July 4, 2003

This quintet of books would grace any coffee table

Momen

aNts

X

ROMAN SEX

STRAPPED

FOR CASH

A FACE

TEE

LA NICKA

IN THE CROWD

by Anthony Glassman

In Victorian times, inanimate objects were anthropomorphized in the strangest ways. Tablecloths suddenly became longer to cover the table's legs lest they cause prurient thoughts. It is also the era that gave the world "light meat" and "dark meat" on poultry instead of breasts and thighs. What would a good Victorian say about a bare coffee table? This quintet of large-format books would dress up any table. Women in Pants (Abrams), for instance, is a marvelous tome. Collecting photographs from almost 200 years, making mention of some of the most famous queer women of the 19th and 20th centuries, the book delves into the connections between the early women's liberation movement, women's suffrage, the acceptance (or lack thereof) of lesbianism and transgressive gender identities.

Frida Kahlo, for instance, was fond of wearing "men's" clothes. She was bisexual. She was Mexican. She is also perhaps the most famous female painter of the 20th century.

Many women disguised themselves as men to find work, or, occasionally, to find love. Perhaps in today's world the latter would be transgendered men and would transition, perhaps not. It was a different time, and this book marvelously illustrates it.

Another offering from Abrams, Roman Sex: 100 B.C. to A.D. 250, goes even further back into the dark recesses of history.

If one were to believe certain popes over the course of the last 2,000 years, homosexuality was the reason for the downfall of the Roman Empire. Well, that may be, but swarms of armed barbarians sweeping down from the north probably didn't help Rome's situation any.

Yes, the Romans liked their same-sex nookie, as the book is only too happy to illustrate. While few examples of lesbian sex remain in Roman artwork, there are some. Those who think cunnilingus is a. modern invention are mistaken.

The boys in Rome, though, seem to have had more fun. While, sexually speaking, the more affluent and older men were generally on top, and performing fellatio somehow put one at the bottom of the food chain, there were apparently a lot of men at the bottom of the food chain, and occasionally even the rich old men liked to submit to someone younger.

The really great thing is, since these pictures are all 2,000 years old and generally painted on vases, they don't count as smut. It's art, darn

it!

For glossier fare, Alyson Books has a nice volume out. Watch your pockets, though, because these boys are Strapped for Cash.

Strapped for Cash: A History of American Hustler Culture is author Mark Friedman's look at male prostitution from colonial days to the modern era. Apparently, rent boys were quite popular throughout the history of this great nation, with judicial records documenting male prostitution and transgendered hookers from the earliest introduction of puritanical laws against gay sex.

Friedman's research also provides pictorial evidence, from an illustration of a black drag queen sentenced to prison in 1836 for larceny, to young male models in the AIDS era.

The book covers all the eras, war and peace, Wild West and philosophical east, looking at the various ways in which male prostitutes plied their trade. Some of the photos are erotic, some of historical interest. Overall, though, it's an interesting and unique book to add to the collection.

Take two gay men and one lesbian, over two hundred pages of photos and text about every facet of gay life in the Western world, toss in an introduction by Boy George, and you've got Queer (Thunder's Mouth Press), perhaps the most exhaustive compendium of homo pop culture ever assembled.

This book really has it all, from 35 slang terms for gay men and 31 for lesbians to biographies of straight women that gay men love. It's an incredibly informative book, too. For instance, did you know there is a lesbian hanky code? Many people are familiar with the men's hanky code, immortalized in mainstream culture in the movie Cruising and still popular in the leather community. But the existence of a lesbian hanky code was something spoken of in only the most hushed of tones. Whether Saran Wrap can be considered a hanky, though, is a point of contention although they do list it.

There are also more helpful nuggets of information in the book, like information on drawing up pre-nuptial agreements for same-sex couples and a day-by-day overview of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, regarded as the birth of the modern lesbian and gay civil rights movement. The section on boy bands could have been left out or replaced by the influence of Gothic rock on the gay community, but that, like Cher, is a matter of taste.

Finally, and perhaps most touchingly, there is A Face in the Crowd: Expressions of Gay Life in America, edited by John Peterson and Martin Bedogne for Prospect Publishing. The book was sponsored by the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and bears a cover photograph by famed photographer David LaChappelle, an introduction by Judy and Dennis Shepard, the parents of slain gay college student Matthew Shepard, and a foreword by Ellen DeGeneres' mother Betty.

It's a glossy creation, filled with pictures of everything from expressions of incredible intimacy between a parent and child to the 'very public display of gay veterans marching in uniform.

All throughout the book, snippets of information on historical gay figures, quotations about gay life and the struggle for equal rights and personal anecdotes line the pages, framing the gorgeous photographs with thoughtful text.

So, Queen Victoria, your spirit may rest in peace. No coffee table need ever go barebreasted... er... bare-light-meated again.

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE