Anti-Gay (Sexual Politics) [Hardcover]

Mark Simpson (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0304331449 | ISBN-13: 978-0304331444 | Publication Date: December 1996 | Edition: R/P

The essays in this international collection make a post-PC intervention into the discourse of lesbian and gay studies. Discarding kid-gloves and rose-tinted spectacles, its contributors voice the issues that are rarely discussed in polite pink society, breaking open taboos and defying the political imperative to "talk up" homosexuality and its (alleged) merits.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 163 pages
• Publisher: Cassell; R/P edition (December 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0304331449
• ISBN-13: 978-0304331444
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,310,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brit author and journalist Mark Simpson is credited with 'fathering' the metrosexual in the UK's Independent newspaper in 1994 (and also his hairy-backed anti-thesis the retrosexual).

Simpson introduced his insufferably pretty offspring to the US in 2002, naming David Beckham as the prime exemplar and starting the current global epidemic of metrosexmania.

In 2010 the global cool-hunting/trend-spotting website Science of the Time described him as 'the world's most perceptive writer about masculinity'.

Both the New York Times and The London Times acclaimed his saucy new concept of 'Sporno' ('the place where sport and porn meet and produce a spectacular money shot') as one of their 'Ideas of the Year'.

In December 2008 GQ Russia listed him - topless and oiled up - in their top ten Things That Changed Men's Lives, above Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sigmund Freud and even Biotherm Homme.

Publications Simpson has written for include The Times, Playboy, Out, the Independent, the Seattle Stranger, the Guardian, Vogues Hommes International and Details. He is also Senior Contributing Editor at the world's leading men's fashmag, Arena Hommes Plus.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Confirms your private and worst suspicions, March 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Anti-Gay (Sexual Politics) (Hardcover)

This brief book confirmed my private suspicions about so much of "Gay" life: that it is reckless, vulgar, mindless, irresponsible, a ghetto, etc. If you read this, you will be offended - or you will acquire the independence of mind to stop trying to be a clone in order to be homosexual. Many gay men and women (and I speak as a gay man) do not have the wit to understand how they can love members of ther own sex without buying into the usual boots/buzzcuts/anti-femininity (if you are a lesbian) mindset or the catalog X/camp humor/bar culture (if you are a gay man) mindset/prison. There are a great number of acidic and very funny (and correct) observations here. Yes, it is negative. How could it not be? Some have complained that this book offers no solutiions or alternatives. I do not see why it should when the answer is very simple. We need to grow as human beings and not define ourselves and validate ourselves with the trappings of a trash culture that has only existed for a generation or so. Voluntary self-confinement to a cultural ghetto is even worse than being forced into a concentration camp by the homophobes because it is freely chosen and self-limiting. Have the backbone to think for yourself and to talk back to the gay culture cops when you don't "fit in" (god help anyone who does want to fit in). Forget about being "gay." Love who you choose - and don't worry if you are "living the gay lifestyle" or not. Quite frankly, it isn't worth worrying about, defending, or investing in. If anything, it can kill you. Openly criticize those who claim to speak for us (usually because all opposition has been shouted down). In summary: live your life - not some life designed for you by the gay culture. It is nothing but a strait jacket.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ballsy, December 19, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Anti-Gay (Paperback)

It's funny how a book about why homos don't need to be `gay' is attacked for not being gay enough and for failing to offer us the New Mince Forwards. It's as if gays are too delicate and fragile to be exposed to self-criticism and dissent without being immediately soothed and reassured by a vision of The Emerald City. It's precisely because this book doesn't have anything to sell us that it is so refreshing. Odd how a book with `Anti-` in the title turns out to be CRITICAL, isn't it? The various books which have appeared in the US since 'Anti-Gay' (a UK book, please note) appeared have pretended to be critical but have all been way too gay. All of them have been written by pink snake-oil salesmen who want to convince us that they have patented the `right' way to be homo - e.g. Signorile and Sullivan squabbling over who should have the keys to the Gay Community pulpit. Their `critical' dimension has turned out to be mere moralism. Funnily enough, the most `political' statement in regard to contemporary homosexuality turns out to be an attempt, however unlikely, to free homo-ness from political imperatives (which anyway have just become a branch of consumer politics). 'Anti-Gay' does this with humour and wit, and also with real balls - an organ that sheep-like contemporary gays wouldn't know what to do with, besides shaving and hanging weights from.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Open your eyes and read this book, August 1, 2005

By 

Anoop Rawat "beautravail" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anti-Gay (Sexual Politics) (Hardcover)

This is not a book for the over-PC Queer activist crowd. Its meant for anyone who has felt alienated being an out and proud homosexual in the contemporary 'gay community' (in fact, the very term 'gay community' will sound like a misnomer after you read this book).
I liked all the essays in the book... however, it does ignore an important issue - the rampant racism in the gay community. I can't speak for the lesbians but any gay man of color like me can tell you from his own personal experience that 'white' is the gold standard in the gay community and the whole community is clearly segregated along ethnic and racial lines. The book does not address this topic head-on. This book also does not talk about the misogyny of some gay men (I mean the hatred directed towards heterosexual women and NOT women who are lesbians or bisexuals). However, its still a pretty good book. It raises issues that no one in the mainstream media has dared to raise far. It may not solve any problems or answer any questions but its still a start.