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| | Orals Reading Notes: Gay New York, George Chauncey |
 | | The abnormality (or 'queerness') of the 'fairy,' that is, was defined as much by his 'woman-like' character or 'effeminacy' as his solicitation of male sexual partners; the 'man' who responded to his solicitations -- no matter how often -- was not considered abnormal, a 'homosexual,' so long as he abided by masculine gender conventions. |
 | | Of course, Gay New York tells us much not only about the construction of "homosexual" as a category but also of its opposite, "heterosexual." Echoing the work of T.J. Jackson Lears in intellectual history, Chauncey describes the "crisis of masculinity" that afflicted middle-class culture in the early years of the century. |
 | | According to Chauncey, "the dangers gay men faced increased rapidly in the postwar decades, even as the cultural boundaries of their world were changing." (360) The details of this story he leaves to his forthcoming sequel, The Making of the Modern Gay World, 1935-1975. |
| www.kevincmurphy.com /chauncey.html (563 words) |
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