Straight: The Surprisingly Short History Of Heterosexuality (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
I loved this book. It was fascinating and very well-researched. She begins by pointing out that terms like "heterosexuality" weren't coined until the late 1800's. Obviously, people were living "straight" lives before that, but they didn't "identify" themselves as heterosexual - it was just "normal" for them. What does the changing term mean in terms of our assumptions and stereotypes? What does it mean for women's rights?Overall it's a great history of marriage, feminism, and queer activism, but it's also a fantastic dissection of our underlying beliefs about life and love. This would make a terrific book group book.Also - it's definitely an academic book, but it's incredibly engaging. I breezed through it and enjoyed the story. This book is more for someone who hasn't already read tons of nonfiction regarding human sexuality, sexual identity, gender identity, etc. I'm always submerged in this and I know it, believe it, and teach it: It's extremely subjective and nothing "means" anything. The book plays with concepts of sexuality that are entirely forged by social constructs, namely heterosexuality. I think my disappointment with this is that I'm already informed about its thesis and basic supportive arguments but also that I thought it would discuss non-heterosexual trends or events or the history of non-heterosexual practices or SOMETHING. I can't exactly say but I feel weirdly misled. If you're new to exploring the really lame and outrageously limiting terms of sexuality presented to you today (heterosexual, homosexual) then this will be very eye opening. If you're up to your ears in feminist and LGBT blogs and orgs and have done a good bit of reading on subjects of human sexuality, then you're good to pass on this. There is truly nothing more boring to me than reading about heterosexuality (even if it's a very inappropriate/untrue/meaningless word for anyone, just like "homosexual"). I KNOW the book is literally called "Straight" and says it's about the history of heterosexuality but I thought it'd get into more. Since sexuality operates on such a fantastically wide spectrum and since the words we choose hardly mean a thing in a larger context, I figured I'd be reading about more than the history of romantic love and whatnot.Basically, why wasn't this gayer?
What do You think about Straight: The Surprisingly Short History Of Heterosexuality (2012)?
Thought-provoking. Heterosexual is a concept that was only named in the 19th century.
—dean
The queerest book on straightness I've ever read. Delightful.
—Megan
