Policing Public Sex: Queer Politics and the Future of AIDS Activism - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 089608549X ISBN 13: 9780896085497

Publisher: South End Press, 2008

Synopsis

As some activists have turned to regulation rather than education in the effort to curb the AIDS epidemic, the public culture at the foundation of queer culture has come under attack.

About this title

Review:

The AIDS epidemic has had a myriad of social and political consequences, not the least of which has been a radical social rethinking about sexuality. While AIDS has encouraged a more open discussion of sexual activity, it has also brought a backlash. Policing Public Sex, a collection of 25 essays by educators, activists, sociologists, and community spokespersons, is enormously smart. This volume helps us consider and contend with the political and social campaigns that seek to control or monitor manifestations of sexuality considered "public"--from safe-sex education to sex clubs. Well written, this book is on the cutting edge of social change and AIDS education.

From Library Journal:

Occasioned by the controversial opening of a new bathhouse in 1995 in New York City, this intentionally provocative anthology was "conceived as an introduction to the patterns and strategies structuring current debates around public sex." The 20 extremely readable essays question assumptions, critique the status quo, and battle conservatism within and without the "queer community." The authors?ranging from artists and journalists to university professors and sex workers?offer a fascinating historical perspective on how the state has policed deviant sexual behaviors and identities; promote sex-positive HIV prevention strategies; and posit new working definitions of public sex, AIDS activists, and queer politics. Compiled by an editorial collective of academics cum activists, this thoughtful and thought-provoking collection is highly recommended for academic and public gay studies collections.?James E. Van Buskirk, San Francisco P.L.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: South End Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 089608549X
• ISBN 13: 9780896085497
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416
• Editor: Dangerous Bedfellows