Abstract
The study of “gayborhoods”—typically urban neighborhoods or districts identified and/or populated with LGBT populations located mostly in the Global North—is a multidisciplinary field. Scholars, such as Martin P. Levine and Manuel Castells, who were writing near the dawn of the 1980s, are among the field’s early pioneers. It is far from arbitrary that both Levine and Castells were sociologists. Sociology, among other disciplines, was at the forefront of initial research on gay neighborhoods. However, the subfield grew markedly in the 21st century. Lately, there appears to be growing interest for book length sociological analyses on the subject. Sociologists Amin Ghaziani and Jason Orne seperately published recent monographs on gay neighborhoods. Following this trajectory is a new anthology, The Gayborhood: From Sexual Liberation to Cosmopolitan Spectacle, co-edited by Christopher T. Conner and Daniel Okamura.
The Gayborhood features eleven chapters written predominately but not solely by sociologists. The content of the book addresses issues of social change and assimilation (chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 11), race and racism (chapters 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11), and concerns of space and community outside the “gayborhood” (chapters 8, 9, 10, and the afterward). The chapters range from observational analyses to more conceptual or theoretical pieces (see chapters 5 and 10, for example). The introduction includes a short discussion on gay neighborhood conflicts, the “post-gay” phenomenon, and the influence of digital technologies.
The chapters on assimilation and social change approach the ideas from different angles, including the discordant beliefs and behaviors of heterosexual residents in Chicago’s gay neighborhoods (chapters 1), on gay bar district transformations in San Francisco (chapter 2), broader historical change of queer collective sex spaces in New York City (chapter 4), the experience of a gay singleton in “gay scenes” (chapter 5), how black queer residents of D.C.’s Shaw/U Street corridor dealt with an increase in white queer residency (chapter 7), and the changing beliefs of gay men who patronize gay bars in Boystown (chapter 11). The chapters on race and racism include work on how queer men of color navigate San Francisco’s gay white spaces (chapter 6), how queer people of color in Chicago engage in “street corner practices” to make a local gay neighborhood more accessible (chapter 7), and racial conflicts between predominately white gay male residents and queer youth of color in Boystown (chapters 3 and 11), among others. Finally, the chapters on gay space and community outside the “gayborhood” include the experiences of two-mother families in Poland (chapter 8), on trans youth and digital media (chapter 9), on gay men and gay dating apps (chapter 10), and a journalistic account of one gay man’s journey to create LGBT community beyond the “gayborhood” serving as the afterward.
The diversity of subject matter and method, elucidation of social dynamics, and application of theory is impressive. For those looking for a book that gives you a sample of the different approaches that the “gayborhood” and its features are currently being studied primarily within but also outside sociology, The Gayborhood is bountiful: from gay bar districts to dating applications. While the book’s empirical chapters are largely qualitative, they run the gamut from content analyses to participant observation to various interview-based methods, and some chapters combine several of these methods. The book particularly flourishes at illuminating processes of social change and/or inequality. In the first chapter, for example, Adriana Brodyn and Ghaziani explore a disconnect between Chicago heterosexual “gayborhood” residents support for the lesbian and gay community and their lack of “behavioral backing.” The authors identify the residents using a collection of viewpoints or communicative devices to manage the quandary, which both minimized gay oppression and reinforced heterosexual dominance. As Brodyn and Ghaziani write, “Acceptance does not displace prejudice; it recrafts it into subtler forms” (p. 33). The book also succeeds in applying or extending the ideas of social theorists to the terrain of the “gayborhood,” such as those of Elijah Anderson (chapter 7), Pierre Bourdieu (chapters 1, 2, and 6), Lisa Duggan (chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, and 11), Erving Goffman (chapter 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, and 10), and Gayle Rubin (chapters 1, 2, 4, and 11), among others.
Where readers may find the collection wanting is in international representation. With a few exceptions, the book lacks an international scope, largely focused on the three “quintessential” U.S. gay metropolitan areas of New York City, San Francisco, and Chicago. There is also a noticeable gap in focus on queer-women-centric spaces or districts. More contributors specifically centered on queer or trans women’s relation to the “gayborhood” or space, more generally, could have broadened the book’s purview. Despite this, The Gayborhood is a valuable contribution to the study of gay neighborhoods, helping to map the growing body of scholarship on LGBT-identified localities. The book’s chapters could be assigned for undergraduate or graduate courses in sexualities, LGBT studies, and urban research. The book will be particularly helpful for scholars who study queer life, the intersection of sexuality and race, and space.
ORCID iD
Rick Braatz https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7580-2786