Long Slow Burn: Sexuality and Social Science [Paperback]

Kath Weston (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415920442 | ISBN-13: 978-0415920445 | Publication Date: July 29, 1998 | Edition: 1

Kath Weston's powerful collection of essays, Long, Slow Burn, challenges the preconception that queer studies is the brainchild of the humanities and argues that social science has been talking about sex all along. To deny this one would have to overlook Kinsey's pioneering sex research in the 1950s, or the psychiatrist Evelyn Hooker's pathbreaking study of homosexuality, but also in the "sex talk" that lies at the heart of classic debates on kinship, inequality, cognition, and other foundational topics in the social sciences. What is different now, Weston claims, is the way sexuality has been isolated from other contemporary issues. Not content with its ghettoization as a contained subfield, Weston refuses to draw an artificial line around sexuality.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The "Gay '90s" of the 20th century have been nothing if not, well, gay. For the first time, gays and lesbians have witnessed consistent positive representation of their lives in film, on television, in literature, and in politics. Gay culture has even extended itself to the oft-impenetrable ivory tower, where academics have been conceiving a new branch of the humanities: gay and lesbian studies. As anthropologist Kath Weston notes in Long Slow Burn, the social sciences are just now catching up to the discipline and "getting hip to queer consideration." As even non-gay academics begin to examine literature, film, and the arts with an eye for queer sensibilities, Weston convincingly argues that gay and lesbian studies are here to stay.

The essays that comprise Long Slow Burn were written at various points throughout the '90s, when queer theory emerged as a viable academic discipline. A self-proclaimed "native ethnographer," Weston explores the trends in gay and lesbian migration from rural areas to big cities--particularly "Meccas" like San Francisco and New York City's Greenwich Village--and passionately searches for more creative, less elitist approaches to queer theory.

At turns thought-provoking and introspective, Long Slow Burn is certain to secure a place for gay and lesbian studies that can extend beyond the arts and sciences. --Kera Bolonik

From Library Journal

Weston (Render Me, Gender Me, LJ 2/1/97) argues that despite the recent growth in gay and lesbian studies departments, sexuality is not a new topic for social science. She also suggests that sexuality should not be a ghettoized area of study but rather should be considered in relation to work, migration, family, and all the other core topics that concern social scientists. This collection includes essays published between 1984 and 1997. In each, Weston studies lesbians and gay men in relation to broad social science topics. In one, she explores the gay migration to San Francisco, in others she considers ideas about kinship, chosen families, class conflict, and work. She closes with a piece describing the struggle to study gays and lesbians and still be considered a real anthropologist. Appropriate for advanced undergraduates and graduate-level students, this is recommended for large academic libraries.ADebra Moore, Loyola Marymount Univ. Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (July 29, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415920442
• ISBN-13: 978-0415920445
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,874,128 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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