![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A couple months ago, a Friend of a girlpal on Facebook started pretend-flirting with me in that balls-out incredibly presumptuous style that I wish I could master. (When it works, it's supercharming and hilarious, and when it doesn't, it's irritating as crabs.) Eventually the Friend request came and I accepted it because that's my new thing, accepting most all Friend requests on Facebook.
A couple weeks ago, he messaged me and asked if I'd be interested in reading a book and discussing it with him for a podcast. I don't understand podcasts. I don't listen to them and I imagine I'd be terrible at them. But I like reading books and my other new thing is trying to say "Yes" to as much as I can. So I said "Yes", figuring the thing about the podcast won't ever happen.
The book in question is The boys of Boise, about a major homosexual scandal and witch hunt which took place in Boise in 1955. The author is John Gerassi, who was apparently a fairly prominent lefty journalist. That helps explain his broadly sympathetic view of the victims--though honestly, there are more progressive views among the cast of characters than I expected. For instance, there's a cosmopolitan mental health professional who manages to get himself appointed head of the state Department of Mental Health in short order and suggests counseling for the boys, treatment for those who exploited them, and tolerance for everyone else. Naturally, he isn't listened to.
I'm not very far in and I'm already hitting a wall. Gerassi, for all his merits, doesn't seem to know how to write a really compelling exposé. There are apparently some incredible revelations coming up about behind-the-scenes machinations by powerful players in Idahoan politics, but I have to wade through some very dull court documents to get to them. (Dude, that's what appendices are for!) He's not gay himself, but he had a reputation as a womaniser, so I find myself approaching his claims about the sexual sophistication of the boys with a helping of scepticism.
The other thing I find striking in the bits I've read so far are the metaphors being deployed. As I told![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
monshu, "They make us sound like vampires." Even the most progressive voices agree that homosexuality is a disorder; the main disagreement is on how it arises and, therefore, how much of a threat it is. The local newspaper editorial credited with triggering the crackdown opts for the hoary "recruitment" canard (this may, in fact, be one of the key incidents in giving it legs), likening teh gey to an epidemic which is bound to spread if not rooted out since "one adult homosexual can inflect multiple youths".
This is still all pretty basic stuff, so I wonder how much valuable commentary I'll be able to contribute should it come to that. I asked this guy why he singled out me for participation and he said, "You're a fellow homo, you can read" to which my reaction was, "Damn, low bar". But maybe by "read" he meant something more than "make the sounds of the words in your head" which, frankly, is all most gay men I've met are capable of.
A couple weeks ago, he messaged me and asked if I'd be interested in reading a book and discussing it with him for a podcast. I don't understand podcasts. I don't listen to them and I imagine I'd be terrible at them. But I like reading books and my other new thing is trying to say "Yes" to as much as I can. So I said "Yes", figuring the thing about the podcast won't ever happen.
The book in question is The boys of Boise, about a major homosexual scandal and witch hunt which took place in Boise in 1955. The author is John Gerassi, who was apparently a fairly prominent lefty journalist. That helps explain his broadly sympathetic view of the victims--though honestly, there are more progressive views among the cast of characters than I expected. For instance, there's a cosmopolitan mental health professional who manages to get himself appointed head of the state Department of Mental Health in short order and suggests counseling for the boys, treatment for those who exploited them, and tolerance for everyone else. Naturally, he isn't listened to.
I'm not very far in and I'm already hitting a wall. Gerassi, for all his merits, doesn't seem to know how to write a really compelling exposé. There are apparently some incredible revelations coming up about behind-the-scenes machinations by powerful players in Idahoan politics, but I have to wade through some very dull court documents to get to them. (Dude, that's what appendices are for!) He's not gay himself, but he had a reputation as a womaniser, so I find myself approaching his claims about the sexual sophistication of the boys with a helping of scepticism.
The other thing I find striking in the bits I've read so far are the metaphors being deployed. As I told
monshu, "They make us sound like vampires." Even the most progressive voices agree that homosexuality is a disorder; the main disagreement is on how it arises and, therefore, how much of a threat it is. The local newspaper editorial credited with triggering the crackdown opts for the hoary "recruitment" canard (this may, in fact, be one of the key incidents in giving it legs), likening teh gey to an epidemic which is bound to spread if not rooted out since "one adult homosexual can inflect multiple youths".This is still all pretty basic stuff, so I wonder how much valuable commentary I'll be able to contribute should it come to that. I asked this guy why he singled out me for participation and he said, "You're a fellow homo, you can read" to which my reaction was, "Damn, low bar". But maybe by "read" he meant something more than "make the sounds of the words in your head" which, frankly, is all most gay men I've met are capable of.
Tags: