Michelangelo Signorile, author of Queer in America and Outing Yourself, writes the monthly column Signorile in America for Out magazine. He has also written for the New York Times, the Village Voice, USA Today, and The Advocate. He is a graduate of the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
A columnist for Out magazine, Signorile (Queer in America, LJ 6/1/93) here urges gay men to shun what he calls the "cult of masculinity" that has been embraced by many gay men, particularly in the largest urban areas. In the first section‘the best part of the book‘Signorile describes the cult, traces its origins from shortly after Stonewall, describes the "circuit parties" firsthand, and documents the rampant use of steroids and other drugs among cultists. In Part 2, he posits recent trends toward the "deghettoization" and "deurbanization" of homosexuality, a move toward "postmodern monogamy," and a breakdown in the stereotype of the lonely old queen. Unfortunately, Signorile offers little reliable evidence for these trends and relies instead on data from an informal, unscientifically selected sample of several hundred men who are quoted or paraphrased at length. Also, many chapters read like expanded columns, good in themselves but not woven into an entirely cohesive argument. Overall, this is a good, readable book that could and should have been better. Recommended for larger collections.‘Robert W. Melton, Univ. of Kansas Libs., Lawrence
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