Beyond Gay or Straight: Understanding Sexual Orientation (Issues in Lesbian Gay Life)

Rating:
Summary: Polarities are passe
Review: Jan Clausen reasons carefully through essentialist vs. constructionist views of homosexuality. "Natural" and "universal" sexuality are examined, especially in light of other cultures' more open views toward a "sliding scale" of sexual expression. This is a careful set of ideas beautifully expressed: Careful to take readers through issues such as whom one has sex with, who is emotionally most important, which acts one chooses as "sexuality," how sexual identity in relation to biological sex might be modified by choice of occupation and dress, etc. Clausen is not afraid of "confusion" on these issues. She wants us to think about either-or thinking in our sexual categories. She helps us to think about passages in humanity's sexual history and the times & places of personal sexual expression in profound ways. A good deal of her reasoning focuses on how, where, and why some cultures see boundaries between "male" & "female" sexual expression as fluid or rigid. She argues that far from fixed, sexuality is the burden of freedom. This is a wonderful, thought-provoking book, still relevant in a time when religionists denounce sexual choices as sin and damnation and some gay theorists speak of getting "beyond gay." Its tone and its stories reflect the profound truths of a PFLAG (Parents, Family, & Friends of Lesbians & Gays) dictum in a pamphlet written for helping young people who are questioning their sexuality: The youth asks, "How can I tell if I'm gay?" The PFLAGers answer is: "You'll know when you know." There is profound compassionate counsel in that simple PFLAG statement, and there is compassionate examination of all human sexuality in Jan Clausen's Beyond Gay or Straight: Understanding Sexual Orientation. I love this book. I share this book with many people who are SERIOUS about sexual expressions.