The Homosexualization Of America
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''The Homosexualization of America, The Americanization of the Homosexual'' is a 1982 book about
LGBT rights in the United States Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in the United States are at risk of erosion under the Second presidency of Donald Trump, with transgender rights being most at risk. While lesbian, gay and bisexual rights remain a ...
by the gay rights activist
Dennis Altman Dennis Patkin Altman (born 1943) is an Australian academic and gay rights activist. Early life and education Dennis Patkin Altman was born in 1943 in Sydney, New South Wales to Jewish immigrant parents, and spent most of his childhood in Hob ...
, in which the author discusses the emergence of gay people as a minority group. The book received positive reviews, crediting Altman with providing a useful discussion of gay people in the United States.


Summary

Altman discusses the increased visibility of gay people in the United States and conflicts over gay rights issues there, basing his account partly on his visits to the country. His two major themes are, "the emergence of homosexuals as a new minority with our own culture, life style, political movement, and claim to legitimacy, and the impact of this minority on the broader society." He argues that gay people have come to see themselves as being similar to an ethnic group and to "claim recognition on the basis of this analogy", and that the United States is being "homosexualized", a process that involves, "the adoption of styles and fashions associated with an increasingly visible and assertive gay minority" and is "changing American society in important ways", such as the
gentrification Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...
of some urban areas. He identifies
Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
and
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
as influences, arguing that while is not necessary to adopt all of their views, Marx's ideas are essential to discussing social change and that Freud's ideas are essential to discussing
human sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
. He writes that by the beginning of the 1980s, some gay men had abandoned the "effeminate style" that had previously characterized gay men and adopted a style involving "a theatrically masculine appearance: denim, leather, and the ubiquitous key rings dangling from the belt." He sees this style as typified by the "super-macho image" of the
Village People Village People is an American disco group known for its on-stage costumes and suggestive lyrics in their music. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis following the re ...
. He addresses the way homosexuality has been dealt with by newspapers and the film industry. He writes that the American film industry has "had the most difficulty coming to terms with homosexuality" of all media in the United States, and that it usually depicts gay people as either villains or victims. He discusses films, such as ''
Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
'' (1980), '' Cruising'' (1980), '' Fame'' (1980), ''
Making Love ''Making Love'' is a 1982 American drama (film and television), drama film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Kate Jackson, Harry Hamlin and Michael Ontkean. The film tells the story of a married man coming to terms with his homosexuality an ...
'' (1982), ''
Personal Best A personal record, or a personal best (abbreviated to PB), is an individual's best performance in a given sporting discipline. It is most commonly found in athletic sports, such as track and field, other forms of running, swimming and weightlifting ...
'' (1982), and '' Partners'' (1982), with gay themes. He discusses books dealing with
homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...
such as the psychologist
Alan P. Bell Alan Paul Bell (January 18, 1932 – May 13, 2002) was an American psychologist who worked at the Kinsey Institute. Bell was born in Newark, New Jersey on January 18, 1932. He earned an undergraduate degree from University of the South and a m ...
and the sociologist Martin S. Weinberg's '' Homosexualities'' (1978) and Bell ''et al.''′s '' Sexual Preference'' (1981), offering criticisms of both works. He also includes a chapter-length discussion of, "Sexual Freedom and the End of Romance".


Publication history

''The Homosexualization of America, The Americanization of the Homosexual'' was first published by
St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...
in 1982. It was published in a paperback edition by
Beacon Press Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as Jame ...
in 1983 as ''The Homosexualization of America''.


Reception


Mainstream media

''The Homosexualization of America'' received positive reviews from David L. Keyes in ''
Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...
'' and from ''
Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...
''. Keyes credited Altman with providing "an excellent synthesis of a wide variety of gay/lesbian issues in a satisfying blend of research and personal experience", and with showing that gay people in the United States have adapted the political process to their advantage by focusing on lobbying for civil rights, and that American society has undergone a change in its sexual behavior and values. ''Kirkus Reviews'' wrote that the book was a "discerning account of the coming of age of the gay community (with lesser attention to lesbian women)". It expressed doubt about Altman's view that gay people are "pioneers in human relationships", but considered his bibliography "invaluable for the writings of the last decade" and credited him with covering "difficult ground with intelligence and care."


Gay media

''The Homosexualization of America'' received a positive review from the gay rights activist Ken Popert in ''
The Body Politic ''The Body Politic'' was a Canadian monthly magazine, which was published from 1971 to 1987. It was one of Canada's first significant gay publications, and played a prominent role in the development of the LGBT community in Canada. ''The Body Po ...
''. The book was also reviewed by the critic
Felice Picano Felice Anthony Picano (February 22, 1944 – March 12, 2025) was an American writer, publisher and critic who encouraged the development of gay literature in the United States. His work is documented in many sources. Life and career Felice Ant ...
in the ''
New York Native The ''New York Native'' was a biweekly gay newspaper published by Charles Ortleb in New York City from December 1980 until January 13, 1997. It was the only gay paper in New York City during the early part of the AIDS epidemic, and pioneered repo ...
'' and by ''
The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * The Advocate (magazine), ''The Advocate'' (magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States * ''The Harvard Advocate' ...
''. Popert considered the book a sophisticated discussion of gay rights. He credited Altman with providing a clear and straightforward account of the meaning of homosexuality, and analyzing "the way in which the conditions which allow the gay movement to advance also impose limitations on it." Though he noted that Altman's views on this topic were not original, he believed that Altman had performed a useful task by "assembling them in a coherent and popular form" for a "large audience for whom they will be novel, challenging and even unsettling." He praised Altman's chapter on "Sexual Freedom and the End of Romance", calling it the most engaging part of the book, and described the book as a whole as, "very much the product of a mature community, sure of itself, capable of self-criticism, confident of its place in history, and infused with an appropriate sense of mystery and destiny." However, he expressed some minor reservations about Altman's work. He called its title "quirky" and suggested that it might have been chosen to appeal to the "ethnocentric" American market, and also found that Altman sometimes diverted attention from his arguments through excessive citations or digressions.


Academic journals

''The Homosexualization of America'' was discussed by Rhonda R. Rivera in ''
University of Pennsylvania Law Review The ''University of Pennsylvania Law Review'', formerly known as the ''American Law Register'', is a law review published by an organization of second and third year J.D. students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. It is the oldest law ...
''. Rivera credited Altman with discussing the "creation of a homosexual minority" with reference to economic and social factors.


Other evaluations

The social theorist
Jonathan Dollimore Jonathan G Dollimore (born 1948) is a British philosopher and critic in the fields of Renaissance literature (especially drama), gender studies, queer theory ( queer studies), history of ideas, death studies, decadence, and cultural theory. He ...
argued that ''The Homosexualization of America'' suggested that "because the prevailing order in some sense requires the denigration of homosexuality" it is not possible for "gay culture to be integrated into the dominant culture" or be accepted by it. Though questioning the historical accuracy of some of Altman's claims, he also credited him with correctly implying that "the negation of desire and the negation of difference are in practice often inseparable". The gay rights activist
Will Roscoe Will Roscoe (February 8, 1955) is an American activist, scholar, and author based in San Francisco, California. Early life Will Roscoe was born on February 8, 1955. He grew up in Missoula, Montana. Gay activism Roscoe helped found the Lambda A ...
argued that Altman was mistaken to maintain that the "minority model of Gay identity and community" is a "new form of social control." He dismissed Altman's advocacy of "universal androgyny and
bisexuality Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, ...
" as a "political dead-end." Altman wrote that ''The Homosexualization of America'' represented "the high point of my obsession with the gay world of the United States". He recalled that it "barely reached shops in Australia." Altman also recalled that it resulted from his "infatuation with New York and the new gay culture that seemed to be sweeping aside all other ways of being homosexual" and that an editor dismissed his proposal for the book because he "used the Village People as an emblem of how gay styles were changing." He summarized his argument in ''The Homosexualization of America'' as being that, "normality itself was being remade by the new gay affirmation, which in turn reflected the larger shifts being brought about by new social and economic forces that were shaking up old assumptions around sexuality and gender, most evident in the dramatic opening up of career possibilities for women." The political commentator
Andrew Sullivan Andrew Michael Sullivan (born 10 August 1963) is a British-American political commentator. Sullivan is a former editor of ''The New Republic'', and the author or editor of six books. He started a political blog, ''The Daily Dish'', in 2000, and ...
described ''The Homosexualization of America'' as, "A pre-AIDS defense of the religious right's nightmare: a culture in which monogamy is not expected in relationships." However, he added that Altman, "describes gay male culture before same-sex marriage became an imaginable option." Daniel C. Mattson wrote that Altman took an "essentialist" view of homosexuality, something Mattson found a
logical consequence Logical consequence (also entailment or logical implication) is a fundamental concept in logic which describes the relationship between statement (logic), statements that hold true when one statement logically ''follows from'' one or more stat ...
of the gay rights movement's objective of "convincing society that homosexuality is as inherent and essential an aspect of man's nature as his skin color and ethnicity."


References


Bibliography

;Books * * * * * * * ;Journals * * * * * ;Online articles * {{DEFAULTSORT:Homosexualization of America, The 1980s LGBTQ literature 1982 non-fiction books American non-fiction books English-language non-fiction books Gay non-fiction books LGBTQ literature in the United States Non-fiction books about same-sex sexuality Sociology books St. Martin's Press books