Books like How to be gay by David M. Halperin
Halperin, a professor at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, created an undergraduate English course called 'How to Be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation' in 1996. The course was a study of how gay men acquire a conscious identity, common culture, outlook on the world, and distinctive sensibility. The book chronicles the creation and development of the course content, the University's course approval process, attempts by state legislators, classroom teaching and student response. The author argues that gay culture is defined by its most despised stereotypes - such as aestheticism, snobbery, melodrama, glamour, and obsession with mothers - and its social meaning of style. The book is both a chronicle of the course and a reflection on the paradox of being a gay man.
First publish date: 2012
Genre: LGBTQ+ Fiction/Gay Fiction
Authors: David M. Halperin
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