Inside/out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories

In the space of a decade, lesbians and gays have gone from coming out to acting up to outing. In the process, they have radically redefined the way society views sex, sexuality and gender. But what does it mean to say one is gay? A dyke? A queen? Queer? Are these descriptions of sexual preference or cries of political protest? The first collection to specifically feature the new theoretical work in lesbian and gay studies, Inside / out challenges the heterocentric foundations of critical scholarship and theories of sexual difference. Written by lesbian and gay thinkers, the essays investigate the complex relations between desires and identifications, libidinal economies and social configurations, political representations and sexual symbolizations. The authors employ a variety of theoretical approaches (psychoanalysis, deconstruction, semiotics and discourse theories) to investigate representations of sex and sexual difference in literature, film, video, music and photography. Looking at divas, dykes, vampires and queens, these analyses address issues of AIDS, pornography, pedagogy, authorship and activism.