Search results for ""author joshua gamson""
The University of Chicago Press Freaks Talk Back – Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity
People talk so much about the bizarre that it quickly becomes routine. As the talk show circuit becomes increasingly obsessed with sexual nonconformists, many wonder if this form of representation isn't simply exploitation. This book claims that in a sense, talk shows turn everything they touch into "freak shows". But what happens when the freaks talk back? The book argues that from talk shows' lies and sensationalism emerge certain truths. The socially deviant may be featured on-air for ridicule in the public eye, but the result is empowerment through exploitation. The book illuminates the dilemmas and practicalities of media visibility.
£30.59
New York University Press Modern Families: Stories of Extraordinary Journeys to Kinship
A personal, intimate account of the extraordinary ways that today’s families are being created. From adoption and assisted reproduction, to gay and straight parents, coupled and single, and multi-parent families, the stories in Modern Families explain how individuals make unconventional families by accessing a broad range of technological, medical and legal choices that expand our definitions of parenting and kinship. Joshua Gamson introduces us to a child with two mothers, made with one mother’s egg and the sperm of a man none of them has ever met; another born in Ethiopia, delivered by his natural grandmother to an orphanage after both his parents died in close succession, and then to the arms of his mother, who is raising him solo. These tales are deeply personal and political. The process of forming these families involved jumping tremendous hurdles—social conventions, legal and medical institutions—with heightened intention and inventiveness, within and across multiple inequities and privileges. Yet each of these families, however they came to be, shares the same universal joys that all families share. A companion for all those who choose to navigate the world of modern kinship, Modern Families provides a “fascinating look at the remarkable range of experiences that is broadening the very idea of family” (Booklist).
£21.99
