The Bear Book is a composite portrait of gay bears--usually big, hairy men who favor full-face beards and prefer to wear jeans and flannel shirts. This emergent social phenomenon and new sexual iconography is burgeoning across America, Western Europe, and other parts of the gay global village. The first-ever book on the gay bear phenomenon, this book offers readers a collection of first-person observations and historical and critical investigations by participant observers within and outside the bear community. This exciting book is organized in an ideologically revealing manner, including...

How far have we progressed from the days when showing a film such as Jack Smith s Flaming Creatures landed the cinema s programmer, projectionist, and ticket taker in jail? What are some of the hidden clues modern audiences are overlooking in older films that suggest a character s bisexuality? Which famous actors, actresses, directors, and screenwriters were attracted to people of both sexes? In Bisexual Characters in Film, the first book to focus on the role of bisexual characters in film, you ll find answers to these questions and many more as you explore, analyze, and celebrate 80 years of...

Sheds light on consumer patterns of gay men and shows how mainstream businesses can tailor their marketing methods to this population. After a chapter overview on deviant subculture, gay identity, and symbolic meaning of consumer products, 44 gay men from Toronto are introduced and their day-to-day buying patterns are explored. Includes questionnai

In this enlightening book, you ll explore the life struggles and adaptations leading up to and following HIV infection in young Americans. The cases presented in Youths Living with HIV envisage a variety of experiences of youths living with HIV and AIDS, including individuals of different races, of each gender, and of different sexual preferences. This discussion of the private "troubles" and experiences of youths helps you understand and identify dependent and larger public issues surrounding HIV infection and AIDS, and demonstrates the need for comprehensive and targeted intervention and...

Our Families, Our Values challenges both the gay community and American society to examine carefully the meaning of family values and the nature of social institutions such as marriage and the family. It asks you provoking, even disturbing, questions such as: "Is it prudent for members of the Lavender community to mimic heterosexual marriage or define personal relations networks as families, when these institutions are rapidly collapsing?" "Are we attempting to mainstream American society into accepting different views of marriage and families?" "Are we subscribing to notions of sexual...

Confronting the psychological, social, sexual, legal, and political issues at stake in the coming-out process, Acts of Disclosure: The Coming-Out Process of Contemporary Gay Men uses research findings and first-hand accounts to help gay adolescents and men accept and embrace their sexual identity as an integral part of their being. Offering helpful advice and specific suggestions that will guide you through the coming-out process, this text also teaches family, friends, and colleagues how they can support and encourage you in this challenge.

A roadmap through the confusing process of...

You may be familiar with the tremendous life achievements of Jose Sarria, an integral player in the gay rights movement, but never before have you heard the intimate details of his incredible life as they are portrayed here. In The Empress Is a Man: Stories from the Life of Jose Sarria (winner of the Lammy Award in the transgender category), Michael Gorman exposes Sarria s life in a frank manner and with a unique storytelling ability that simultaneously causes amusement and sadness. Sarria s amazing life story tells of his perserverance to advance the cause of equality for gay...

Clinical Work and Social Action: An Integrative Approach develops a paradigm for social work and human services practice that integrates clinical work and social action. Social workers, clinicians, and educators will explore the contradictions that exist between values, theory, and practice and create a model of practice that reduces or eliminates these contradictions.

A same-sex attraction for soldiers and sailors spans the globe and predates the term "homosexual" by several thousand years. But these days "military chasers" are likely to be seen as doubly incorrect. Most are gay men who pursue straight men. And, many of them do it in public. What continues to motivate so many men to brave arrest, violence, and the scorn of gay leaders who condemn any non-gay homosexual desire as "internalized homophobia"?

In Military Trade (now updated to include an expanded photo insert ), Steven Zeeland, author of Sailors and Sexual Identity, The Masculine...

Packed to the hilt with living narratives, scholarly research, and problem-solution scenarios, Queer Kids: The Challenges and Promise for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth examines the unique challenges faced by today s homosexual young adults. You ll learn what modern-day queer kids do to cope, survive, and find understanding in a world riddled with homophobic intolerance.

Queer Kids is a lens of clarity that will help the average straight adult--and maybe even the average gay adult--see things from a kid s point of view. Its detail-oriented, well-wrought chapters will provide you...