Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots?: Flaming Challenges to Masculinity, Objectification, and the Desire to Conform

Description

"You may have thought you understood human nature before you read this book; after reading it you will be humbled by all you failed to grasp until now."--Edmund White "These essays come like a plunge into a forest pool of revitalizing joy, honesty, and common sense. Read them. Now. No--not tomorrow. Now!"--Samuel R. Delany Gay culture has become a nightmare of consumerism, whether it's an endless quest for Absolut vodka, Diesel jeans, rainbow Hummers, pec implants, or Pottery Barn. Whatever happened to sexual flamboyance and gender liberation, an end to marriage, the military, and the nuclear family? As backrooms are shut down to make way for wedding vows, and gay sexual culture morphs into "straight-acting dudes hangin' out," what are the possibilities for a defiant faggotry that challenges the assimilationist norms of a corporate-cozy lifestyle? Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots? challenges not just the violence of straight homophobia but the hypocrisy of mainstream gay norms that say the only way to stay safe is to act straight: get married, join the military, adopt kids! Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore reinvokes the anger, flamboyance, and subversion once thriving in gay subcultures in order to create something dangerous and lovely: an exploration of the perils of assimilation; a call for accountability; a vision for change. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots? Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore 1 Fierce.net: Imagining a Faggotty Web D. Travers Scott 5 Going from Zero to Sexy on High-Caloric Queer Overdrive CA Conrad 11 Trans/Nationally Femme: Notes on Neoliberal Economic Regimes, Security States, and My Life as a Brown Immigrant Fag Debanuj DasGupta 15 Levity and Gravity Chris Bartlett 25 Death by Masculinity Ali Abbas 33 Without a Face Thomas Glave 39 Fucking with Fucking Online: Advocating for Indiscriminate Promiscuity Michael J. Faris & ML Sugie 45 Difficult Conversations Philip Patston 53 Penis is Important for That Nick Clarkson 57 Glass Blowing Khary Polk 67 Appearances and All That Tommi Avicolli Mecca 71 Girls Gina de Vries 77 Straightening the Shawl Ezra Red Eagle Whitman 85 The Unlikely Barebacker Shepperton Jones 91 Rehab for the Unrepentant Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco 97 I’ll Tell You What I Want, What I Really Really Want: Homolove and Accountability Harris Kornstein 105 IT GETS BETTER? Matthew D. Blanchard 115 The Soul of Our Work George Ayala and Patrick “Pato” Hebert 123 Dirt Story Lewis Wallace 133 Generations Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore 137 Prisons and Closets Jason Lydon 141 A Rock and a Bird Booh Edouardo 147 Slow Boil: AIDS and the Remnants of Time Eric A. Stanley 157 Excelsior Jaime Cortez 163 My Fear, The Forces Beneath Willow Aerin Fagan 169 Cell Block 6 Mishael Burrows 175 Rich Man’s War, Poor (Gay ) Man’s Fight Larry Goldsmith 181 Not Till the Earth Falls into the Sun Horehound Stillpoint 185 Dancing with White Boys James Villanueva 193 Something Resembling Power Kristen Stoeckeler 199 Acknowledgements 205 Contributors 206 About the Editor 213