Tim Dean is a British academic, author, notable in the field of contemporary queer theory, [1] [2] [3] and author of several works on the subject: Gary Snyder and the American Unconscious (1991), Beyond Sexuality (2000), [2] and Unlimited Intimacy: Reflections on the Subculture of Barebacking (2009), [4] all published by the University of Chicago Press, and a co-editor of Homosexuality and Psychoanalysis (2001). Dean published Hatred of Sex together with Oliver Davis in 2022. [5]
Dean first became a British civil servant before attending the University of East Anglia, during which time he participated in a Junior Year Abroad program at Brandeis University, and wrote his undergraduate dissertation on Gary Snyder before graduating BA with First Class Honours in American Studies. [6] He subsequently earned his PhD at Johns Hopkins University (doctoral dissertation on Hart Crane). He was a Fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center (1997-1998). [7] He teaches at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign).
Teresa de Lauretis is an Italian author and Distinguished Professor Emerita of the History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her areas of interest include semiotics, psychoanalysis, film theory, literary theory, feminism, women's studies, lesbian- and queer studies. She has also written on science fiction. Fluent in English and Italian, she writes in both languages. Additionally, her work has been translated into sixteen other languages.
Down-low is an African-American slang term specifically used within the African-American community that typically refers to a sexual subculture of Black men who usually identify as heterosexual but actively seek sexual encounters and relations with other men, practice gay cruising, and frequently don a specific hip-hop attire during these activities. They generally avoid disclosing their same-sex sexual activities, even if they have female sexual partner(s), they are married to a woman, or they are single. The term is also used to refer to a related sexual identity. Down-low has been viewed as "a type of impression management that some of the informants use to present themselves in a manner that is consistent with perceived norms about masculine attribute, attitudes, and behavior".
Non-heterosexual is a word for a sexual orientation or sexual identity that is not heterosexual. The term helps define the "concept of what is the norm and how a particular group is different from that norm". Non-heterosexual is used in feminist and gender studies fields as well as general academic literature to help differentiate between sexual identities chosen, prescribed and simply assumed, with varying understanding of implications of those sexual identities. The term is similar to queer, though less politically charged and more clinical; queer generally refers to being non-normative and non-heterosexual. Some view the term as being contentious and pejorative as it "labels people against the perceived norm of heterosexuality, thus reinforcing heteronormativity". Still, others say non-heterosexual is the only term useful to maintaining coherence in research and suggest it "highlights a shortcoming in our language around sexual identity"; for instance, its use can enable bisexual erasure.
Leo Bersani was an American academic, known for his contributions to French literary criticism and queer theory. He was known for his 1987 essay "Is the Rectum a Grave?" and his 1995 book Homos.
Bugchasing is the rare practice of intentionally seeking human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection through sexual activity.
Bareback sex is physical sexual activity, especially sexual penetration, without the use of a condom. The topic primarily concerns anal sex between men without the use of a condom, and may be distinguished from unprotected sex because bareback sex denotes the deliberate act of forgoing condom use.
Gayle S. Rubin is an American cultural anthropologist, theorist and activist, best known for her pioneering work in feminist theory and queer studies.
A glory hole is a hole in a wall or partition, often between public lavatory cubicles or sex video arcade booths and lounges, for people to engage in sexual activity or to observe the person on the opposite side.
In psychoanalytic literature, a Madonna–whore complex is the inability to maintain sexual arousal within a committed and loving relationship. First identified by Sigmund Freud, who called it psychic impotence, it is a psychological complex that is said to develop in men who see women as either saintly Madonnas or debased whores. Men with this complex desire a sexual partner who has been degraded (whore) while they cannot desire the respected partner (Madonna). Freud wrote, "Where such men love they have no desire, and where they desire they cannot love." Clinical psychologist Uwe Hartmann wrote in 2009 that the complex "is still highly prevalent in today's patients".
Bobby Blake is a Baptist elder who acted in gay pornography until 2000.
John H. Gagnon was a pioneering sociologist of human sexuality who wrote and edited 15 books and over 100 articles. He collaborated with William Simon to develop the piece he is perhaps best recognized for: "Sexual Conduct: The Social Sources of Human Sexuality" (1973). He was Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he taught and from 1968 to 1998. In that same time frame, he also dedicated himself to advancing the field of sociology through his research.
Gay pornography is the representation of sexual activity between males. Its primary goal is sexual arousal in its audience. Softcore gay pornography also exists; which at one time constituted the genre, and may be produced as beefcake pornography directed toward heterosexual female, homosexual male and bisexual audiences of any gender.
A creampie is a sexual act, commonly featured in hardcore pornography, in which a man ejaculates inside his partner's vagina or anus without the use of a condom, resulting in visible seeping or dripping of semen from the orifice.
Flex-Deon Blake was an American gay pornographic actor who has appeared in gay pornographic films, gay pornographic magazines, and on websites. He starred in several bareback productions, including the controversial film Niggas' Revenge. In 2004, he was inducted into the Grabby Awards "Wall of Fame."
William Leap is an emeritus professor of anthropology at American University and an affiliate professor in the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at Florida Atlantic University. He works in the overlapping fields of language and sexuality studies and queer linguistics, and queer historical linguistics.
Robert McRuer is an American theorist who has contributed to fields in transnational queer and disability studies. McRuer is known as being one of the founding scholars involved in forming the field of queer disability studies, particularly for a theoretical outlook known as crip theory. He is currently professor of English at The George Washington University in Washington, DC.
Niggas' Revenge is a 2001 Pornographic horror film produced and directed by Dick Wadd and starring Bobby Blake and Flex-Deon Blake in their last film together. In his autobiography My Life in Porn, Bobby Blake devoted a whole chapter to the film, explaining some of his motives and describing it as "an expensive movie and the most powerful movie of my life", adding, "It's also one of the most controversial adult films ever made, and that's what I wanted it to be - I had decided this was to be my last film, and I wanted to take it to the limit."
Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life? is a 1956 book by the psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler, in which the author argues that homosexuality is a curable illness. Bergler denies that homosexuality is caused by hormonal or other biological factors, the Oedipus complex, or having a dominant mother and a weak or absent father, instead attributing both male and female homosexuality to pre-Oedipal factors involving an unsolved masochistic conflict with the mother during the earliest period of infancy. According to Bergler, homosexuality in men reflects unconscious fear and hatred of women. Bergler argues that there are several different types of homosexuality, each with a distinct clinical profile. Bergler rejects the existence of bisexuality, maintaining that all supposed bisexuals are homosexuals, and criticizes the work of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. He characterizes homosexual men as sexually promiscuous, and argues that this promiscuity is a result of their unsatisfying sex lives and masochistic craving for danger. Bergler argues against immediately repealing laws against homosexuality, though he suggests that such laws could perhaps be repealed in the future if other measures against homosexuality proved effective. Bergler proposes the publicizing of his ideas as a measure against homosexuality.
Robert Deam Tobin was the Henry J Leir Chair in Literature, Language and Culture at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts from 2008 to 2022. He was a leading scholar of German and European literature, culture, and sexuality studies. Tobin died of cancer in August 2022.
Elizabeth Freeman was an English professor at the University of California, Davis, and before that Sarah Lawrence College. Freeman specialized in American literature and gender/sexuality/queer studies. She served as Associate Dean of the Faculty for Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Davis.