Gayfriendly: Acceptance and Control of Homosexuali Ty in New York - and Pari

Informationen zum Autor Sylvie Tissot is Professor of Political Science at University of Paris 8. Klappentext What does it mean to be gayfriendly? Having gay friends, supporting gay marriage, remaining unfazed when one's son or daughter comes out? Going to gay bars or questioning one's own sexual orientation? There is no single model of 'gayfriendliness', but rather different attitudes which vary according to age, sex, country and life circumstance.Acceptance of homosexuality has undeniably grown, and homosexuality is increasingly seen as one form of sexuality among others. But embedded in this liberal vision is a perspective that is more troubling. Based on interviews with gayfriendly straight people in the liberal neighbourhoods of Park Slope in New York and the Marais in Paris, Sylvie Tissot shows that stereotypes remain and control of gays and lesbians has not disappeared. Acceptance is directed towards those who are of the same socioeconomic background, who proclaim their wish to emulate traditional norms of family life, and who do not make any other demands.Gays must be normal but not completely so, similar and at the same time different, in order to meet the not always conscious conditions of acceptability.Gayfriendliness has managed to dispel violence and discrimination and has accompanied the invention of less conventional lives. But, as Tissot shows, it has not yet liberated itself from the clutches of heterosexual domination which still structures our society and our ways of thinking. Zusammenfassung What does it mean to be gayfriendly? Having gay friends, supporting gay marriage, remaining unfazed when one's son or daughter comes out? Going to gay bars or questioning one's own sexual orientation? There is no single model of 'gayfriendliness', but rather different attitudes which vary according to age, sex, country and life circumstance.Acceptance of homosexuality has undeniably grown, and homosexuality is increasingly seen as one form of sexuality among others. But embedded in this liberal vision is a perspective that is more troubling. Based on interviews with gayfriendly straight people in the liberal neighbourhoods of Park Slope in New York and the Marais in Paris, Sylvie Tissot shows that stereotypes remain and control of gays and lesbians has not disappeared. Acceptance is directed towards those who are of the same socioeconomic background, who proclaim their wish to emulate traditional norms of family life, and who do not make any other demands.Gays must be normal but not completely so, similar and at the same time different, in order to meet the not always conscious conditions of acceptability.Gayfriendliness has managed to dispel violence and discrimination and has accompanied the invention of less conventional lives. But, as Tissot shows, it has not yet liberated itself from the clutches of heterosexual domination which still structures our society and our ways of thinking. Inhaltsverzeichnis Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1. Becoming Gayfriendly Reticence, recognition, indifference: three different generations 'It simply didn't exist' 'It would be un-cool to be un-gayfriendly' 'A non-issue' The learning processes   Atypical heterosexuals The ordeal of coming out Chapter 2. Gay Respectability The right to love each other American-style and sexual freedom in France     The Power of the Law     Sexual Liberalism     Gay marriage, heterosexual relief           Republican universalism and the difference between the sexes Good neighbours, good husbands and wives, good parents     Appropriating an area in the name of diversity           Progressive synagogues and churches in Park Slope           A cause for gentrifiers ...

List of contents

Acknowledgements
 
Introduction
 
Chapter 1. Becoming Gayfriendly
 
Reticence, recognition, indifference: three different generations
 
'It simply didn't exist'
 
'It would be un-cool to be un-gayfriendly'
 
'A non-issue'
 
The learning processes
Atypical heterosexuals
 
The ordeal of coming out
 
Chapter 2. Gay Respectability
 
The right to love each other American-style and sexual freedom in France
 
The Power of the Law
 
Sexual Liberalism
 
Gay marriage, heterosexual relief
 
Republican universalism and the difference between the sexes
 
Good neighbours, good husbands and wives, good parents
 
Appropriating an area in the name of diversity
 
Progressive synagogues and churches in Park Slope
A cause for gentrifiers
 
From lesbian enclave to gayfriendly district
 
Family integration, class integration
 
Gayfriendliness within the family
 
You shall be gayfriendly, my child
 
Integration and surveillance of same-sex families
 
You will (perhaps) be gay, my child
 
The guide for gayfriendly parents
 
From tomboy to invisible lesbian
 
Chapter 3. Heterosexuals as allies
 
Feminine Compassion
 
The division of moral labour
 
Male unease
 
The 'Cruisers' of the Parisian night scene
 
The 'fag hag' and her 'gay best friend'
 
Disillusions, safe haven and substitute
 
The Prism of femininity
 
Gayfriendliness and lesbophobia
 
Women rebelling against marriage
 
(Re)-building your life when living alone
 
Sexual experiments
 
Chapter 4. The frontiers of gayfriendliness
 
A race and class norm
 
Homophobia as bad taste
 
Talking about space, not race
 
The Southern United States as a deterrent
 
Visibilities and invisibilities
 
Keeping the streets clean
 
My gay friends
 
The home of heterosexuality
 
Conclusion
 
Bibliography
 
Notes

Report

"As anti-gay and anti-trans sentiment surges, the illusion of a rainbow coloured world of queer inclusion is rendered ever more apparent and the need for critical and complex analysis becomes ever more pressing. Sylvie Tissot has given us just such an analysis. In this compelling comparative study of two 'gayfriendly' oases, she unpacks the often contradictory affects of both queers and straights as they imagine sexual identities in supposedly 'tolerant' urban spaces and, in so doing, offers a critical commentary on the limits of tolerance and the possibilities of radical inclusion in a world still governed by normative heterosexuality. A smart and nuanced addition to the burgeoning literature on queer spaces and the promises (and limits) of straight allyship."
Suzanna Danuta Walters, author of The Tolerance Trap: How God, Genes, and Good Intentions Sabotaged Gay Equality

Product details

• Authors: Tissot, Sylvie Tissot, Tissot Sylvie
• Assisted by: Helen Morrison (Translation), Morrison Helen (Translation)
• Publisher: Polity Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.05.2023
• EAN: 9781509553259
• ISBN: 978-1-5095-5325-9
• No. of pages: 208
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Soziologie, Politikwissenschaft, Homosexualität, Kulturwissenschaften, Gender Studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Geschlechterforschung, Political Science, Schwul, Gender & Sexuality, Geschlecht u. Sexualität, Geschlechterfragen u. Politik, Gender & Politics