Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: To the Reader
Some Theoretical Starting Places
About This Book
Readings
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, from “Queer and Now”
Michael Warner, from “Queer and Then?”
SECTION I: Histories
Chapter 1. Before Identity: The Ancient World through the 19th Century
Greek Paiderastia
Pederasty in Other Early Cultures: The Middle East and Asia
Gender Variance in Pre-Columbian America and India
Same-Sex Relationships and Desires in Judeo-Christian Cultures
Desires for Identity
Romantic Friendships and Boston Marriages
Molly-Houses: Early Homoerotic Subculture in England
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
Readings
Sappho, “To a Maiden"
Abu Nuwas, “In the Bath-house” and “My Lover Has Started to Shave”
Zulali Khwansari, from the Epic Poem "Masnavi"
Ihara Saikaku, “Bamboo Clappers Strike the Hateful Number”
Wu Meicun, “Song of Beau Wang”
Ancient Egyptian Binding Spell
Order for Solemnization of Same-Sex Union
Wadham Limericks
Chapter 2. Sexology: Constructing the Modern Homosexual
Victorian Sex: Some Background
Sexology: Defining a Field of Study
A Sexologist in Depth: Havelock Ellis
Paving the Way for Freud
Sexology and Early Sexual Rights Movements
Sexology’s Legacy
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
Readings
Havelock Ellis, from “History II” and “History XXXVI. — Miss H. Aged 30”
Kurt Hiller, Appeal to the Second International Congress for Sexual Reform on Behalf of an Oppressed Human Variety (Introduction and translation by John Lauritsen)
John D’Emilio, “Capitalism and Gay Identity”
Chapter 3. Toward Liberation
Medical Models of Homosexuality
Urban Life and Sexual Expression
World War II and Homosexuality
McCarthy and the Purge of the “Perverts”
The Homophile Movement
Emerging Visibility and Activism
The Politics of Liberation
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
Readings
“Donald Webster Cory” (Edward Sagarin) and John P. LeRoy, “Should Homosexuality Be Eliminated?”
Marilyn Barrow, “Living Propaganda”
Radicalesbians, “The Woman-identified Woman”
Combahee River Collective, “The Combahee River Collective Statement”
Chapter 4. Queer Normalization and Beyond
AIDS: Epidemic and Activism
Antigay Backlash and Hate-Crimes Legislation
The Attractions and Effects of Normalization
Inclusion versus Assimilation: Two Approaches to Securing Rights
Trans Becoming Visible
LGBTQ Rights in a Global Context
The Cost of Assimilation
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
Readings
From the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Preamble and Section on Equality from the Bill of Rights
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, "Free and Equal in Dignity and Rights," Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, 12 December 2011
U.S. Congress Original Defense of Marriage Act Legislation, One Hundred Fourth Congress of the United States of America
U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Same-Sex Marriage, June 2015, Obergefell et al., certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
SECTION II: Politics
Chapter 5. Nature, Nurture, and Identity
Kinsey
After Kinsey
Challenging Binaries
The Quest for the Gay Gene
Nature–Nurture: What’s at Stake?
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
Readings
Windy M. Brown, Christopher J. Finn, Bradley M. Cooke, and S. Marc Breedlove, “Differences in Finger Length Ratios between Self-identified ‘Butch’ and ‘Femme’ Lesbians”
Albert Mohler, “Is Your Baby Gay? What If You Could Know? What If You Could Do Something about It?”
Rictor Norton, from “Essentialism”
Chapter 6. Queer Diversities
L . . . G . . . T . . . : A Story of Push and Pull
Bisexual Erasure in the LGBTQ Community
Intersexuality
Q: Beyond Sexual Identity
A for Allies
Diverse Controversies
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
Readings
Amber Hollibaugh, “Queers without Money: They Are Everywhere. But We Refuse to See Them”
John Aravosis, “How Did the T Get in LGBT?”
Susan Stryker, “Why the T in LGBT Is Here to Stay”
Chapter 7. Intersectionalities
The “Down Low” and Applied Intersectional Theory
Women, Class, and Internationality
Tools for Intersectional Analysis
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
Readings
Kathy Y. Wilson, “Just a Closer Walk with Thee”
Richard Thompson Ford, “What’s Queer about Race?”
Sonnet Gabbard, “Preserving the Nation: Transitional Serbia, the European Union, and Homophobia”
SECTION III: Representations
Chapter 8: Queer Literatures
Whitman and His Descendants
Oscar Wilde
Radclyffe Hall
Lesbian Pulp Novels
Gay Male Pulp Novels
Transgender Novels
Emerging Queer Literary Voices
Queering Books for Young People
Queer Literature: Global Disruptions
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
Readings
Walt Whitman, “We Two Boys Together Clinging”
Michael Field, “Sometimes I Do Despatch My Heart" and "It Was Deep April"
Edward Carpenter, “Love’s Vision”
Langston Hughes, “I, Too, Sing America”
Judy Grahn, “A History of Lesbianism”
June Jordan, “Poem about My Rights”
Audre Lorde, “A Woman Speaks”
Ann Bannon, from I Am a Woman
Chapter 9. Visual and Performing Arts
Visualizing the Homoerotic
The Expatriates
Physique Magazines
Fine Art: From the Beautiful to the Political
Backlash Against Queer Art
Performing Queer: Theater
Art and Consumerism
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
Readings
Steven C. Dubin, from “Art’s Enemies: Censors to the Right of Me, Censors to the Left of Me”
Chapter 10. Film and Television
Visibility and Representation
Varieties of Queerness in Contemporary Film
Fire and Carol
Small-Screen Queers
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
Readings
Maria Pramaggiore, "Fishing for Girls: Romancing Lesbians in New Queer Cinema"
Kara Keeling, "′Joining the Lesbians′: Cinematic Regimes of Black Lesbian Visibility"
Gayatri Gopinath, from "Local Sites/Global Contexts: The Transnational Trajectories of Fire and ′The Quilt′"
Chapter 11. Queers and the Internet
Queer Social Networking
Internet Censorship and Corporatization
Internet Activism
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
Readings
Andil Gosine, “Brown to Blond at Gay.com: Passing White in Queer Cyberspace”
Uttarika Kumaran, “Disabled, Gay, and as Normal as You”
Chapter 12. Queer Cultures: Alternative Media and the Search for Queer Space
Documentary Films
Film and Music Festivals
Queer Music
LGBTQ Journalism: Magazines, Newspapers, and Comics
Many Journeys, Many Homes
Questions for Discussion
References and Further Reading
Readings
Michael Sibalis, from “Urban Space and Homosexuality: The Example of the Marais, Paris’ ‘Gay Ghetto’”
Sergio Arguello, “They Were Here First: LGBTQ Seniors in Los Angeles”
Glossary
Index
About the Authors

About the Author

Jonathan Alexander is Chancellor’s Professor of English and Gender & Sexuality Studies at the University of California, Irvine. He is author, co-author, or editor of twenty-one books, including several works of queer creative nonfiction, including Stroke Book: The Diary of a Blind Spot (Fordham, 2021) and the “Creep” Trilogy, consisting of Creep: A Life, a Theory, an Apology (punctum, 2017), Bullied: The Story of an Abuse (punctum, 2021), and Dear Queer Self: An Experiment in Memoir (Acre Books, 2022).  He is also published extensively in LGBT and sexuality studies, including the books: The Routledge Handbook of Queer Rhetorics (co-edited with Jacqueline Rhodes, 2021), Sexual Rhetorics: Methods, Identities, Publics (co-edited with Jacqueline Rhodes, Routledge, 2015); Techne: Queer Meditations on Writing the Self (co-authored with Jacqueline Rhodes, Computers and Composition Digital Press, 2015); Bisexuality and Queer Theory: Intersections, Connections and Challenges (co-edited with Serena Anderlini D’Onofrio, Routledge, 2012); Literacy, Sexuality, Pedagogy: Theory and Practice (Utah State, 2008); and Bisexuality and Transgenderism: InterSEXions of the Others (co-edited with Karen Yescavage, Routledge, 2004).

Deborah T. Meem is Professor Emerita of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati. Her academic specialties are Victorian literature, LGBTQ Studies, and the 19th-century woman’s novel. She earned a PhD from Stony Brook University in 1985. Her work has appeared in Journal of the History of Sexuality, Feminist Teacher, Studies in Popular Culture, and elsewhere. She has edited four works by Victorian novelist and journalist Eliza Lynn Linton: The Rebel of the Family (Broadview, 2002), Realities (Valancourt, 2010), The Autobiography of Christopher Kirkland (Victorian Secrets, 2011), and Sowing the Wind (Victorian Secrets, 2015). With Michelle Gibson she coedited Femme/Butch: New Considerations of the Way We Want to Go (2002) and Lesbian Academic Couples (2005), both published by Routledge Press. With Jonathan Alexander she wrote “Dorian Gray, Tom Ripley, and the Queer Closet” (CLCWeb, 2003)

Michelle A. Gibson is Professor Emerita of the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati. Her scholarship focuses on Sexuality Studies and pedagogy. Her most recent writing applies queer and postmodern identity theories to pedagogical practice and popular culture. With Jonathan Alexander she edited QP: Queer Poetry, an online poetry journal, and she and Alexander also edited a strain of JAC: Journal of Advanced Composition titled “Queer Composition(s).” With Deborah Meem she coedited Femme/Butch: New Considerations of the Way We Want to Go (2002) and Lesbian Academic Couples (2005).

Reviews

"Finding Out is an excellent and much-needed overview of LBGTQ studies, providing a thorough history and evocative readings reflecting a variety of perspectives and experiences." 
*Brecken Chinn*

"Great introductory book that gives equal weight to historical and contemporary topics"
*Parandeh Kia*

 "I can’t remember ever enjoying reading a textbook so much since I was a graduate student. "
*Teresa Sabourin*

"…The information and history provided in [Finding Out] are unlike anything I’ve had the opportunity to read. Queer history is so often completely ignored in schools, so this really gives me an opportunity to talk about where we’ve been, and where we’re going, and hopefully encourage our students to get out from behind their computers and help to continue making change for the LGBT community!"
*Lynn Zlotkowski*

"Only introductory textbook for LGBT studies AND it covers a good range of topics, quality of scholarship is good, and has some good primary source readings; students in an introductory, general education course find it both accessible and interesting."
*Diana L Swanson*