Beyond Shame: Reclaiming the Abandoned History of Radical Gay Sexuality [Hardcover]

Patrick Moore (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0807079561 | ISBN-13: 978-0807079560 | Publication Date: January 22, 2004

With bathhouses, "cruising" in urban areas, and private clubs built specifically for anonymous erotic encounters, the radical sexuality of gay American men in the 1970s is often seen as a shameful period of excess that led to the AIDS crisis.

In Beyond Same, activist Patrick Moore claims that when the gay community divorced itself from this allegedly tainted legacy, the result was an intergenerational disconnect between younger and older gay men. The original participants in the 1970s' sexual culture were unable to impart a sense of pride and identity to younger generations. Indeed, one reason for the current rise in HIV, Moore argues, is precisely due to this destructive disconnect.

Moore encourages gay men to reclaim the entirety of their heritage-including AIDS-so that the gay community's prevailing sense of shame and isolation will change. Lifting the veil of AIDS, Moore recasts the gay male sexual culture of the 1970s as both groundbreaking and creative, provocatively comparing extreme sex to art. In the process, he presents a powerful yet nuanced snapshot of a maligned, forgotten era, with its heady mix of sexual liberation, artistic celebrations of homosexuality, and political anger fueled by the prevalent homophobia.

Moore's critical work attempts to rescue gay America's past, present, and future from a disturbing spiral of destruction and AIDS-related shame.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A talented novelist who for many years was director of the Estate Project for Artists with AIDS, Moore (This Every Night) offers a provocative defense of gay male sex culture in the 1970s as well as a jeremiad on the AIDS holocaust of the 1980s. The most exciting writing here details New York's provisional "theaters of pleasure" (sex clubs like The Mineshaft, dance clubs such as The Saint) with novelistic atmosphere and a canny ear for interview and synthesis, while Moore's portraits of artists lost to AIDS are also first-rate. Writers Cookie Mueller and Assotto Saint emerge as more interesting than their work, while the late David Wojnarowicz's memoir in particular is vaunted. Art world hackles will rise at Moore's unsympathetic account of gallerist Andrea Rosen's administration of the Felix Gonzalez-Torres estate, as Moore raises the specter of dealers and collectors profiting from the work of the dead and "de-gaying" it in the process. He also recreates the heady, vivid ACT UP era of street activism, recalling how the pink-and-black "Silence = Death" poster ignited the conscience of a generation. Some of Moore's arguments feel more like assertions, in particular his statement that the wild sex pioneered by gay men during the '70s was itself a form of art, although his argument is partly salvaged by a deft reading of Fred Halsted's threatening, aimless porn, and by his witty follow-up that, during the '80s East Village art boom, "art became sex." As a detailed examination of the ways in which rage gives depth to art, Moore's book has no peer in recent memory.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Patrick Moore presents us with a concept so radical, so transgressive that it will startle most readers . . . We still have much further to go to comprehend that sexual activity and pleasure can be not just an inspiration, but the source of creativity. - from the Foreword by Michael Bronski, author of Culture Clash: The Making of Gay Sensibility

"Patrick Moore boldly argues that the promiscuous gay men of the 1970s were actually artists and that AIDS derailed an esthetic community and sexual adventure. This quietly personal book reclaims the past for young gay men and makes it usable."--Edmund White, author of A Boy's Own Story

"A personal, tender, honest book about a past that can never be regained, but must not be forgotten." --Sarah Schulman, author of After Delores

"Patrick Moore reminds us of the extravagant creativity of gay self-fashioning in the 1970s, in the hope that such historical awareness can help us bring about an extravagant, creative gay future."--Carolyn Dinshaw, director of the Center for Gender & Sexuality, New York University

"Moore's exceptional study considers those men who fashioned an underground gay life that still resonates today."--Felice Picano, author of Like People in History and a founding member of the Violet Quill Club

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (January 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807079561
• ISBN-13: 978-0807079560
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #769,586 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patrick Moore is an author, activist, producer, and counselor living in Los Angeles. As an author, Moore is best known for "Tweaked: A Crystal Meth Memoir," which tracks his descent into addiction and through the sometimes equally strange world of recovery. In 2004, Beacon Press published Moore's analysis of how AIDS had warped the legacy of sexual experimentation for gay men in "Beyond Shame: Reclaiming the Abandoned History of Radical Gay Sexuality." Moore's work as a journalist has appeared in The Advocate, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and the Chicago Tribune.

Earlier in his career, Moore was the Founding Director of the Estate Project for Artists with AIDS: a non-profit effort to preserve and present the cultural artifacts of the AIDS crisis. At the Estate Project, Moore pioneered the use of digital technology to preserve art works in several media and developed collaborative projects with the Guggenheim Museum, the Academy Film Archive, and the New York Public Library.

Moore has produced digital content for Yahoo! Health where he served as an "Expert Blogger" covering mental health and spirituality. He also produced video content for Yahoo! including a cooking show featuring Wolfgang Puck and a parenting series with the comic Julia Sweeney.

Currently, Moore works as a drug and alcohol counselor and is producing a documentary.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling account of the gay sexual revolultion, February 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Beyond Shame: Reclaiming the Abandoned History of Radical Gay Sexuality (Hardcover)

This is an extraordinary book. As a gay man in my 30s, I've never really connected with the gay sex world in the 70s although I've always been interested in it. The books that I've read about the 70s have been dry and academic but Moore's book brings the era to life. I was riveted both by the profiles of some of the characters of the time and by the idea that sex can be a kind of art. It should be required reading for all gay men.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a very honest well researched book, January 6, 2008

By 

Kotaro "Xiaomi" (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Shame: Reclaiming the Abandoned History of Radical Gay Sexuality (Hardcover)

Moore does an excellent job of highlighting how one-sided much of the discussion has been regarding 70's gay urban culture and while one may not agree with all of his statements, it is a thoroughly interesting and informative piece with great depth and fine writing. Gay artists and performers of the 70's and onward are discussed at great length, which will be of interest to many.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Surely you Jest, December 1, 2011

By 

J. Fried "Beware Abstractions" (San Mateo, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beyond Shame: Reclaiming the Abandoned History of Radical Gay Sexuality (Paperback)

I downloaded a sample of the book for my Kindle, so this review is only based on the first parts of the book made available through the Kindle sample program - i disliked the book so much that i wasn't willing to spend any more of my time or money on it.

I am a gay man who lived through the period described by the author of this book. From my experience the author is living in a world of his own where very few, if any, of us have ever lived. During the period the author covers in his book, after trying my hand at the kind of "artful" promiscuity the author suggests was so freeing i discovered just how lonely not only i, but others who shared that experience were as well. Sadly, several times during this period i encountered people who genuinely desired a deep contact with me and i consistently missed the opportunity because i was so focused on the superficial interactions described by the author. I had become a reflection of the times the author describes and apparently promotes. It was only a decade after the 80s that i finally met someone in sync with my deeper aspirations and we developed a loving relationship where we learned to touch each other at a level beyond the skin.

As i see it the late 60s and early 70s were a period of sexual experiment that still contained some sense of love while the late 70s, 80s and 90s were a period of sensuality with no interest in deep connection. The popularity of cocaine, poppers, and other sensory enhancing drugs i think proves my point that this latter period was nothing but a search for selfish physical release. This period was nothing more than skin deep and we who participated paid an emotional/psychological price for it in that we often failed to see the opportunity for something beyond the flesh.

This book is at best biographical, and therefore of limited value, or at worst a complete misrepresentation of the period.