Coming Out - Softcover

Hamilton, Wallace

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451099729 ISBN 13: 9780451099723

Publisher: Signet, 1981

Synopsis

For gay men and lesbians, as well as for the families and friends of gays, this 1990's guide to coming out privately and publicly is a frank, powerful, and much-needed book. Eichberg says that a full-scale effort to find a cure for AIDS will only be implemented when gay people collectively affirm their sexuality.

About this title

Review

Taking responsibility for your life is the first step in moving forward and changing the world inside and around you. Rob Eichberg's Coming Out: An Act of Love, written for both men and women, is a step-by-step guide to understanding and accepting your homosexuality and dealing with others' reaction to it. Using clear, empathetic, and direct language, Eichberg, a trained psychotherapist, explains in detail how coming out radically alters self-perception and your relationships with others. Using examples from his own practice and letters from gay people to their mothers, fathers, siblings, and friends, Eichberg puts a positive, forceful, but gentle face on the process of coming out and the complications that it sometimes raises.

Eichberg discusses coming out as a psychological and political process that affects not only individuals but their families as well. Because this book continually reaffirms gayness as a gift for everyone--straight and gay--it can be read by gay people coming to terms with their sexuality and by their parents, friends, and coworkers. There are also chapters on how AIDS has affected the coming out process and how to deal with AIDS-phobia on a personal and political level. Coming Out: An Act of Love centers on the individual, but understands that one person's actions of self-respect and love can begin to change the world. --Michael Bronski

From Publishers Weekly

Clinical psychologist Eichberg has written a practical, step-by-step self-help guide for lesbians and gay men who wish to come out of the closet. Co-founder of a weekend coming-out workshop and of National Coming-Out Day, Eichberg draws on his professional experience as he guides readers toward self-esteem and suggests ways to cope with fears of being rejected or disowned; with feelings of isolation, guilt, powerlessness; with their own defensive anger and aggressiveness. This exceptionally well-written manual includes sections on coming out to parents, friends, spouses, business associates and employers; on integrating sexuality with one's religious beliefs; and on the sociopolitical dimensions of coming out during the AIDS epidemic. Piercingly honest letters from workshop participants are interwoven with Eichberg's insightful advice. This powerful book will also be helpful to heterosexuals who seek a better understanding of gay relatives and friends.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Signet
• Publication date: 1981
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451099729
• ISBN 13: 9780451099723
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 270