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Average rating5
Thanks to Netgalley for giving me a chance to review this essay !
Not Gay is a deep and well documented study on white straight male sexuality and general behavior. It shows the tendencies of a certain part of the white straight male population to have homosexual behavior under certain conditions. It takes a bold stance concerning the fluidity of the sexuality and its evolution especially nowadays (while having a look on how the roles and gender evolved through the last century).
This essay is really interesting, quite deep and demands to be focused on its reading (especially due to the multiple use of queer terms and gender-theory related terms), but teaches a lot on things related to the straight white male sexuality through the hazing rituals, the marine and military initations, drunk sex, craiglist ads of straight dude looking for other straight dudes... It shows also how gender and sexuality evolved, with the apparition of the heteroflexible sexuality (neither gay, bi or totally straight), and explains how those straight homosexual relations can be interpreted but also what they imply.
The whole book was really interesting, challenging my mind at every part. It made me discover some things I really didn't know (like the fact that until 1930, both heterosexuality and homosexuality were considered as perversion as they didn't aim for conception) and surprised me on a lot of subjects (male rituals, “on the down low” sex, ...). For everyone interested in gender and human sexuality, this is quite an essay to read !