Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories (After the Law)

In the space of a decade, lesbians and gays have gone from coming out to acting up to outing. In the process, they have radically redefined the way society views sex, sexuality and gender. But what does it mean to say one is gay? A dyke? A queen? Queer? Are these descriptions of sexual preference or cries of political protest? The first collection to specifically feature the new theoretical work in lesbian and gay studies, Inside / out challenges the heterocentric foundations of critical scholarship and theories of sexual difference. Written by lesbian and gay thinkers, the essays investigate the complex relations between desires and identifications, libidinal economies and social configurations, political representations and sexual symbolizations. The authors employ a variety of theoretical approaches (psychoanalysis, deconstruction, semiotics and discourse theories) to investigate representations of sex and sexual difference in literature, film, video, music and photography. Looking at divas, dykes, vampires and queens, these analyses address issues of AIDS, pornography, pedagogy, authorship and activism. Contents......Page 3 Acknowledgments......Page 5 Inside/Out by Diana Fuss......Page 7 PART I: Decking Out: Performing Identities......Page 17 1. Imitation and Gender Insubordination by Judith Butler......Page 19 2. Boys Will Be Girls: The Politics of Gay Drag by Carole-Anne Tyler......Page 38 3. Who Are "We"? Gay "Identity" as Political (E)motion (A Theoretical Rumination) by Ed Cohen......Page 77 4. Seeing Things: Representation, the Scene of Surveillance, and the Spectacle of Gay Male Sex by Lee Edelman......Page 99 PART II: Cutting Up: Specters, Spectators, Authors......Page 123 5. Anal Rope by D. A. Miller......Page 125 6. Female Spectator, Lesbian Specter: The Haunting by Patricia White......Page 148 7. A Parallax View of Lesbian Authorship by Judith Mayne......Page 179 8. Believing in Fairies: The Author and The Homosexual by Richard Dyer......Page 191 PART III: Zoning In: Body/Parts......Page 209 9. The Queen's Throat: (Homo)sexuality and the Art of Singing by Wayne Koestenbaum......Page 211 10. Below the Belt: (Un)Covering The Well of Loneliness by Michele Aina Barale......Page 241 11. Rock Hudson's Body by Richard Meyer......Page 265 PART IV: Acting Up: AIDS, Allegory, Activism......Page 295 12. AIDS in America: Postmodern Governance, Identity, and Experience by Thomas Yingling......Page 297 13. "All the Sad Young Men": AIDS and the Work of Mourning by Jeff Nunokawa......Page 317 14. Undead by Ellis Hanson......Page 330 15. Shocking Pink Praxis: Race and Gender on the ACT UP Frontlines by Catherine Saalfield and Ray Navarro......Page 347 PART V: Speaking Out: Teaching In......Page 377 16. Visualizing Safe Sex: When Pedagogy and Pornography Collide by Cindy Patton......Page 379 17. School's Out by Simon Watney......Page 393 Source Bibliography......Page 411 Contributors......Page 431

Lesbians and gays have gone from "coming out," to "acting up," to "outing," meanwhile radically redefining society's views on sexuality and gender. The essays in Inside/Out employ a variety of approaches (psychoanalysis, deconstruction, semiotics, and discourse theory) to investigate representations of sex and sexual difference in literature, film, video, music, and photography. Engaging the figures of divas, dykes, vampires and queens, the contributors address issues such as AIDS, pornography, pedagogy, authorship, and activism. Inside/Out shifts the focus from sex to sexual orientation, provoking a reconsideration of the concepts of the sexual and the political.

Library Journal

Most of the 17 essays presented here were initially delivered in conference paper form at the National Lesbian and Gay Studies Conference or at various professional associations; some were commissioned specifically for this volume. The essays cover ``at least a portion of the work currently being done in a variety of mediums (literature, film, video, music, photography) across a spectrum of theoretical approaches (psychoanalysis, deconstruction, semiotics, discourse theory).'' For readers unfamiliar with the particularities of each discipline, the jargon-laden, cumbersome texts, extensively footnoted, may be overwhelmingly daunting, no matter how fascinating the topics addressed. For subject collections only.-- James E. Van Buskirk, San Francisco P.L.

Challenges The Heterocentric Foundations Of Critical Scholarship And Theories Of Sexual Difference And Investigates The Complex Relations Between Desires And Identifications, Libidinal Economies And Social Configurations, Political Representations And Sexual Symbolizations. At first I considered writing a different sort of essay, one with a philosophical tone: the "being" of being homosexual.