Reviews - Bad Gays: A Homosexual History

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Bad Gays: A Homosexual History

What can evil and complicated queer people from history teach us about shaping and understanding modern queer identity? Quite a lot it turns out! Meticulously researched, well written and fun to read it doesn't skimp on any of the salacious or rude bits either

saish7's review against another edition

3.0

I was really excited to read this book but sadly I found it triggering and had to leave it one third in.
I skimmed through the different passages to see if any other could catch my attention but to no avail.

I think that it's worth mentioning that there is only one woman in here and that pretty soon all the stories resemble the same scheme of: "someone gay has to endure atrocities for being so and goes mad trying to hide it or escape but ends up dead either way".

Overall I just do not find it entertaining to read about characters with such degree of internalized homophobia that they turn their hatred into Jews, women or the gay liberation movement at the time. I'd rather read about how homosexuality and gender subversion has been perceived throughout history, but that was already done for by one third of the book.

I understand that this is a historical book at its core and maybe I wasn't the target audience for it because the amount of random facts sprawled in made this extremely hard to read and follow. I personally couldn't find how certain data provided was tied to the story of the bad gay in question but maybe it was put there to appeal to a more well versed audience as a way to superimpose the taught history with the one given in the book.

thediscowalrus's review against another edition

4.0

Excellent book which has really broadened my perspective on queer identity and community. The analysis of these figures was really strong. It would have been great to tie some of the stories together within the text and explore the evolution of changing identities a bit more explicitly. It would have been great to see how things evolve in more recent times too. Often very witty which is great to see in a more academic text but at times could be quite dry.

jts4568's review against another edition

4.0

funny informative inspiring slow-paced

Very insightful anthology into the darker side of prominent queer figures of that past, seeking to explore how our sexuality influenced our politics and actions, and vice versa.

ugnys's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 60%

I feel like the book couldn't find the right balance between an academic article-like and a fun gossipy tell-all tone. That being said, as it's structured in chapters on different bad gays, I read the ones I found interesting and did not abandon in the middle of one.

sanderijng's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 15%

after a year, maybe it's time to admit to myself i'm not going to finish this one lmao. the premise sounded really interesting, but i just found myself bored while reading this. i think the writing style of the author is the main issue, although the first two chapters also left me feeling underwhelmed when it comes to the actual content. it's a shame because you probably could make a really cool book out of this concept.