Gay Macho is a collection of sociological writings by the late Martin Levine. The first part of the book is his graduate dissertation on gay "clone" culture; the second part is comprised of shorter essays Levine wrote, sometimes in collaboration with others, on various aspects of the AIDS epidemic and its effects on the clone culture he knew so well.
The author, a gay man, employed a constructionist sociological approach to observe and make sense of the developing gay clone culture, epscially that of New York City, in the 1970's. Editor Michael Kimmel, a friend and colleague, has given the title of a popular disco song to each chapter. For example, the "Y.M.C.A." chapter analyzes concentrations of gay institutions in several major American cities. Levine does not attempt to include all gay people, not even all gay men, in his study. He limits the parameters of his study to clones, the hypermasculine, openly gay men who had promiscuous sex and drugs in the social network of urban clone neighborhoods in the 1970's. In the proceeding decades, homosexuals had been viewed as failed men, sick men, effeminate men. Clones rejected this view by "coming out," working out in gyms, and copying modes of dress and behavior of working class heterosexual men. Levine argues that the clone emerged out of many intersecting sociological forces, including the sense of individualism of the 1960's. Interestingly, clones adopted teh conservative, traditional masculine social script, including sex without intimacy, multiple sex partners, and sex as adventure and conquest. Some sweeping generalizations are used, but still helpful. Part One conclues with thirteen pages of references -- a valuable source for anyone interested in gay studies.
The second half of this book contains seven shorter essays written between 1983 and 1992. Each tackles a different aspect of AIDS. Traditionally this disease has been viewed from a medical point of view. The insights shared by these sociologists increase our sense of perspective on this huge social crisis. Since some chapters come from the early 1980's, it is important to remember that the means of transmission were only gradually understood and made public. I appreciate their challenge of trying to make sense of many social ofrces, in motion, from inside the epidemic. The first half of the book describes a culture that embraced drug use and adventurous sex with multiple partners as a social identity. The very same masculine qualities that gave birth to the clone culture made it vulnerable to the AIDS epidemic. This volume, therefore, sounds both optimistic and elegiac.
Levine's writing is clear and thorough. As I read, my one concern was that Martin Levine's participation in the clone culture might have affected his objectivity. This was adequately answered by the moving biography in the epilogue. I recommend this book for anyone interested in viewing either gay culture or AIDS through a sociological lens.
Quote from page 155 of the book:
Gay men with AIDS "are not 'perverts' or 'deviants' who have
strayed from the norms of masculinity, and therefore brought this
terrible retribution upon themselves. They are, if anything,
overconformists to destructive norms of male behavior. They are men
who, like all real men, have taken risks. And risk taking has always
implied danger. Men have always known this and have always chosen to
take risks. Until daring has been eliminated from the rhetoric of
masculinity, men will die as a result of their risk taking. In war.
In sex. In driving fast and drunk. In shooting drugs and sharing
needles. Men with AIDS are real men, and when one dies, a bit of all
men dies as well. Until we change what it means to be a real man,
every man will die a little bit every day."
Reviewed 9 June 1998 by Patrick O'Malley.