Essays

Deconstructing Pride is a collection of essays on homosexuality, identity and culture. It starts from a simple distinction: homosexuality is a sexual fact; the gay identity is something built on top of it, with its own creed, rituals and spokespeople. Drawing on personal experience and cultural criticism, the essays examine what that identity promises and what it costs: victimhood as status, the coming-out ritual, sexual liberation, the culture of display, and the expansion into queer. They are written for readers who sense that something is off, without quite being able to say why. Each essay stands on its own. Start anywhere.