Out in the World: Gay and Lesbian Life from Buenos Aires to Bangkok

by Neil Miller

Overview

A journalistic account of gay and lesbian life in the diverse gay communities of Thailand, Germany, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, and other locales, sheds light on the cultural, political, and social factors influencing gay life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307767240
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/09/2011
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	2 MB

Editorial Reviews

Miller ( In Search of Gay America ) traveled for two and a half years through 12 countries, observing gay and lesbian life. This crisply written report underscores sharp cultural differences as it moves from Denmark, where homosexual partnerships enjoy virtually the same legal status as heterosexual marriage, to Argentina, which is home to entrenched, violent, socially sanctioned prejudice against homosexuality. In Japan, Thailand and Egypt, Miller encountered cultures in which same-sex relations have traditionally been accepted, while the larger fact of people's gay identities has been denied. In Australia, he found extremely enlightened AIDS policies. Among Australian Aborigines, black or mixed-race South Africans, and Maoris in New Zealand, he pondered the dilemma faced by people struggling to combine gay awareness with cultural and racial identities. In reunited Germany and post-1989 Czechoslovakia, Miller noted considerable political tolerance toward gays and lesbians. His compelling survey documents the international effects of the AIDS epidemic in forging gay community. Author tour. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Continuing in the style of his prize-winning In Search of Gay America ( LJ 4/15/89), Miller extends his examination of lesbian and gay life to 12 nations on five continents. From police repression of gay gatherings in Argentina to government-sanctioned marriages of same-sex couples in Denmark, Miller relates stories of both closeted and openly gay individuals. Interviewees share how their respective cultures have enabled or inhibited them from expressing their affections. In the face of oppression, the indomitable spirit of lesbians and gay men the world over is revealed. Miller acknowledges the book's slant toward the gay male experience, having found it difficult to contact as many lesbians as he wished. Still, more than any other, this work offers keen insight into the diversity and commonality of international gay life. Out in the World is highly recommended for public and ac ademic libraries.-- Stephen Newcomer, Los Angeles P.L.

Library Journal

The author of In Search of Gay America travelled to 12 countries and reports here on his conversations with gays and lesbians he encountered. Beyond describing individual situations and personalities, he questions the definitions of heterosexual and homosexual in each culture and looks for the preconditions that make it possible for individuals to live openly as gay or lesbian. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

In much the same manner that his earlier "In Search of Gay America" glimpsed gay life throughout the U.S., Miller's new book gives inside views of gay and lesbian culture in 14 countries as diverse as South Africa, Japan, Uruguay, and Germany. As Miller says in his introduction, the reader discovers that "the relationship between sexuality and society . . . [goes] beyond the subject of sexual orientation." Gay life in these countries is as diverse as the countries are themselves. We learn of repression in Argentina that creates an atmosphere of disillusionment; freedom in Denmark, where more than 800 lesbian and gay couples have been legally married; and a very different concept of sexuality in Egypt, where sex--straight "and" gay--is okay for men as long as no one knows about it. Perhaps the book's most important lesson is that while gay people and their everyday lives are in some ways similar throughout the world, particular societies' reactions to gayness are not. So where gay people are determines how they are: two lesbians married in Denmark are no longer married when they cross its borders.

Charles Harmon