The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life New Ed Edition

by Michael Warner (Author)

24 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0674004412

ISBN-10: 9780674004412

Why is ISBN important?

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

—

$89.77

$12.89

Paperback

"Please retry"

—

$52.58

$6.35

Michael Warner, one of our most brilliant social critics, argues that gay marriage and other moves toward normalcy are bad not just for the gays but for everyone. In place of sexual status quo, Warner offers a vision of true sexual autonomy that will forever change the way we think about sex, shame, and identity.

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items when the Enter key is pressed. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Michel Foucault

120

in Structuralist Philosophy
Paperback
$10.09
Lee Edelman

9

Paperback
$19.27
Jose Esteban Munoz

14

Paperback
$25.00
Michael Warner

2

Paperback
$24.00
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick

13

Paperback
$24.99
Michael Warner

4

Paperback
$24.95

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Paperback

Alan Downs

600

$9.39
Paperback

Shiri Eisner

46

$14.71
Paperback

Kate Bornstein

68

$12.19
Paperback

Susan Choi

132

$14.58

Editorial Reviews

Review

To the aspiration to conformity and the domination of the 'normal,' Warner opposes a moral argument based upon an ideal of autonomy and liberty, upon the idea that a democratic culture needs to encourage, not to stifle, innovations and deviations in living, in order to discover the most fruitful ways to realize its ideal of human dignity...Warner is a deft and thoughtful writer who turns his own experience of the margins into a source of genuine understanding about America and its sexual politics...For what Warner's book finally demands of us is...genuine reflection. (Martha Nussbaum New Republic)

In The Trouble with Normal, Warner offers both a sharp-witted defense of 'sexual autonomy' and a prescription for 'sexual ethics' that rests on the real experience of individuals rather than the imagined wisdom of the group...Warner lambastes the current course of gay activism, arguing that the drive to marriage and the illusion of normality are founded on a phony morality that will only further stigmatize the queer community at large. (Peter Kruth Salon.com)

About the Author

Michael Warner is Seymour H. Knox Professor of English and American Studies at Yale University. He is the editor of American Sermons: The Pilgrims to Martin Luther King and Fear of a Queer Planet. He also writes for The Nation, The Advocate, The Village Voice, and other periodicals.

Paperback: 227 pages
Publisher: Harvard University Press; New Ed edition (November 1, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780674004412
ISBN-13: 978-0674004412
ASIN: 0674004418
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
Customer Reviews: 20 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #398,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #76 in Gay & Lesbian Studies
- #930 in LGBT Demographic Studies

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

Customer reviews

5 star		58%
4 star		30%
3 star		6%
2 star		6%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Unautrehomme

and to a degree I also agree that - however paranoid sounding - as a group we're being sucked into that very essence of hetero-n

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Interesting in the wake of marriage equality to read this screed, alarmed at the dangers of capitulating to the institution. I agree in principle with the idea that the focus on marriage takes us away from other, more important issues, and to a degree I also agree that - however paranoid sounding - as a group we're being sucked into that very essence of hetero-normativity we should be resisting. Finely written and argued. The Andrew Sullivan take-down is particularly welcome.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Joan Mazza

Raises important questions about marriage (for hets, too)

Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2001

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Michael Warner opens THE TROUBLE WITH NORMAL by tackling the imbedded sexual shame in our culture. He sees the desire of gays and lesbians to marry as part of their desire to be accepted as "normal" and a part of mainstream culture. The desire for marriage comes about in many of the same ways for gays and lesbians as it does for heterosexuals. Marriage, in Warner's words, is yoked to the benefits of status, respectability, and other countless privileges, such as health care, housing and tax preferences, and parental rights. He recommends separating these rights from legal marriage, which the state already regulates in ways that are too intimate and controlling. He says we should redefine "family to reflect the reality of people's [extended] relationships." (page 120) Many states still have laws prohibiting oral, anal, and group sex, even for married persons. Warner describes most eloquently how gay marriage is likely to alienate other sexual "deviants" who are lower on the sexual hierarchy, such as prostitutes and other sex workers, transgendered persons, and others. Those who prefer some kind of public sex or "who aspire to a different kind of sexual maturity besides that of a married couple" will be further ostracized and demonized by the split in the LGBTQ communities into those who are married and those who are not (and don't want to be). This split mirrors what has already happened to people in the heterosexual communities who choose intimacies that are different from those who are choose traditional marriage. For non-gay populations, this would include "queers" who are polyamorous, bisexual, and celibate. Warner's analysis of the politics of shame applies to all "sexual outlaws." He raises important questions of sex education for everyone. He advocates the continued availability of public places where all kinds of sexual information is shared without fear of arrest or attack and where people might meet and mingle with those who share their preferences and passions.
THE TROUBLE WITH NORMAL was, for me, a whole education in sexual freedom and autonomy, showing how the politics of sexual shame and the desire to "fit in" hurts us all. In particular, sexual shame and the push to appear "normal" harms those who are HIV positive or at greater risk for STDs because of the growing paucity of sexual information in the public sphere.
~~Joan Mazza, author of Dream Back Your Life; Dreaming Your Real Self; Who's Crazy Anyway; and Exploring Your Sexual Self (a guided journal).

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Matthew

Fantastic insight

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2019

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book was amazing and offered a refreshing take approach to the LGBT+ struggle. As a queer activist with strong left sympathies, I've always found the way marriage is idolised as the be-all-and-end-all of queer rights to be problematic and this book perfectly explains how our obsession with hetero-normative marriage actually hurts us in the long run.

Helpful

Comment

TSmith

A different perspective

Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2004

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

In this excellent book, Michael Warner explains how gay and lesbian activists are pursuing the wrong goal by advocating and working for the right to be legally married.
Warner points out that, instead, the focus ought to be on separating certain legal benefits and perks that are now only available to those in a legal marriage from one's marital status. Such marriage-linked benefits not only discriminate against gays and lesbians, but also heterosexuals in nontraditional relationships, and singles of all categories. I found quite a bit in this book that was relevant and useful to me as a nonmonogamous heterosexual. Highly recommended.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Mike S.

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Great

Helpful

Comment

S. Destfino

a little over the top

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2007

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

i bought this for a queer theory class and read it and found it interesting. i don't think i would have picked it up just to read, though. it's definitely something that the average jane would need to discuss to get the most out of (at least i did), but as a class text it was good... parts of it were a little over the top for me, but informative and stretched my mind for sure.

Helpful

Comment