Reclaiming Your Life: The Gay Man's Guide to Love, Self-Acceptance and Trust [Paperback]

Rik Isensee (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Members of a dysfunctional family interact abusively, and when the family is homophobic a gay member will likely be doubly abused. In the first half of this guide, Isensee ( Love Between Men , LJ 3/15/90) capably outlines all aspects of growing up gay in a dysfunctional family. He includes homophobia, sexual abuse, stress, self-blame, shame, and self-destructive behavior. In the second half, he relates the ways a gay child can overcome the many hindrances to gaining self-respect through grieving, nurturing, and supporting. He ends with suggestions on how to react to homophobia and create a life without the guilt that a heterosexual society induces. Although the topic may seem a bit clinical, Isensee's book is easy to read and even gay adolescents will want to consult it.
- H. Robert Malinowsky, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Alyson Books; 1st Alyson, Revised edition (July 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555834221
• ISBN-13: 978-1555834227
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,968 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A book to be worked through, September 10, 1998

By 

J. L. Deger "Jim" (Chicago, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Reclaiming Your Life: The Gay Man's Guide to Love, Self-Acceptance and Trust (Paperback)

This book is an excellent way for the gay male to let go of the baggage in his life that is the basis for self-destructive behavior. Gay males all too often fail to live up to their God-given potential because we carry baggage of growing up in repressive families, schools, and communities. Isensee identifies the possible sources of this baggage and then invir=tes his readers to work it through for themselves with a seriesof questions at the end of each chapter. Hence, this is a book to be worked through and the process can be liberating or as the title states "reclaiming". Worth the read and the reflection.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for abuse Survivors, August 24, 2000

By 

Scot Hulsey (Queensland, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reclaiming Your Life: The Gay Man's Guide to Love, Self-Acceptance and Trust (Paperback)

This book was formerly titled "Growing Up Gay in a Dysfunctional Family: a Guide for Gay Men Reclaiming Their Lives". The author goes very indepth in describing the makeup of abusive, homophobic families and the impact it has on a gay child growing up. While I myself did not grow up in this type of environment, I still learned a great deal about my own reactions to outside homophobia and that for years I internalized it and developed negative thinking patterns about myself; etc. I thank the author for writing this book, not only for helping me identify problems I needed to work through, but for helping me realize how to develope the skills needed to self nurture and stop internalizing homophobia. Above all, this book is especially relevant to abuse survivors, it will definitely help you.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book for anyone serious about quality of life, January 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Reclaiming Your Life: The Gay Man's Guide to Love, Self-Acceptance and Trust (Paperback)

I am 28 and thought I was pretty much put together with most areas in my life. However, upon reading this, it has projected me into so many different areas to think about. I can not recommend this book enough. It is a joy to read and both my partner and I have read it. It's amazing how many ways we both benefitted from having read it. I can not recommend this highly enough.