Description
Book SynopsisIn gay bars and nightclubs across America, and in gay-oriented magazines and media, the buff, macho, white gay man is exalted as the idealthe most attractive, the most wanted, and the most emulated type of man. For gay Asian American men, often viewed by their peers as submissive or too pretty,' being sidelined in the gay community is only the latest in a long line of racially-motivated offenses they face in the United States.Repeatedly marginalized by both the white-centric queer community that values a hyper-masculine sexuality and a homophobic Asian American community that often privileges masculine heterosexuality, gay Asian American men largely have been silenced and alienated in present-day culture and society. In Geisha of a Different Kind, C. Winter Han travels from West Coast Asian drag shows to the internationally sought-after Thai kathoey, or ladyboy, to construct a theory of queerness that is inclusive of the race and gender particularities of the gay Asian male experience
Trade ReviewGeisha of a Different Kind bravely engages with the struggles and triumphs of Asian American gay men as they inhabit American society and its gay mainstream.A lucid study with an unflinching focus on the daily contingencies of these men's lives, this book is an important contribution to the scholarly understanding of contemporary U.S. sex/gender systems and their fraught links to racial formations. -- Martin F. Manalansan IV,author of Global Divas: Filipino Gay Men in the Diaspora
The sharp analysis in this book offers a way to see the deeply penetrating influence of race while offering expansive models for living in (LGBTQI) America. * American Journal of Sociology *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Geisha of a Different Kind 1. Being an Oriental, I Could Never Be Completely a Man: Gendering Asian Men 2. Sexy Like a Girl and Horny Like a Boy: Contemporary Gay "Western" Narratives about Gay "Asian" Men 3. It's Like They Don't See Us at All: Race and Racism in Gay America 4. Asian Girls Are Prettier: How Drag Queens Saved Us 5. Finding Home in Gaysian America: Constructing Gay Asian Male Identities Conclusion: Who Gets to Be Gay, Who Gets to Be Asian? References Notes Index About the Author
