For around a hundred years up to the Stonewall riots, the word for gay men was 'queers'. From screaming queens to sensative vampires and sad young men, and from pulp novels to pornography to the films of Fassbinder,
The Culture of Queers explores the histosy of queer arts and media.
Richard Dyer traces the contours of queer culture, examining the differences and contiunities with the gay culture which succeeded it. Opening with a discussion of the very concept of 'queers', he asks what it means to speak of a sexual grouping having a culture and addresses issues such as gay attitudes to women and the notion of camp.
Dyer explores a range of queer-made culture, from key topics such as fashion and vampires to genres like film
noir and the heritage film, and stars such as Charles Hawtrey (outrageous star of
Carry On films) and Rock Hudson. Offering a grounded historical approach to the cultural implication of queerness,
The Culture of Queers both insists on the cultural consequences of the oppression of homosexual men and offers a celebration of queer resistance.