Speaking in Queer Tongues: Globalization and Gay Language

This book provides a good global sampling. It moves from Western countries to non-Western ones to communities of color in the United States. Some articles just ask whether the word "gay" is now being used in various countries and when. Others asked how the concept of sexual orientation as an identity melds or clashes with old sexual categorizations in particular countries. Some articles just detail what terms same-gender-loving people use in magazines and at clubs. Others are deep comparative literature and ethnography which ask larger questionss about the society at large. One of the great things about this book is that gay Americans who don't know much about other countries can learn about those countries generally as well as their LGBT communities here.

I am sure that William Leap had an original, revolutionary idea when he coined his term. It doesn't surprise me that he would spearhead amassing articles from academics discussing the phenomenon globally. However, so many contributors quote his work that I wonder if they had to cite him in order to be included here.

Often times in books that cover global phenomena, the Western chapters are huge and the non-Western ones are scant. The total opposite occurs here. The articles on Germany and France were small. The ones on Indonesia, Thailand, and communities of color in the US were huge. In fact, in Indonesia, gay have invented their own language! This begs the question of whether American or Anglo-American cultural imperialism is more of a concern outside the West, rather than inside it. Still, the book consistently answers that foreigners are not just consuming American ideas hook, line, and sinker. They are active agents who adapt concepts to their own prerogatives.

I do recommend this books to others. It's academics but the chapters that cover one's own community may very well speak to you. The communities of which you are not familiar may intrigue you as well.