The Pleasure Principle: Sex, Backlash, and the Struggle for Gay Freedom - Softcover

Bronski, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312252870 ISBN 13: 9780312252878

Publisher: Stonewall Inn Editions, 2000

Synopsis

Drawing on a half-century of gay history, Michael Bronski brilliantly maps out the fascinating and often ironic interplay between culture and politics. In doing so, he illustrates how and why most heterosexuals need and love certain aspects of gay culture, even though this culture also causes them enormous anxiety and fear. The Pleasure Principle offers a profound and disturbing analysis of the roots—and the damaging results—of Western culture's inability to deal with both pleasure and sexuality, especially as they are embodied for many by contemporary gay culture.

About this title

Review:

"We are your worst fear," went one 1970s rallying cry among gay activists. "We are your best fantasy." Michael Bronski runs with that paradoxical notion, arguing that "straights" are correct to believe that homosexuals represent a threat to the values of Western civilization--and that's a good thing. What they fear (and resent) most in homosexuality, Bronski argues, is the ability of homosexuals to simply enjoy themselves, to take the pleasures of sexuality without the cultural baggage of reproductive responsibility and social conformity. Consequently, the "unique position" of homosexuals "as sexual outsiders endows them with an unparalleled vision for cultural and social change."

Bronski deftly deals with a dizzying array of post-WWII American history and culture, from the battles between homophile assimilationists and gay liberationists to the media controversy surrounding Pee-Wee Herman's arrest and the rise of lesbian chic. He makes a strong case both for the vitality of gay culture (including sexuality) and the necessity of explicitly recognizing the contributions that it has made and continues to make to mainstream culture. "Only when those in the dominant culture realize that they are better off acting like gay people," Bronski writes, "will the world change and be a better, safer, and more pleasurable place for everyone." --Ron Hogan

From the Publisher:

'Bronski ranges widely, often with great insight...a nice feature of his approach is that he seeks to understand gay culture and politics not in isolation but in relation to comparable phenomena both past and present." LA Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: Stonewall Inn Editions
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0312252870
• ISBN 13: 9780312252878
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304