Queer By Choice: Lesbians, Gay Men, and The Politics of Identity

By Vera Whisman

Book Overview

Queer by Choice enters the controversial debate of sexual identity by examining choice in gay men and lesbian sexual identity. Drawing on interviews with a sample of 72 people, Whisman analyzes if, and to what extent, choice played a role in determining identity. Contributing factors such as race, class, religion, and educational level are considered. The results of the study are stimulating and often surprising, and contribute to the escalating debates over sexual identity as lesbians and gays continue to soldier for rights and representation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415910153
• ISBN13: 9780415910156
• Release Date: February 1996
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 162 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Wonderfully informative and well written

To start off, kudos to the author for writing a book that is so readable and informative. The information in here is invaluable to those in the GLBT or Gender studies department.

Thought-provoking but not terrific

Whisman does a credible job in presenting the results of her dissertation and she doesn't claim more than is reasonable based on the somewhat limited size of her sample (about 35 gay men and about 35 lesbians). The interview excerpts are interesting, and they got me thinking about how or why women or men choose to be gay. My book group (about 10 lesbians) didn't like the book as much as I did, but I know what it means to write a dissertation and how limited the scope of it usually is (Whisman's research was not funded by a large institution). We would have been more interested in a psychological rather than a political analysis of the data on choice. This is not to discount the importance of the notion of choice from a political perspective . . . but most of us are experienced enough to know that we have to negotiate our way between heterosexual feminists and male homosexuals. On the other hand, the book did stimulate a good discussion of the issues that Whisman raises.