexuality molded white America's attitudes toward homosexuality
homosexuality in slave narratives—and the homosexual subtexts of racist minstrel show lyrics
the formation of European gay communities during American colonial times, with an emphasis on Berlin, Paris, and London—with English translations of material previously available only in German or French!
homosexuality as presented in eighteenth-century novels popular with American readers, plus information on homosexuality that was published in medical treatises of the period
United States Army and Navy courts-martial that focused on sodomy
the sublimation of homosexuality by religious revival movements of the early nineteenth century, particularly among Quakers, Mormons, and Oneida Perfectionists
social groups as a perceived cover for homosexual activity, with an emphasis on the Masonic Order
non-procreative sexuality as a theme and as a threat during the American revolution
the West in American literary tradition—and the role of popular writers such as James Fenimore Cooper and Davy Crockett in creating the myth of individual sexual freedom on the margins of American society Author William Benemann rejects Foucault's contention that homosexuality is an artificial construct created by medico-legal authorities in the latter half of the nineteenth century. He recognizes that men have been sexually attracted to other men throughout American history, and in this book, examines their historical options for expressing that attraction. He also addresses related issues surrounding race and gender expectations, population and migration patterns, vocational choice, and information exchange. Written in a straightforward style that can easily be understood by lay readers, Male-Male Intimacy in Early America is an ideal choice for educators, students, and individuals interested in this unexplored area of American history and sexuality studies.
Customer Reviews:
Things you never knew.......2007-09-04
I have found this work very informative and extremely well researched, if at times a bit longwinded in the prose.
Nevertheless, it offers an invaluable source for those who wish to gain a more complete picture on the emergence of homosexuality as a 'condition' of but also to researchers due to its copious source material.
It brings up the question too whether we, in our time, aren't just puttingtoo many labels on too many things, and whether we wouldn't be better off sometimes not to pigeonhole everything. After all most of our divisions into emotional categories are artificial. We are composed of everything and evenly capable of everything.
Book Description
As Americans wrestle with red-versus-blue debates over traditional values, defense of marriage, and gay rights, reason often seems to take a back seat to emotion. In response, David Richards, a widely respected legal scholar and long-time champion of gay rights, reflects upon the constitutional and democratic principles--relating to privacy, intimate life, free speech, tolerance, and conscience--that underpin these often heated debates.
The distillation of Richards's thirty-year advocacy for the rights of gays and lesbians, his book provides a reflective treatise on basic human rights that touch all of our lives. Drawing upon his own experiences as a gay man, Richards interweaves personal observations with philosophical, political, judicial, and psychological insights to make a compelling case that gays should be entitled to the same rights and protections that every American enjoys. Indeed, the call for gay rights can trace its lineage back to the powerful protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s, which demanded racial and sexual equality and ultimately overthrew the bigoted status quo.
Richards focuses particularly on two key Supreme Court cases: the 1986 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick upholding Georgia's anti-sodomy laws and the 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas striking down Texas anti-sodomy laws and overturning Bowers. He shows how Bowers arose in a period of constitutional crisis over the right to privacy and examines the opinions in light of the Court's division in Roe v. Wade. He then shows that Lawrence must be understood in the context of later cases, notably Casey and Romer, which required that Bowers be reconsidered and overruled. Along the way, he examines current debates over gays in the military and same-sex marriage, assesses the Massachusetts Supreme Court's decision to permit gay marriage, and critiques the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.
Eloquent and impassioned, Richards's work crystallizes the essence of the argument for a much more expansive and tolerant view of gay rights in America. It also offers a touching account of one gay man's very personal struggle to find the voice he needed to speak truth to the powerful forces of discrimination.
Book Description
Queer Images chronicles representations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer sexualities over one hundred years of American film. The most up-to-date and comprehensive book of its kind, it explores the ever-changing images of queer characters onscreen as well as the work of queer filmmakers and the cultural histories of queer audiences--from the works of discreetly homosexual filmmakers during Hollywood's Golden Age and classical Hollywood's attempt to purge sex perversion from films, to queer exploitation and physique films, cinematic responses to AIDS, and how contemporary Hollywood deals with queer issues. An essential volume for film buffs and anyone interested in sexuality and culture. Visit our website for sample chapters!
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