Artigo Acesso aberto Revisado por pares

Barry Reay, New York Hustlers: Masculinity and Sex in Modern America.

2011; University of Alberta; Volume: 36; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.29173/cjs10958

ISSN

1710-1123

Autores

Kevin Walby,

Tópico(s)

Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes

Resumo

N ew York Hustlers is a work of cultural history.Although not explicit- ly written for them, the book will nonetheless be relevant to sociologists interested in sex and gender, as it explores the "instability" and "untidiness" of categories of sexuality.Empirically, Reay's book examines paid sex between men in New York during the middle of the twentieth century.More than a foray into sex between men and the slipperiness of labels, this book casts Alfred Kinsey's research on male sexuality in new light by following one of Kinsey's key informants: Thomas Painter.Most of the material for New York Hustlers was researched at The Kinsey Institute for Research on Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University, where the collected writings, letters, and photographs of Thomas Painter are held.Painter was fascinated by "trade": macho, virile, masculine bodies and men who took an inserter or active role in commercial sexual encounters ("being blown or actively sodomizing").The Painter collection provides unique textual and visual insight into the gendered aspects of male with male sexual relations in New York between 1930 and 1970.Drawing on Painter's collection, Reay shows how trade was a way of making a living that overlapped with other kinds of hustling (e.g.thievery) and other sorts of sexual encounters.Excursions into Puerto Rican gang activities, jail tattoos, and the lives of Italian-American boxer-hustlers all help make the point about muscling, hustling, masculinity, and sex.Male hustling was marked by a rough trade aesthetic and tough sexual code, at least until the mid-1960s.Reay notes (as did Painter) an interesting change over time: macho males involved in paid sex between men faded with gay liberation struggles and the coming out of millions of Americans; or at least hustlers were recast as part of the "gay" community.Previously, homosexual and gay identity was not intelligible in trade and hustling circles, demonstrating the mutability of sexual identification and categorization.As Reay puts it "the hustler -who was part of the sexual regime known as

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