Gay Print Culture by Juan Carlos Mezo Gonzalez

Gay Print Culture : A Transnational History of North America by Juan Carlos Mezo Gonzalez 
 
 
In Gay Print Culture, Juan Carlos Mezo González investigates the relationship between transnational gay liberation politics, periodicals, and images in Mexico, the United States, and Canada from the early 1970s through the mid-1990s.
 
Mezo González examines the production, content, circulation, and reception of leading gay periodicals published in these countries, including community-based gay liberation publications and commercially oriented gay lifestyle and erotic magazines. He demonstrates how they aimed to visualize the political goals of gay liberation, particularly those concerning the liberation and celebration of homoerotic desires.
 
Mezo González contends that visualizing these goals allowed activists, editors, publishers, and artists to foster the formation of gay communities and identities while advancing gay liberation movements at the local, national, and international levels. In so doing, he furthers understandings of the transnational nature of gay periodicals, the relationship between gay liberation politics and visual culture, and the existing tensions between the liberation of some and the oppression of others across the American continent.
 
Paperback 288 pages, 59 illustrations
 
-----
 
“In this remarkable and provocative book, Juan Carlos Mezo González reveals an intricate tapestry of archival material, interviews, and visual culture to show the ideas, people, and placement of queer activism as a borderland of desire. An exceptional analytical and archival undertaking, Gay Print Culture is a testament to the importance of visual media as a tool for liberation activists.” - Patrizia Gentile, author of Queen of the Maple Leaf: Beauty Contests and Settler Femininity
 
“Way before the internet, periodicals were key to the spreading of important information and the building of identities for many gay communities across the Western Hemisphere. Mezo González’s outstanding analysis of these publications from the 1970s and 1980s shows the central role they played in gay liberation movements. This highly accessible book is a must-read for anyone interested in social movements and gay rights.” - Jordi Diez, Professor of Political Science, University of Guelph