The Culture of Desire

With a new Introduction by the author. Browning offers a narrative investigation into what it means to be a gay man in America in the 1990s, and poses the question of how a culture can create itself out of sexual desire. Exploring the worlds gay men have created, from Cuban couples in Miami and farmers in Kentucky, to AIDS activists, sexual theorists, and dedicated hedonists across North America, The Culture of Desire shows how homosexuality has evolved its own codes, styles, and values--and proclaimed them triumphantly even in the face of homophobia and AIDS. Browning says that culture--especially gay culture--thrives only when it embraces its own paradoxes: gay men must reconcile their longing for social and community identity with the dream of absolute freedom. What Oscar Wilde refers to as the paradox of thought and the perversity of passion create the elusive culture of desire.

"The Culture of Desire is absolutely cutting edge--a portrait of modern sexual politics [that] should be required reading."
--Armistead Maupin

"One of the most honest and provocative nonfiction books ever published on the contemporary life of gay men in America. Browning delves into not only the controversial sexuality of gay men, but also their deepest emotional strivings for community, family, and spiritual connection...This book documents our lives and examines the big question about the meaning of life, death, love, and human community."
--Jeffrey Escoffier, Publisher, OUT LOOK: National Lesbian and Gay Quarterly


Contents

Introduction to the Vintage Edition

Prologue: "Can I Meet People?...Is it Dying?"

1. Mystery, Plot, and Remembrance: A Boy on the Dock and Other Intimations of Desire
2. Queer Rage: "We're Here! We're Queer! Get Used to It!"
3. Celebutantes: Fabricating the Fabulous Man
4. Spirit and Transgression: Looking for Ecstasy in the Penetrated Man
5. From Front Lines to Home Front: Reclaiming the Queer Body
6. Reconstructing the Extended Family: Personal Freedom and the Community Household
7. Parties, Pageants, Parades: Rituals of Deliverance
8. The Terror of Touching
9. Paradox and Perversity: "What the paradox was to me in the sphere of thought, perversity became to me in the sphere of passion."