Living in the Catacombs: John Howard's Men Like That, part three

4. "I don't have a good definition for a homosexual."In 1955 a Mississippi man named John Murrett was murdered by two young Air National Guardsmen he'd picked up and taken to a Jackson hotel. During the ensuing trial, medical examiner Forrest Bratley told defense attorney W. W. Pierce: "A homosexual is out of my line of work. We don't see them pathologically. In performing an autopsy one

Living in the Catacombs: John Howard's Men Like That, part three

4. "I don't have a good definition for a homosexual."In 1955 a Mississippi man named John Murrett was murdered by two young Air National Guardsmen he'd picked up and taken to a Jackson hotel. During the ensuing trial, medical examiner Forrest Bratley told defense attorney W. W. Pierce: "A homosexual is out of my line of work. We don't see them pathologically. In performing an autopsy one

Living in the Catacombs: John Howard's Men Like That, part two

I really did mean to post more on John Howard's Men Like That in reasonable time, but time got away from me. So here's more now.-----------3.Somewhere along the line, "identity politics" has become a safe and handy term of abuse, like "political correctness" -- and about as free of content. Howard throws it around several times in Men Like That, without ever making it clear what he means by

Living in the Catacombs: John Howard's Men Like That, part two

I really did mean to post more on John Howard's Men Like That in reasonable time, but time got away from me. So here's more now.-----------3.Somewhere along the line, "identity politics" has become a safe and handy term of abuse, like "political correctness" -- and about as free of content. Howard throws it around several times in Men Like That, without ever making it clear what he means by

Living in the Catacombs: John Howard's Men Like That, part one

(Yeah yeah yeah, I know I know: Dogpatch was in Kentucky, not Mississippi. So sue me.)I've had this long piece sitting around for some years now; I figure it might as well go here.John Howard. Men like that: a Southern queer history. Chicago and London: Chicago University Press, 1999.1.Depending on whom you believe, either an Evil Essentialist Empire has seized hegemonic power over American

Living in the Catacombs: John Howard's Men Like That, part one

(Yeah yeah yeah, I know I know: Dogpatch was in Kentucky, not Mississippi. So sue me.)I've had this long piece sitting around for some years now; I figure it might as well go here.John Howard. Men like that: a Southern queer history. Chicago and London: Chicago University Press, 1999.1.Depending on whom you believe, either an Evil Essentialist Empire has seized hegemonic power over American