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The Pleasure Principle

Sex, Backlash, and the Struggle for Gay Freedom

by Michael Bronski · 1998

Cover of The Pleasure Principle
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While pleasure is antithetical to the moral and governance constructions of the dominant culture, that dominant culture also cannot resist the allure of alternative cultures and sexualities. As gays and lesbians pushed for greater cultural, political and human rights in the 1970s-1990s, there was both acceptance and a rise in anti-gay rhetoric and action in American media, politics and society.

Gay cultureGay rightsGaysGays in popular cultureHomophobiaHomosexualityPleasurePublic opinionConduct of lifeGay and lesbian studiesPublic opinion, united statesLGBTQ activism