Region 6 Booklist

You can browse the books below, or contact the Region 6 Library if you would like a recommendation for materials on a specific topic (we are working on a search engine...thanks for being patient!).

Honey, Honey, Miss Thang : Being Black, Gay, and on the Streets
by Leon E. Pettiway

Using the first person accounts of five African American, drug-using, street-walking, cross-dressing gay hustlers, Pettiway, a professor of criminal justice at Indiana University, breaks free of some criminologists' tendency to view the marginalized as monolithically deviant, negative or hopeless. Borrow it!

Prostitution:  On Whores, Hustlers, and Johns

Edited by James E. Elias, PhD, Vern L. Bullough, RN PhD, Veronica Elias, PhD, Gwen Brewer, PhD

How did whoring and hustling begin? Can one enjoy the work? Why do people pay for sex? What is prostitution like in other countries? What is the future of prostitution? This collection breaks new ground on a sensitive topic by bringing scholars, therapists, and sex workers together to study not only the profession but those who seek such services. Borrow it!

My Own Country:  A Doctor’s Story

By Abraham Verghese

Nestled in the Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee, the town of Johnson City saw its first AIDS patient in August 1985. Working in Johnson City was Abraham Verghese, a young Indian doctor specializing in infectious diseases who became, by necessity, the local AIDS expert. Out of his experience comes a startling, ultimately uplifting portrait of the American heartland. Borrow it!

Outing Yourself:  How to come out as lesbian or gay to your family, friends, and coworkers

By Michelangelo Signorile

No matter how much you prepare, coming out as gay or lesbian is a difficult, emotional process -- a process that will continue long after the words are spoken and the secret is out. There's no magic formula, but Outing Yourself by Michelangelo Signorile offers structure, guidance, and straightforward advice. Signorile's 14-step program -- complete with exercises, meditation notes, and anger checks, as well as the accounts of the coming-out experiences of other lesbians and gay men -- shows how you can successfully handle this life-changing, life-renewing process. A guide for the coming-out journey, Outing Yourself will convince all who read it that, in the words of the author, "The stress of coming out will never be as hard on you as the stress of staying in was." Borrow it!

Sex Changes:  The politics of Transgenderism

By Pat Califia

Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism is Califia's meticulously researched book based on an astute reading of the available literature and in-depth interviews with gender transgressors who "opened their lives, minds, hearts, and bedrooms to the gaze of strangers." Writing about both male-to-female and female-to-male transsexuals, Califia examines the lives of early transgender pioneers like Christine Jorgenson, Jan Morris, Renee Richards and Mark Rees, contemporary transgender activists like Leslie Feinberg and Kate Bornstein, and partners of transgendered people like Minnie Bruce Pratt. Califia scrutinizes feminist resistance to transsexuals occupying women's space, the Christian Right's backlash against transsexuals, and the appropriation of the berdache and other differently-gendered by gay historians to prove the universal existance of homosexuality. Finally, Sex Changes explores the future of gender. Borrow it!

Shots in the Dark:  The Wayward Search for an AIDS Vaccine

By Jon Cohen

As HIV continues its death march around the globe, now infecting 40 million people, an AIDS vaccine still remains an elusive goal. When scientists first proved in 1984 that HIV causes AIDS, a vaccine race quickly spun into action with high hopes that the world would soon have a means to stop this modern plague. But today the race to develop an AIDS vaccine more closely resembles a crawl. Jon Cohen, a leading AIDS reporter, tells how the forces inside and outside the world of science have hindered the AIDS vaccine search. He reveals the complicated obstacles that stymie researchers, the uncertain marketplace that confronts pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, the haphazard political response, and the ethical dilemmas that give pause to everyone involved. He goes behind the scenes at academic labs, companies, government agencies, scientific meetings, and investment houses to document how promising leads go nowhere as scientists jump from one fashionable idea to the next. Beyond a critique of the current methods and strategies, this book also offers specific recommendations for accelerating AIDS vaccine research. Borrow it!

The Guide to Living with HIV Infection

By John G. Bartlett, MD, and Ann K. Finkbeiner

This thoroughly revised and updated edition explains how HIV is transmitted, evaluates available treatment and prevention, provides counsel on coping with the emotional effects of the infection, and addresses financial and legal concerns. New to this edition are detailed discussions of new drugs, special considerations for women, recent data on CF4 cell counts and viral load, and much more. Borrow it!

It’s The Little Things:  Everyday Interactions that Get under the Skin of Blacks and Whites

By Lena Williams

Despite the progress our country has made since the civil rights movement, we live in separate worlds. Although people of different races work together, go to school together, live in integrated neighborhoods, and have developed long and lasting friendships, we're still undeniably divided. Why? Ignorance.In this fast, funny, smart, and forthright book, New York Times reporter Lena Williams tells it like it is. Writing from her own experiences and from what she has learned through conducting focus groups of blacks and whites all over the country, Williams opens our eyes to the annoying things we do and explains what they mean and how to avoid them. Borrow it!

Altered state:  The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House

By Matthew Collin with contributions by John Godfrey

Although it probably over-emphasizes the London scene, this book provides a well-written introduction to the history of house music as well as to 20th-century dance music in general. Citing the Stonewall Riots as a cultural turning point, Matthew Collin shows how the emerging gay rights movements created innovative clubs that demanded a newer, more vibrant music. Finding other pieces of this hidden history in Jamaican dub, mainstream disco, rap, European electronic music, and New York club mixes, Collin develops an interesting and previously undocumented narrative of contemporary hip sounds. Borrow it!

Encyclopedia of AIDS:  A social Political, cultural, and scientific record of the HIV epidemic

Edited by Raymond A. Smith

Since it was first diagnosed in the early 1980s, AIDS has changed the landscape of society. Yet we still lack a necessary basic understanding of its power and impact.  The Encyclopedia of AIDS provides a comprehensive look at AIDS and its effects on society, politics, law, and humans and contains information to help increase awareness and preparedness where the disease is concerned. Borrow it!

The Other Side of the Closet:  The Coming-out Crisis for Straight Spouses and Families

By Amity Pierce Buxton, PhD

Based on five years of research, Buxton candidly looks at coming-out problems for the two million straight men and women who were or are married to a gay, lesbian, or bisexual mate. Borrow it!

The Gay Teen:  Educational Practice and Theory for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adolescents

Edited by Gerald Unks

Written by and for gay and straight educators, The Gay Teen explores gay student adolescence from discursive, practical and theoretical perspectives. The volume introduces and sensitizes educators to the complexities of gay identity and sets forth some of the issues facing gay youth in high schools. Contributors survey ``gay-friendly'' curricula in a number of subject areas, including literature, sex education, sports and social studies. Vital teaching strategies, intervention techniques and staff training recommendations form an integral part of the analyses and are designed to help teachers and counselors better address the academic and psychological needs of gay students and redress homophobia in the school setting. The Gay Teen also showcases the pioneering safe spaces that educators have created for students--gay as well as straight--who are struggling to forge sexual identities during the tough years of adolescence. Borrow it!

Now that I’m Out, What do I do?:  Thoughts on Living Deliberately

By Brian McNaught

For many gay men and lesbian women, the first step in a long journey is acknowledging and accepting their sexuality. But what happens to those men and women after they have come to terms with this aspect of their lives? For many it means a complete reevaluation of very basic issues: family, relationships, community, and love.  In this series of essays, McNaught explores these various aspects of life that may now be called into question for these men and women, and he sets out to educate and help guide them through the challenges they may encounter. Borrow it!

Black Gay Man Essays

By Robert F. Reid-Pharr Borrow it!

AIDS and HIV in Perspective:  A guide to understanding the virus and its consequences

By Barry D. Schoub

AIDS is a modern epidemic of explosive proportions often not fully understood by non-specialists. This authoritative introduction offers an accessible up-to-date account of HIV infection and AIDS for a wide audience, that also explores the complex social, legal, and ethical issues surrounding the disease. Borrow it!

Sex on Campus:  The naked truth about the real sex lives of college students

By Leland Elliot and Cynthia Brantley

After laboriously researching 30 years of college sex studies, authors Leland Elliott and Cynthia Brantley designed their own survey to provide new data on long-standing, important issues and to explore the kinkier aspects of college sexuality -- an area never before examined on a large scale.  Sex On Campus mixes serious research and awareness of sexual health issues with a sense of humor (sex is fun, after all). It also serves as a how-to guide. That is right, how-to. In striving to make the book a college student's Kama Sutra, Mr. Elliott and Ms. Brantley provide straightforward, candid advice on how to be ... well ... good in bed. Really good in bed. Anyone who reads this book may consider him/herself as coming away with a B.A. in sex. Borrow it!

Loosening the Grip:  A Handbook of Alcohol Information

By Kinney and Leaton

This text offers a through approach to understanding alcohol and its physical and psychological affects on an individual. It is the only comprehensive, self-contained book intended to cover the range of psychological factors, physical complications, treatment options, and family concerns. The text is easy to read and covers a broad range of situations making it suitable for academics, students, or families of alcoholics. Borrow it!

Alcohol

By Brent Q. Hafen with Molly J. Brog Borrow it!

Teaching about Sexuality and HIV:  Principles and Methods for Effective Education

By Evonne Hedgepeth and Joan Helmich

I wish I could provide this book to everyone who teaches about sexuality and HIV, as well as those who make policy, funding, administrative, and other decisions about sexuality and/or HIV education. This is the single best resource on this topic in existence for new educators and veterans.  It's all here: theoretical foundations for educational programs; descriptions, definitions and samples of a wide range of teaching/training methods (enough lectures, already!); how-to-choose which methods, when, why, and for whom; and a historical and current context for sexuality education. This comprehensive content is presented in a variety of ways, including real stories, some funny, some sad, all well chosen to illustrate and enrich the valuable teachings. Borrow it!

Talking with Kids about AIDS:  A Program for Parents and Other Adults who Care

By Jennifer Tiffany, Donald Tobias, Arzeymah Raquib, Jerome Ziegler Borrow it!

Women and HIV/AIDS:  An International Resource Book

By Marge Berer with Sunanda Ray

This is an exceptional book: comprehensive, easily understood, and a must read for everyone concerned that women have become the the fastest growing segment of the population of people with HIV/AIDS. A balanced and fascinating mix of personal accounts by HIV positive women, straightforward articles explaining HIV/AIDS, prototype leaflets and posters, descriptions of model programs, and an outstanding compilation of international resources, this book is the best place to begin a search for information about HIV/AIDS and women. Enlivened by contributions from filmmaker Ellen Spiro and sexpert Susie Bright, as well as many of the founders of women's AIDS activism worldwide, this book is remarkable for its breadth of vision. Borrow it!

Does AIDS Hurt?  Educating Young Children about AIDS

By Marcia Quackenbush, MS, MFCC and Sylvia Villarreal, MD Borrow it!

HIV Health and your Community:  A Guide for Action

By Reuben Granich, MD, MPH and Jonathon Mermin, MD, MPH

Easy-to-understand guide for health workers in areas with few medical resources, such as rural Africa or Thailand. Designed as a manual for those confronting the HIV epidemic in their communities and without medical or technical knowledge or prior training in the prevention of HIV. Borrow it!

Women, Sex, and Addiction:  A Search for Love and Power

By Charlotte Davis Kasl, PhD

In our society, sex can easily become the price many women pay for love and the illusion of security. A woman who seeks a sense of personal power and an escape from pain may use sex and romance as a way to feel in control, just as an alcoholic uses alcohol; but sex never satisfies her longing for love and self-worth. In this wise and compassionate book, Charlotte Kasl shows women how they can learn to experience their sexuality as a source for love and positive power and sex as an expression that honors the soul as well as the body. Borrow it!

AIDS:  The Literary Response

By Emmanuel S. Nelson Borrow it!

Social Welfare:  Politics and Public Policy

By Diana M. DiNitto

This is the leading book in social welfare policy in departments of social work, political science, administration and government. Originally written with Thomas Dye, subsequent editions by Diana DiNitto have been acknowledged as the most comprehensive orientation to social welfare available. DiNitto's approach is politically neutral; she describes the major welfare programs, including welfare, social security, disability, health insurance, and more. This new edition includes new and updated information on welfare (TANF), food stamps, managed care, disability, aging, the change from a budget deficit to a budget surplus, the latest figures on poverty, and the latest information on job training and employment. Borrow it!

Research and Evaluation in the Human Services

By John R. Schuerman Borrow it!

Health Education:  Learner-Centered Instructional Strategies

By Jerrold S. Greenberg

Moving beyond traditional texts, this new edition focuses on the needs of learners in many different health education settings. It encourages the use of instructional strategies that free learners to make their own decisions, rather than strategies that force them to carry out mandated decisions. Borrow it!

Living Well:  The Gay Man’s Essential Health Guide

By Peter Shalit, MD, PhD

This informative, step-by-step guide provides the reader a personal consultation with a gay-friendly physician focusing on issues and health concerns of gay men. Humorous, educational, concise but inclusive of the most important topics, Living Well is a helpful manual for every gay man. Borrow it!

Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism Borrow it!

Safety in Numbers:  Safer Sex and Gay Men

By Edward King

Gay men remain the group primarily affected by the AIDS epidemic in most industrialized countries. Although governments and AIDS organizations increasingly stress the dangers of a heterosexual HIV epidemic, it is gay men who are still bearing the brunt of the crisis.  Safety in Numbers provides a comprehensive overview of safer sex education for gay men. Edward King offers a critical analysis of the systematic downplaying of the involvement of gay men in the HIV epidemic and demonstrates conclusively how those at greatest risk form HIV have become the most neglected. By looking back over the successes of groups such as Gay Men's Health Crisis and ACT UP Safety in Numbers provides an accessible and essential guide to meeting current and future needs in the fight against AIDS. Borrow it!

Tangled up in Blue:  A novel

By Larry Duplechan Borrow it!

Living to Tell about It:  Young Black Men in America Speak Their Piece

By Darrell Dawsey

Looks beyond the statistics and perceptions surrounding young African-American men in a study that examines firsthand their childhoods, relationships, sexuality, self-respect, spirituality, and ambitions. Borrow it!

Understanding Drugs of Abuse:  The Processes of Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery

By Mim J. Landry

The author draws on his eight years with the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinics in San Francisco and other professional experience developing protocols for the treatment of substance use and psychiatric disorders. His explanations are for concerned lay readers. Borrow it!

The Destroying Angel:  Sex, Fitness and Food in the Legacy of Degeneracy Theory, Graham Crackers, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and American Health History

By John Money

I enjoyed this book a great deal because of the historical focus on a time of our history of unbridled prudishness. Some of this is very funny. My family had in its possession records from a mental hospital from around the turn of the century and more than half of the patients were admitted for consequences of masturbation! Borrow it!

Death by Denial:  Studies of Suicide in Gay and Lesbian Teenagers

Edited by Gary Remafedi, MD, MPH

This anthology of studies seeks to expand readers' understanding about the inordinate risk of suicide facing homosexual and bisexual youth. Borrow it!

Gay Questions:  Quizzical Queries into How You Think, Feel, Love, and Live

By Jerry Holderman

Gay Questions mixes the feel and fun of a Trivial Pursuit game with the gravity of serious issues facing the gay community, prompting discussion on a broad range of topics--morality, privacy, relationships, and attitudes--affecting the life of the gay reader. Among the more than 200 questions: Have you ever intentionally given another man a wrong phone number? Why? Borrow it!

First Person Sexual:  Women and Men Write about Self-pleasuring

Edited by Joani Blank

Forty-five anecdotes and vignettes of self-pleasuring will amuse, provoke, startle, amuse, and arouse you. First Person Sexual is playful, permission giving, reassuring and inspiring -- and the ultimate in safe sex!  "A delightful romp through the playground of solo sex, both male and female, indoors and out, using techniques and props almost beyond imagining. Informative, liberating, and downright lusty." Dr. Harold Litten, Author, Joy of Solo Sex   Borrow it!

Creating a Positive Approach:  A Manual to Assist People Facing AIDS and other Life-threatening Illnesses

By Louise L. Hay Borrow it!

The Hidden Injuries of Class

By Richard Sennett and Jonathan Cobb

This superb book puts a human face on those living and working at or near the economic bottom of our society. It describes in detail the emotional and personal ramifications of working in jobs that are looked down upon and stereotyped, as well as how family relationships are complicated by a parent's subordinate position and their desire and sacrifices for a child's success. It is easy-to-read and carries a profound message. Borrow it!

Family Values:  Two Moms and their Son

By Phyllis Burke

A lesbian recounts her fight to legally adopt and co-parent her lover's child, describing her journey into the worlds of adoption courts and the militant activist group, Queer Nation. Borrow it!

AIDS as an Apocalyptic Metaphor in North America

By Susan Palmer Borrow it!

Between the Sheets:  Sexual Diaries and Gay Men’s Sex in the Era of AIDS

By Anthony P. M. Coxon

This compelling book portrays the reality of gay sex, and aims to understand it in relation to the transmission of HIV. Information on gay sexual practice is essential in assessing how and why risk behavior is increasing, and the use of sexual diaries has facilitated the participation of hitherto invisibilized and marginalized groups such as SM practitioners, married men, under-age men, men in the armed forces and men who have casual sex. The detail in the diaries makes it possible to analyze the impact of complex questions relating to sexual behavior including the incidence of passive sex, drug use and the use of condoms in oral sex. Borrow it!

The Boys on the Rock:  A Novel

By John Fox

Set in the Bronx during the 1960s, Boys on the Rock is a wonderful slice-of-life, coming of age story. John Fox's conversational style makes for a very engaging read. He captures the rhythms of speech common among teenagers beautifully. The book is plotted nicely and does an excellent job of depicting the angst and uncertainty of adolescence. The author does a wonderful job of creating a sense of the atmosphere and tension in the Bronx during the 1960s with amazing accuracy. This is a classic of gay literature for good reason. Borrow it!

Eighty-Sixed:  A Novel

By David B. Feinberg

In pre-AIDS 1980, B.J. Rosenthal's only mission is to find himself a boyfriend. But in post-AIDS 1986, his life has been permeated by the deadly virus. Friends have been stricken with the disease, making B.J. paranoid. Humor becomes his weapon of survival. Borrow it!

Assessment of Addictive Behaviors

Edited by Dennis M. Donovan and G. Alan Marlatt Borrow it!

Sexual Ecology:  AIDS and the Destiny of Gay Men

By Gabriel Rotello

Intensively researched, passionately argued, and intellectually rigorous, Sexual Ecology sounds a clarion call for the controversial revision of the gay male community's beliefs about and approaches to AIDS. It is widely agreed that Sexual Ecology is the first book since And the Band Played On to fundamentally challenge social perceptions of this virulent modern plague. Gabriel Rotello argues that a series of accepted views, such as "there are no such things as risk groups, only risky behaviors," the product of well-intentioned attempts to combat social stigma are fallacies that have hampered our attempts to study the disease. From the false security of condoms to the seeming magic bullet of protease inhibitors, simplistic ways of looking at AIDS have allowed thousands of gay men to become infected each year. Weaving together the intertwining threads of sexual politics, science, and survival, Sexual Ecology constructs an incisive, even-handed discussion that has been debated by activists and affirmed by scientists and epidemiologists, and that is relevant to all our lives. Borrow it!

For Yourself:  The Fulfillment of Female Sexuality

By Lonnie Barbach, PhD

An excellent, reassuring book for women and their partners. It carries the woman along step-by-step in the rediscovery of her own sexuality and the pleasure it will bring her. Liberated or not, single or married, young or old, all women will find this book accessible and supportive. Borrow it!

Understanding Homosexuality, Changing Schools:  A Text for Teachers, Counselors, and Administrators

By Arthur Lipkin

"This excellent, scholarly and practical book tackles one of the most contested contexts in which debates about sexual orientation are taking place. Lipkin's compassionate and intelligent arguments should enlighten all professionals engaged in teaching and school administration. With lucid writing and a deep understanding of the intersections of race, gender, sexuality and economics, Lipkin makes a brilliant contribution to the movement to make America's schools smarter and stronger." -Urvashi Vaid, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Borrow it!

The Adonis Complex:  The Secret Crisis of Male Body Obsession

By Harrison G. Pope, JR, MD, Katharine A. Phillips, MD, Roberto Olivardia, PhD

More than ever, men are struggling with the same enormous pressure to achieve physical perfection that women have dealt with for centuries. From compulsive weightlifting to steroid use, from hair plugs to cosmetic surgery, growing numbers of men are taking the quest for perfect muscles, skin, and hair too far, crossing the line from normal interest to pathological obsession. This new obsession with appearance, known as the Adonis Complex, afflicts boys and men of all ages and from all walks of life. In its more severe forms, the Adonis Complex poses a health threat that is as insidious and deadly as eating disorders are for women and girls. But this groundbreaking book offers hope and help for the men caught in the oppressive cycle of body obsession. Borrow it!

Queering the Color Line:  Race and the Invention of Homosexuality in American Culture

By Siorbhan B. Somerville

Queering the Color Line transforms previous understandings of how homosexuality was "invented" as a category of identity in the United States beginning in the late nineteenth century. Analyzing a range of sources, including sexology texts, early cinema, and African American literature, Siobhan B. Somerville argues that the emerging understanding of homosexuality depended on the context of the black/white "color line," the dominant system of racial distinction during this period. This book thus critiques and revises tendencies to treat race and sexuality as unrelated categories of analysis, showing instead that race has historically been central to the cultural production of homosexuality. Borrow it!

AIDS:  A Self-care Manual

Edited by BettyClare Moffatt, MA, Judith Spiegel, MPH, Steve Parrish, Michael Helquist Borrow it!

Intimacy is for Everyone:  A Sex Educator’s Guide to Teaching Intimacy Skills

By Bob McDermott and Barbara Petrich Borrow it!

American Social Welfare Policy:  A Pluralistic Approach

By Howard Jacob Karger and David Stoesz Borrow it!

Living Proof:  Courage in the Face of AIDS

By Carolyn Jones

Photojournalist Carolyn Jones's vivid and life-affirming portraits capture people from all backgrounds, children and grandmothers, men and women of every race living with HIV and AIDS. These compelling pictures illustrate the self-confidence and wisdom of ordinary people living life to the fullest. Borrow it!

Managing Stress:  Principles and Strategies for Health and Wellbeing

By Brian Luke Seaward

Highly acclaimed as the authoritative text, Managing Stress represents the most comprehensive and contemporary resource available on the topics of stress management and health psychology. By offering a holistic approach to the problem of stress, Seaward gently guides the reader to achieve a greater level of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well being by emphasizing the ageless wisdom of mind-body-spirit unity. Managing Stress is beautifully illustrated extremely well researched, and full of thought provoking stories and exercises to fully engage the reader. Several new features have been added to this edition which incorporate the newest stress management techniques and strategies. Among them are: the most current information on stress and disease, including an update on ulcers and various components of the human energy field based on the work of Carolyn Nyss and Christiane Northrup, new perspectives on spiritual wellbeing from the mystic Hildegard Von Bingen and Deepak Chopra, and time management techniques, including insights from Time Shifting by Stephen Rechtschaffen.  Borrow it!

The New Good Vibrations Guide to Sex:  Tips and Techniques from America’s Favorite Sex Toy Store

By Cathy Winks and Anne Semans

This updated edition of the best selling sex manual offers advice, anecdotes, and validation for a variety of sexual interests and activities. A compendium of in-depth answers to the top questions about toys and techniques asked by customers at Good Vibrations, America's favorite sex-toy store, this is a sex book for all readers. Borrow it!

Men Like Us:  The GMHC Complete Guide to Gay Men’s Sexual, Physical, and Emotional Well-being

By Daniel Wolfe

For nearly two decades, Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), the world's largest and most respected not-for-profit AIDS service organization, has provided vital support, education, and health information to gay men in the New York City area. Now, with Men Like Us, their guidance--and the insights of hundreds of gay men across America--can help you. Practical, down-to-earth, and accessible. Borrow it!

Self-assessment and Behavior Change Manual

By Peggy Blake, Robert Frye, and Michael Pejsach Borrow it!

Community HIV Prevention:  The Long Beach AIDS Community Demonstration Project

Edited by Nancy H. Corby and Richard J. Wolitski Borrow it!

Strategies for Survival:  A Gay Men’s Health Manual for the Age of AIDS

By Martin Delaney and Peter Goldblum, PhD, MPH Borrow it!

Filling the Gaps:  Hard to Teach Topics in Sexuality Education

By SIECUS Borrow it!

Preventing AIDS:  A Guide to Effective Education for the Prevention of HIV Infection

By Nicholas Freudenberg DrPH Borrow it!

Changing Bodies, Changing Lives

By Ruth Bell

Changing Bodies, Changing Lives has helped hundreds of thousands of teenagers make informed decisions about their lives, from questions about sex, love, friendship, and how your body works to dealing with problems at school and home and figuring out who you are. It's packed with illustrations, checklists, and resources for the answers you really need. Best of all, it's filled with the voices, poems, and cartoons from hundreds of other teenagers, who tell you what makes them feel worried, angry, confused, sexy, happy, and, yes, even excited and hopeful about their lives. Borrow it!

The New Our Bodies, Ourselves:  A Book by and for Women

By The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective

Three decades ago, information about women's health was hoarded by physicians and doled out sparingly to their female patients. Our Bodies, Ourselves, first published in 1969, helped change that situation. The latest edition runs 752 pages and covers a stunning range of territory about women's physical beings: fitness (this section includes a reminder that overweight women have a right to not exercise), reproductive health, aging, sexuality, and childbirth. It also includes thick chapters on relationships and information about mental-health issues, including psychotherapy. The New Our Bodies, Ourselves is the straightest-talking, most comprehensive book about women's health on the market. Borrow it!

Daddy and Me:  A Photo Story of Arthur Ashe and His Daughter Camera

By Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe

The special relationship between Arthur Ashe and his daughter, Camera, is presented by Ashe's wife, who uses black-and-white photographs and a simple, first-person text, written in Camera's voice, to show the child supporting her father, who suffered from the AIDS virus. The text is life affirming and will have value for children dealing with the long-term illness of an adult. Borrow it!

The Woman’s Guide to Sex on the Web

By Anne Semans and Cathy Winks

The duo clearly spent long hours separating the wheat from the chaff to come up with roughly 200 stellar Web sex sites. Their forthright, diverting Net surfers' handbook seems to offer something for everyone of any sexual persuasion.  A chapter on steamy bulletin boards, chat rooms, conferences, and dating sites tells readers how to mind their manners and warns them to keep their heads about them. Before you shell out a dime on the numerous sex-for-pay sites, Semans and Winks suggest a look at the "Hall of Shame" posted on Jane's Net Sex Guide, an opinionated escort through the highs and lows of cybersex. The coauthors don't pull punches, either. While they tout the "exquisite images" on one art-erotica site, they complain quite sharply about the "pedestrian" and "annoying" text that accompanies it. Interviews with various Webmistresses and reviews of zines and sites for sex toys, books, and other resources also pepper these pages. Borrow it!

Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?:  Another Christian View

By Letha Scanzoni and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott

A classic work of gay spirituality--newly revised to reflect today's issues, including gays in the military, the AIDS crisis, and genetic research on homosexuality. Borrow it!

New International Directions in HIV Prevention for Gay and Bisexual Men

Edited by Michael T. Wright, LICSW, MS, B.R. Simon Rosser, PhD, MPH, Onno de Zwart, MA Borrow it!

Reclaiming Your Life:  The Gay Man’s Guide to Love, Self-Acceptance, and Trust

By Rik Isensee

Rik Isensee strikes a long-forgotten chord with his self-help book, "Reclaiming Your Life," which gives strong psychological advice to gay men who have been through just about every situation imaginable. There are scenarios presented that will ring true for some readers, and Isensee offers his unique and insightful advice on each of them, giving the reader options to overcome overbearing feelings and/or situations that would cause others to commit drastic actions. This is an excellent book in the field of self-help, and once finished, provides an uplifting light at the end of the tunnel. Borrow it!
 

School’s OUT:  The Impact of Gay and Lesbian Issues on America’s Schools

By Dan Woog

Evaluating the weight of gay and lesbian issues on contemporary education, a study based on interviews with three hundred gay and straight educators, students, and parents details their positive and negative experiences. Borrow it!

The Women’s HIV Sourcebook:  A Guide to Better Health and Well-Being

By Patricia Kloser, MD, FACP, and Jane MacLean Craig, MS

More than 10 years into the AIDS epidemic, women are the group with the fastest-growing rate of HIV infection. In part this is because, as the receptive partner, they are biologically more vulnerable to the virus. And yet, ``women are still largely regarded as vectors of transmission,'' Kloser and Craig note. They believe that throughout the pandemic, ``more concern [has been] directed to women as mothers, as caregivers, as sexual partners, than as individuals with distinct needs.'' They note that by the year 2000, more than 13 million women will have been infected by HIV and about four million will have died. Their book maps out the basic information women need to know in order to deal with HIV, from executing a living will and coping with discrimination to managing stress and home care. The authors use first-person accounts from women of all backgrounds to make the point that this is an equal-opportunity infection, and recommend testing as ``the first step toward ensuring the highest possible quality and quantity of life.'' Also included are appendices with a directory of support services and a quick reference chart of HIV-related gynecologic conditions. Testing is the first step for women; this book, with its compassionate and practical information, is the second. Borrow it!

Untold Millions:  Secret Truths about Marketing to Gay and Lesbian Consumers

By Grant Lukenbill Borrow it!

Sex for One:  The Joy of Self-Loving

By Betty Dobson, PhD

In an honest, witty, and reassuring guide, noted sex authority and feminist Betty Dodson reveals her innovative techniques for helping men and women accept masturbation as a joyful and essential expression of their sexuality. Borrow it!

Lesbian and Gay Youth:  Care and Counseling

By Caitlin Ryan and Donna Futterman

This is the first hands-on guide for providing health and mental health care to lesbian and gay youth and young adults. Although it focuses on adolescents, the information is relevant for any age group. In addition to specific guidelines for care and for approaching such sensitive topics as sexual behavior, substance abuse, and suicide, the book includes a comprehensive review of the literature and the most up-to-date information for providers, researchers, educators, and general readers alike. This book also includes the first guidelines (clinical care protocols) on primary care, mental health care, HIV medical and psychosocial care for lesbian and gay youth, and HIV counseling and testing for adolescents. There is extensive discussion of the social and health effects of stigmatized identity in the context of adolescent development. Borrow it!

The Journey Out:  A Guide for and About Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Teens

By Rachel Pollack and Cheryl Schwartz

With chapters on sexual orientation (including a controversial chapter noting "a probably genetic basis for homosexuality"), gay history, stereotypes, and love, the book is a good lead-in to Sutton's. The un-crowded format makes it look approachable, and the tone is never strident, even when the authors are at their most serious--for example, in their refutation of biblical literalists, in their consideration of coming out to parents, and in their discussion of "surviving in a homophobic world." There are some unusual features to balance things out, among them, an attempt to acknowledge some of the special concerns of bisexuals and a chapter devoted to terms. Perhaps the greatest contribution the book makes, however, is its identification of a varied gay community that offers support as well as opportunities to become active in fighting harassment and securing basic human rights for all. Borrow it!

Taking a Chance on God:  Liberating Theology for Gays, Lesbians, and their Lovers, Families, and Friends

By John J. McNeill

Featuring a new preface, a guidebook draws on the principles of the gay and lesbian liberation movement and the author's counseling experience with homosexuals to show gays and lesbians how to maintain their identity within the Christian church. Borrow it!

Women, Drug Use, and HIV Infection

Edited by Sally Stevens, PhD, Stephanie Tortu, PhD, and Susan Coyle, Phd

Compiles findings from a multi-site program of research on HIV infection among out-of-treatment drug users sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The 13 contributions examine a number of factors related to HIV infection among women who inject drugs and/or smoke crack cocaine, or who are sex partners of individuals who use these drugs. Prevention strategies and the effects of domestic violence and prostitution are also covered. Borrow it!

Straight?:  True Stories of Unexpected Sexual Encounters Between Men

By Jack Hart

Beneath its jovial, insouciant, sexy attitude, Jack Hart's Straight, a collection of frisky first-person tales in which straight-identified men end up having sex with other men, embodies a curious political and cultural collision. One of the mandates of the gay liberation movement, which emerged after the Stonewall riots of June, 1969, was that every gay person had the responsibility to "come out" and be openly gay. Yet postmodern theory informs us that the very categories of "gay" and "straight" may be, well, easily constructed identities that conceal far more complicated realities. Borrow it!

In the Shadow of the Epidemic:  Being HIV Negative in the Age of AIDS

By Walt Odets

Being HIV-negative is not much discussed in the gay community. On the surface it seems incredible that people would need support services for being "well." But that is only if one does not fully comprehend the identification of AIDS with the gay male community and the issues both AIDS and gayness pose for society in general. Odets, a clinical psychologist in private practice in Berkeley, goes beyond the surface and digs deep into notions of survivor guilt, group identification, isolation, positive/negative relationships, "The Politics and Humanity of Gay Sex," and survival. One may not agree with some of his conclusions, but he will make one think. Borrow it!

Women and AIDS:  Negotiating Safer Sex Practices, Care, and Representation

Edited by Nancy L. Roth, PhD and Linda K. Fuller, PhD Borrow it!

Family Secrets:  Gay Sons, A Mother’s Story

By Jean M. Baker

I have written this book to memorialize my younger gay son and also to bring to attention the devastation which homophobia perpetrates upon its most vulnerable victims,  that is gay children and adolescents. The “pathologizing” of homosexuality, even though usually directed toward adult homosexuals, inevitably shapes the minds and souls of children who are growing up to be gay or lesbian. I hope that my story, as the mother of gay sons and as a clinical psychologist, will play some small role in helping to change the anti-gay attitudes and practices which pervade our society, and which cause such trauma for gay youths. Just as gays and lesbians have emerged from the closet, I encourage parents to "come out" publicly about their child's sexual orientation. By showing pride and love toward their gay child parents can help diminish anti-gay prejudice and the damage it inflicts upon those whose only "crime" or "sin" is that when they fall in love it is with someone of the same gender as themselves. The same process of openness is true about AIDS. A parent of someone with HIV/AIDS speaking honestly about his or her loved one puts an individual face on the epidemic, makes it less easy for others to be indifferent, and helps overcome the stigma. Borrow it!

HIV Disease:  Lesbians, Gays and the Social Services

Edited by Gary A. Lloyd, PhD, ACSW, BCD and Mary Ann Kuszelewicz, MSW, ACSW

Enhances readers' understanding of the pivotal roles played by gays and lesbians in response to HIV infection and AIDS, highlighting the strengths and tensions in the gay and lesbian community. Themes include the impact of homophobia on service for people with HIV and AIDS, social services and bereavement in the gay and lesbian community, HIV disease among populations such as lesbians and gays of color, and telephone group counseling in reducing risk behavior. Borrow it!

Tell Them Who I Am:  The Lives of Homeless Women

By Elliot Liebow

In 1984 Elliot Liebow, an urban anthropologist and author of Tally's Corner, an earlier work on Black street corner life, left his job at the National Institute of Mental Health and began volunteering at The Refuge, an emergency shelter for homeless women. Elliot became increasingly drawn to these women, spending more and more time in it and other shelters, making notes and getting to know the inhabitants. This book is the result. Unveiling the problems inherent in the current system of providing for the homeless is only part of the dynamic at work here. Tell Them Who I Am gives real voice to these women and their stories. They are clearly human beings, and Elliot does nothing to strip them of their dignity or humanity. If any criticism could be made I suppose it might be to suggest that Elliot is too close to his subjects. Perhaps this is an apt counter to most of the distancing, impartial-observer accounts of the homeless common to social science texts. There is no feeling of these women as bugs under a microscope. We see their world, as we should, through their eyes. Borrow it!

Looking Queer:  Body Image and Identity in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Communities

Edited by Dawn Atkins

Looking Queer contains research, first-hand accounts, poetry, theory, and journalistic essays that address and outline the special needs of sexual minorities when dealing with eating disorders and appearance obsession. More than 60 contributors provide their knowledge and personal experiences in dealing with body image issues exclusive to gay and transgender communities. Written by both men and women, the topics and research in Looking Queer offer insight into the lives of people you can relate to, enabling you to learn from their experiences so you, too, can find joy and happiness in accepting your body. Borrow it!

Sex in History

By Reay Tannahill

The author pinpoints the many historical and sociological reasons for our modern sexual behavior (i.e. sexual identity, clothing, dating, etc). She does it in a breezy, informative, and humorous style that is never ponderous or academic. Borrow it!

Teaching Sex:  The Shaping of Adolescence in the 20^th Century

By Jeffrey Moran

Sex education, since its advent at the dawn of the twentieth century, has provoked the hopes and fears of generations of parents, educators, politicians, and reformers. On its success or failure seems to hinge the moral fate of the nation and its future citizens. But whether we argue over condom distribution to teenagers or the use of an anti-abortion curriculum in high schools, we rarely question the basic premise--that adolescents need to be educated about sex. Jeffrey Moran takes us on a fascinating ride through America's sexual mores: from a time when young men were warned about the crippling effects of masturbation, to the belief that schools could and should train adolescents in proper courtship and parenting techniques, to the reemergence of sexual abstention brought by the AIDS crisis. We see how the political and moral anxieties of each era found their way into sex education curricula, reflecting the priorities of the elders more than the concerns of the young. Borrow it!

The Male Couple’s Guide to Living Together

By Eric Marcus Borrow it!

Thinking AIDS:  The Social Response to the Biological Threat

By Mary Catherine Bateson and Richard Goldsby Borrow it!

Changing HIV Risk Behaviors:  Practical Strategies

By Jeffrey A. Kelly

Changing HIV Risk Behavior: Practical Strategies opens with a thorough overview of the practical epidemiology of HIV infection and the conceptual underpinnings of Dr. Jeffrey Kelly's prevention approach. Delineating the major risk behaviors for contracting HIV infection, Kelly outlines the principles of successful intervention. Throughout, he stresses the importance of tailoring interventions to cultural, risk factor, social, relationship, and lifestyle variables, as well as to individual needs. Changing HIV Risk Behavior reviews a range of settings (including inner-city women's health clinics and gay bars) where HIV prevention programs can be conducted, and discusses how HIV prevention can be integrated into the services of community programs.  Changing HIV Risk Behavior also describes how to teach technical skills such as condom use and needle-cleaning procedures; interpersonal skills, including sexual assertiveness and safer sex negotiation; and cognitive skills for improving self-confidence about avoiding risk. Borrow it!

Reports from the Holocaust:  The Making of an AIDS Activist

By Larry Kramer

Collects most of the gay activist's previously published political writing, and adds a new essay of almost a hundred pages--"Report from the holocaust"--that brings together all his thinking about the AIDS epidemic and gay people in the US today. Borrow it!

Counseling in a Dynamic Society:  Opportunities and Challenges

By Edwin Herr Borrow it!

HIV-Negative:  How the Uninfected are Affected by AIDS

By William I. Johnston

Explores the social and psychological issues confronting gay men who are not infected with the virus that causes AIDS. Interviews with about 50 men demonstrate that many such survivors feel disbelief, guilt, and fatalism, and that the concept of "HIV status" has profoundly altered gay culture. Useful as a resource for counselors, therapists, social workers, and community activists, and for those considering HIV testing or who have already tested negative. Borrow it!

Experiencing HIV:  Personal, Family, and Work Relationships

By Barry D. Adam and Alan Sears Borrow it!

Sex is not a Four-Letter Word:  Talking Sex with your Children Made Easier

By Patricia Martens Miller

Sex educator and religion instructor Miller succeeds at the daunting task of providing parents with a solidly scientific, psychologically empathic, and spiritually focused guide to children's sexuality from birth through young adulthood. She urges an authoritative, interactive approach to one's children's sexuality that is based in both thorough knowledge of psychosexual development and understanding of the current teachings of established religions including Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Judaism. Specific topics she addresses include the importance of self-esteem in sexual identity, psychosexual development patterns and milestones, loving and supporting a gay or lesbian child, preventing date rape, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, dispelling myths and fantasies regarding sex, and preventing sexual abuse. She also advises parents on becoming comfortable with their sexuality, effectively modeling sexual attitudes and behavior, and, most important, encouraging the development of sexual morality. A powerful amalgam of practical advice, scholarly research, and religious training forthrightly and caringly presented, Miller's handbook will bolster parents' self-confidence as they face the challenges of their children's sexual and moral education. Borrow it!

Sexual Dysfunction:  A Guide for Assessment and Treatment

By John P. Wincze and Michael P. Carey Borrow it!

Questions and Answers on AIDS

By Lyn R. Frumkin, MD, PhD, and John M. Leonard, MD

Written in an accessible question-and-answer format, an updated and comprehensive guide offers clear and reliable information about HIV and AIDS, and shows how to determine one's risk of infection and how to protect oneself. Borrow it!

The Queer Press Guide:  2000

Edited by Paul Harris

The book contains listings of the Queer Press from every continent apart from Antarctica; the most comprehensive listing of the Queer Press in the United States and Canada ever to appear in print; the names of the key personnel at each publication; details of phone and fax numbers, and e-mail and website addresses; circulation figures (together with whether they are audited or not); minimum pay scales to writers and photographers; hands-on advice from Publishers and Editors about what they are looking for; and advice on how to Self-Syndicate your work. Borrow it!

Self-Efficacy in Changing Societies

Edited by Albert Bandura

Efficacy issues infiltrate every domain in every person’s life. This book is Banduras greatest work in his quest to pioneer the concept he originated. Whether for personal interest or academic research all individuals in the domain of efficacy must become familiar with Banduras work--especially that contained within this work. Borrow it!

Hate Hurts:  How Children Learn and Unlearn Prejudice

By Caryl Stern-LaRosa and Ellen Hofheimer Bettmann

Noticing differences among people is biological. At six months, an infant can distinguish skin color, hair texture, and facial features. But forming attitudes about differences is social, say Caryl Stern La Rosa and Ellen Hofheimer Bettman in this perceptive and practical book developed by the Anti-Defamation League, Hate Hurts. The authors offer a clear and compelling guide to understanding the way children learn and unlearn prejudice, suggesting hundreds of strategies, role plays, and sample dialogues for parents and teachers to shape the way children value the differences they perceive.  Borrow it!

You Just Don’t Understand:  Women and Men in Conversation

By Deborah Tannen, PhD

Discover how men and women can interpret the same conversation differently, even when there is no apparent misunderstanding. Discover why sincere attempts to communicate are so often confounded, and how we can prevent or relieve some of the frustration. This fascinating, helpful, and controversial book explores, in depth the differing style men and women articulate, and how to work through it and get to the heart of the matter. Borrow it!

Living in Sin:  A Bishop Rethinks Sexuality

By John Shelby Spong

Is celibacy the only moral alternative to marriage? Should the widowed be allowed to form intimate relationships without remarrying? Should the church receive homosexuals into its community and support committed gay and lesbian relationships? Should congregations publicly and liturgically witness and affirm divorces? Should the church's moral standards continue to be set by patriarchal males? Should women be consecrated bishops? Bishop Spong proposes a pastoral response based on scripture and history to the changing realities of the modern world. He calls for a moral vision to empower the church with inclusive teaching about equal, loving, non-exploitative relationships. Borrow it!

Bad Blood:  The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

By James H. Jones

An account of the experiment performed on unknowing black sharecroppers describes how the U.S. Public Health Service allowed the syphilis in the sharecroppers to take its course without treatment and explains how such a tragedy occurred. Borrow it!

Risky Sex:  Gay Men and HIV Prevention

By Dwayne C. Turner

A 1997 Choice Outstanding Book of the Year In candid, in-depth interviews, gay men discuss their experiences in the age of AIDS, their attitudes toward sex, and their motives for engaging in behaviors that are widely considered to be dangerous health risks. Revealing that such factors as guilt for being HIV negative, alcohol and drug use, and low self-esteem are possible causes of continuing dangerous sexual behavior, Turner also recommends ways to promote safer sex while respecting the choices and judgments of gay men. Borrow it!

Reviving the Tribe:  Regenerating Gay Men’s Sexuality and Culture in the Ongoing Epidemic

By Eric Rofes

Rofe, an activist and political strategist, offers an autobiographical self-examination and a critique of current sexual politics within the gay community. He argues that stepping out of the "state of emergency" due to AIDS and returning to the interrupted agenda of gay liberation may provide long-term motivation to keep gay men alive and rejuvenate a new generation of gay culture. His plan for community regeneration concentrates on mental health, sexuality, and mending the social fabric of communal gay life. Borrow it!

Policing Public Sex

Edited by Dangerous Bedfellows

The AIDS epidemic has had a myriad of social and political consequences, not the least of which has been a radical social rethinking about sexuality. While AIDS has encouraged a more open discussion of sexual activity, it has also brought a backlash. Policing Public Sex, a collection of 25 essays by educators, activists, sociologists, and community spokespersons, is enormously smart. This volume helps us consider and contend with the political and social campaigns that seek to control or monitor manifestations of sexuality considered "public"--from safe-sex education to sex clubs. Well written, this book is on the cutting edge of social change and AIDS education. Borrow it!

Life in the Gang:  Family, Friends, and Violence

By Scott H. Decker and Barrik Van Winkle

Based on three years of fieldwork, this study describes all aspects of gang life. Told largely in the gang members' own words, it depicts their organization and members' predominant activities--hanging out, drinking, and using drugs--as well as involvement in major property crime and drug traffic. Borrow it!

Cooking for Life:  A Guide to Nutrition and Food Safety for the HIV Positive Community

By Robert H. Lehmann

Designed for people with HIV or AIDS, their friends, families, and healthcare professionals, a guide to nutrition and food safety shows how to use food as a preventive medicine and to promote healing of common AIDS-related illnesses. Borrow it!

When Someone You Know Has AIDS:  A Practical Guide

By Leonard J. Martelli with Fran D. Peltz, CRC and William Messina,CSW

As a loved one what can you do to confront the trauma of an AIDS diagnosis? When Someone You Know Has AIDS has the answers. With personal stories and the most up-to-date information about the disease's symptoms and treatments, and practical advice on everything from health insurance to social security disability benefits, it provides the facts you need--as well as comfort and solace to help meet the ever-growing challenge of AIDS and HIV. Borrow it!

Sexual Health Concerns:  Interviewing and History Taking for Health Practitioners

By Michael W. Ross, Lorna D. Channon-Little, and B.R. Simon Rosser

Clinical guide of practical tips on asking basic screening questions and completing detailed sexual histories. Designed to make the interviewer more comfortable with this type of consultation. Includes new information on counseling children and adolescents and on aging and sexuality. Borrow it!

Latino Gay Men and HIV:  Culture, Sexuality, and Risk Behavior

By Rafael M. Diaz

With research based on focus group and individual interviews in the United States, as well as a thorough and integrative review of the current literature, Latino Gay Men and HIV discusses the six main sociocultural factors in Latino communities -- machismo, homophobia, family cohesion, sexual silence, poverty and racism--which undermine safe sex practices. In an attempt to explain the alarmingly high incidence of unprotected intercourse in this population, this in-depth cultural and psychological analysis shows how an apparent incongruence between knowledge or intention and behavior can possess its own sociocultural logic and meaning. Borrow it!

The HIV Negative Gay Man:  Developing Strategies for Survival and Emotional Well-Being

Edited by Steven Ball, MA, MSW, ACSW