Description
Book SynopsisBased on 60 in-depth interviews with a diverse group of straight men and women, this title explores how straight Americans make sense of their sexual and gendered selves in this new landscape, particularly with an understanding of how race does and does not play a role in these conceptions.
Trade Review"We can get terribly caught up in trying to pin down and label human behaviors, as though we were consistent and immutable creatures rather than the messy bundles of complex contradictions that most of us actually are. What James Joseph Dean does so well in Straights: Heterosexuality in Post-Closeted Culture is provide a conceptual framework for thinking about this & messiness of human sexuality and identity . . .Straights is timely and powerfully intersectional, with gender, sexuality and race established as robustly formative constellations of identity. Dean is the first commentator to articulate quite so clearly and thoughtfully how being & straight is no longer a social given, but a political position." * Times Higher Education *
"One of the strengths of Deans approach is his attention to the heterosexual identity management strategies of both men and women. This enables him to draw out gendered differences in the presentation of heterosexuality that enhances understanding of both sexes." * Sociology *
"[A] contemporary classic that will long serve as the key introductory text on heterosexuality." * Teaching Sociology,Greggor Mattson *
"This is a detailed account of an interesting empirical study." * Journal of Gender Studies *
"Dean has masterfully created a unique view of GLBTQ identity and its effect in heterosexuality, something heretofore seriously lacking in GBLTQ studies and highlighted with this book." * Choice *
"The author has produced an innovative account of how the unprecedented cultural visibility of gays and lesbians compels black and white straight men and women to refashion their heterosexuality." * American Journal of Sociology *
"James Dean's book illuminates the cusp of lived social change in gender and sexual relations, with homophobic attitudes on the decline and public support for gay rights and families on the rise. Straights shows how, during this 'post-closet' historical moment, people of various racial-ethnic groups define, mark, and sometimes contest heterosexual identities, privilege, and heteronormative social relations." -- Michael Messner,author of Power at Play: Sports and the Problem of Masculinity
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Thinking Straight: Gender, Race, and (Anti)homophobias 2. From "Normal" to Heterosexual: The Historical Making of Heterosexualities 3. Straight Men: Renegotiating Hegemonic Masculinity and Its Homophobic Bargain 4. Straight Women: Doing and Undoing Compulsory Heterosexuality 5. Queering Heterosexualities? Metrosexuals and Sexually Fluid Straight Women 6. Conclusion: Straights, Post-Closeted Culture, and the Continuum of Identity PracticesAppendix Notes Bibliography Index About the Author
