From Boys to Men Gay Men Write About Growing Up

by Gideonse, Ted; Williams, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780786716326
• ISBN10: 0786716320
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-04
• Publisher: Da Capo Press

Summary

More than an anthology of coming out stories, From Boys to Men is a stunning collection of essays about what it is like to be gay and young, to be different and be aware of that difference from the earliest of ages. In these memoirs, coming out is less important than coming of age and coming to the realization that young gay people experience the world in ways quite unlike straight boys. Whether it is a fascination with soap opera, an intense sensitivity to their own difference, or an obsession with a certain part of the male anatomy, gay kids or kids who would eventually identify as gay have an indefinable but unmistakable gay sensibility. Sometimes the result is funny, sometimes it is harrowing, and often it is deeply moving. Essays by lauded young writers like Alex Chee (Edinburgh), Aaron Hamburger (Faith for Beginners), Karl Soehnlein (The World of Normal Boys), Trebor Healy (Through It Came Bright Colors), Tom Dolby (The Trouble Boy), David Bahr, and Austin Bunn, are collected along with those by brilliant, newcomers such as Michael McAllister, Jason Tougaw, Viet Dinh, and the wildly popular blogger, Joe.My.God.

Author Biography

David Eisenbach taught courses in U.S. history and in politics and media at the City College of New York and Columbia University.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vii
Sleeping Eros	p. 1
The Story I Told Myself	p. 19
Preppies Are My Weakness	p. 35
Barbie Girls	p. 45
Signs	p. 57
No Matter What Happens	p. 69
The Lives and Deaths of Buffalo Butt	p. 89
Dick	p. 103
The Upshot	p. 119
Guide	p. 131
Terrence	p. 143
The Boy with the Questions and the Kid with the Answers	p. 167
A Brief History of Industrial Music	p. 181
The Competitive Lives of Gay Twins	p. 195
Five Stories about Francis	p. 211
Mom-Voice	p. 223
Growing Up in Horror	p. 243
Inheritance	p. 251
Whatever Happened to...	p. 259
Peristalsis	p. 273
Aplysia californica	p. 287
About the Contributors	p. 303
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