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Sexuality Studies
The Canadian War on Queers: National Security as Sexual Regulation
From the 1950s to the late 1990s, agents of the state spied on, interrogated, and harassed gays and lesbians in Canada, employing social ideologies and other practices to construct their targets as threats to society and enemies of the state.
Based on official security documents and interviews with gays, lesbians, civil servants, and high-ranking officials, The Canadian War on Queers offers a passionate, personalized account of a national security campaign that violated people's civil rights and freedoms in an attempt to regulate their sexual practices. Gary Kinsman and Patrizia Gentile disclose not only the acts of state repression that accompanied the Canadian war on queers but also forms of resistance that raise questions about just whose security was being protected and about national security as an ideological practice.
his path-breaking account of how the state used national security to wage war on its own people offers ways of understanding, and resisting, contemporary ideological conflicts such as the "war on terror." It is required reading for students, scholars, and social activists in lesbian, gay, and queer studies or anyone interested in the issues of national security, state repression, and human rights.
Gary Kinsman is the author of The Regulation of Desire and an editor of Sociology for Changing the World. He is a professor in the Sociology Department at Laurentian University, Sudbury. Patrizia Gentile is assistant professor in the Pauline Jewett Institute of Women's and Gender Studies at Carleton University.
584 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2009
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About the author
Gary Kinsman
8Ìýbooks3ÌýfollowersGary Kinsman is a Canadian sociologist and one of Canada's leading academics on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. He is a professor emeritus of sociology at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. Kinsman's research and publications focus primarily on the sociological perspectives of LGBT issues. Kinsman is also a social activist on feminist, trade union, social justice, and anti-poverty issues.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 11, 2022
This work is clearly significant for its detailed research that centers queer narratives in a historiography that has largely ignored the perspectives of gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals. The book’s collection of interviews and use of block quotes allows readers insight into the construction of memories and how the security state impacted individuals not just at the moment of interrogation and persecution, but well after the fact as well. Moreover, while the Kinsman and Gentile spend a great deal of time on the theoretical influences and it can be overwhelming at times, I believe this is an important aspect to the book. Considering the field of gender, sex, and sexuality is heavily influenced by theoretical works this book provides short overviews of important theories and constructs that inform the book’s narrative. While occasionally daunting, particularly for those new to these concepts, readers will be able to note throughout the rest of the work how these theories inform Kinsman and Gentile’s analysis. However, I do believe some of the terms are hard to understand, such as heterosexist, and perhaps such jargon could have been limited as to increase readability.
September 26, 2019
This book has a lot of value, mainly in terms of the personal experiences � I'm thankful there are a lot of women's stories are represented here, and this has value as Halifax her/history as well. It's important content people ought to be aware of, whether you're gay or not.
However, I'm not that into some of the author's choices. At one point he wrote "same-gender sexual acts" (or activities or some word like that). Really? There was also a mention or two of "homosexuals and lesbians"... are lesbians not allowed to be homosexual? Why not write lesbians and gay men? I feel like the author is a bit too much of a communist and wrote too much of communism and also wrote in too much of a repetitive "academic" style.
But the book is not without value. Well, except the final chapter. Hard pass on that one.
However, I'm not that into some of the author's choices. At one point he wrote "same-gender sexual acts" (or activities or some word like that). Really? There was also a mention or two of "homosexuals and lesbians"... are lesbians not allowed to be homosexual? Why not write lesbians and gay men? I feel like the author is a bit too much of a communist and wrote too much of communism and also wrote in too much of a repetitive "academic" style.
But the book is not without value. Well, except the final chapter. Hard pass on that one.
January 16, 2021
I read this book for research for a Canadian history assignment for a course I’m doing. This book was excellent and so informative, using first-hand experiences and delving deeply on so many of the issues of homophobia within the government, RCMP, and socially as well. It was a very interesting read, and I would definitely recommend it for high school history classrooms.
March 30, 2018
this book should be in classrooms
March 23, 2011
It was a well documented book that made me angry about what has been done and still being done to our citizens in the name of security.
Read
January 17, 2019It gets pretty technical into social theories. The old photos are cool though, and personal stories from different people. I found this book through the documentary The Fruit Machine by Sarah Fodey
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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