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The closet and the cul-de-sac : the politics of sexual privacy in Northern California / Clayton Howard.
Author
Howard, Clayton
[Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/Created
Philadelphia, Penn. : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2019]
©2019
Description
1 online resource (viii, 378 pages) : illustrations, maps
Details
Subject(s)
Privacy, Right of
—
California
—
History
—
20th century
[Browse]
Sexual rights
—
California
—
History
—
20th century
[Browse]
Gay rights
—
California
—
History
—
20th century
[Browse]
Suburbanites
—
California
—
Social conditions
—
History
—
20th century
[Browse]
Series
Politics and culture in modern America
[More in this series]
Summary note
"The right to privacy is a pivotal concept in the culture wars that have galvanized American politics for the past several decades. It has become a rallying point for political issues ranging from abortion to gay liberation to sex education. Yet this notion of privacy originated not only from legal arguments, nor solely from political movements on the left or the right, but instead from ambivalent moderates who valued both personal freedom and the preservation of social norms. In The closet and the cul-de-sac, Clayton Howard chronicles the rise of sexual privacy as a fulcrum of American cultural politics. Beginning in the 1940s, public officials pursued an agenda that both promoted heterosexuality and made sexual privacy one of the state's key promises to its citizens. The 1944 G.I. Bill, for example, excluded gay veterans and enfranchised married ones in its dispersal of housing benefits. At the same time, officials required secluded bedrooms in new suburban homes and created educational campaigns designed to teach children respect for parents' privacy. In the following decades, measures such as these helped to concentrate middle-class families in the suburbs and gay men and lesbians in cities. In the 1960s and 1970s, the gay rights movement invoked privacy to attack repressive antigay laws, while social conservatives criticized tolerance for LGBT people as an assault on their own privacy. Many self-identified moderates, however, used identical rhetoric to distance themselves from both the discriminatory language of the religious right and the perceived excesses of the gay freedom struggle. Using the Bay Area as a case study, Howard places these moderates at the center of postwar American politics and shows how the region's burgeoning suburbs reacted to increasing gay activism in San Francisco. The closet and the cul-de-sac offers specific examples of the ways in which government policies shaped many Americans' attitudes about sexuality and privacy and the ways in which citizens mobilized to reshape them"--Provided by publisher.
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Source of description
Online resource; title from electronic title page (ProQuest Ebook Central, viewed July 15, 2019).
Contents
Introduction: From the straight state to the culture wars
Sex and the crowded city
Public policy and the right to privacy
Building better bedrooms
Normative communities
Policing and redeveloping the queer city
Gay privacy policies
A moderate revolution
Gay rights, the Religious Right, and a moderate right to privacy
Epilogue: Seeking the highest meaning.
Show 7 more Contents items
ISBN
9780812295986 ((electronic bk.))
0812295986 ((electronic bk.))
OCLC
1086209756
Statement on language in description
Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage.
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The closet and the cul-de-sac : the politics of sexual privacy in Northern California / Clayton Howard.
id
99125358956806421
The closet and the cul-de-sac : the politics of sexual privacy in Northern California / Clayton Howard.
id
99113410533506421