Queer Objects

2020 Choice​ Outstanding Academic Title Queer lives give rise to a vast array of objects: the things we fill our houses with, the gifts we share with our friends, the commodities we consume at work and at play, the clothes and accessories we wear, various reminders of state power, as well as the analogue and digital technologies we use to communicate with one another. But what makes an object queer? The sixty-three chapters in Queer Objects consider this question in relation to lesbian, gay and transgender communities across time, cultures, and space. In this unique international collaboration, well-known and newer writers traverse world history to write about fabulous, captivating, and transgressive items ranging from ancient Egyptian tomb paintings and Roman artefacts to political placards, snapshots, sex toys, and the smartphone.  

Table of Contents:
Contents 1. The Queerness of Objects CHRIS BRICKELL & JUDITH COLLARD 2. The First Gay Kiss? RICHARD BRUCE PARKINSON 3. Tutanekai’s Flute PAERAU WARBRICK 4. Faces of Queer-Aboriginality DINO HODGE 5. Pasting Together an Identity HELEN PAUSACKER 6. The Strapless Satchel JEFFREY VAUGHAN 7. The Queering of Action Man GREG MINISSALE 8. Reading Two Gay Histories BEN ANDERSON-NATHE 9. Fragments of Sappho CHRIS BRICKELL 10. New World Slavery’s Queer Object CARINA PASQUESI 11. Freda’s Mountaineering Memoir CHRIS BRICKELL 12. Teddy’s Illustrated Letter RACHEL HOPE CLEVES 13. Four Saints in Three Acts TIRZA TRUE LATIMER 14. Donald Friend’s Life in Letters TIM ROBERTS 15. Dear Dawn, Can I Hold You? LAUREN BRITTON 16. A Gay Magazine in Communist Poland LUKASZ SZULC 17. The Cunt Coloring Book MARGO HOBBS 18. Henry’s Albums BARRY REAY 19. Sammy’s Stud File BARRY REAY 20. The Proverbial Lavender Dildo ERICA RAND 21. Amos’s Chair BARRY REAY 22. Cruising Masculine Spaces JUDITH COLLARD 23. The Stuff of Cruising JOHN HOWARD 24. The Warren Cup CHRIS BRICKELL 25. Monuments PETER SHERLOCK 26. Robert Gant’s Shoes CHRIS BRICKELL 27. Oscar’s Photograph? NEIL BARTLETT 28. Saint Sebastian CHRIS BRICKELL 29. Tender Buttons JANE TRENGROVE 30. The Paintings of Lois White JUDITH COLLARD 31. The L Word Quilt AMANDA LITTAUER & DIANE JOHNS 32. The Queen of Polka Holes KATSUHIKO SUGANUMA 33. Queer Dogs HEIKE BAUER 34. Our Own Dear House BEV ROBERTS 35. An Attic Apartment CHRIS BRICKELL 36. The Rotary Dial Telephone MATT COOK 37. C734 CHRISTOPHER CASTIGLIA & CHRISTOPHER REED 38. Saint Eugenia’s Relics ROBERT MILLS 39. A Tram Ticket, an Egyptian and an Englishman ROBERT ALDRICH 40. To My Friend from His Friend GRAHAM WILLETT 41. The Story of a Locket PETER WELLS 42. Till We Meet Again JO CAMPBELL 43. A Set of Wedding Photos ELISE CHENIER 44. Carl Wittman and the AIDS Quilt AMANDA LITTAUER & DIANE JOHNS 45. Exhibit A: The Powder Puff WAYNE MURDOCH 46. Neil McConaghy’s Penile Plethysmograph KATE DAVISON 47. A Military Discharge Certificate SHIRLEENE ROBINSON 48. The Moral Majority is Neither TIMOTHY WILLEM JONES 48. Devotional Objects MELISSA M. WILCOX 50. Political Buttons KATHERINE A. HERMES 51. Plastic Politics JAMES BURFORD, KATH KHANGPIBOON &  JUTATHORN PRAVATTIYAGUL 52. Bloomers and Monocles NIKKI SULLIVAN & CRAIG MIDDLETON 53. A Lesbian Waistcoat NADIA GUSH 54. Lesbian Lipstick REINA LEWIS 55. Punk Jacket MARCUS BUNYAN 56. The Australian Speedo YORICK SMAAL 57. The World’s First Gay Travel Guide DANIEL BRANDL-BECK 58. Keith’s Slides CHRIS BRICKELL 59. John Hunter’s Make-up Box CHRIS BRICKELL 60. The Portable Lesbian Party ALISON ORAM 61. The Rangers Motorclub Flag TIM ROBERTS 62. The Disco Ball and the DJ PHILIP HUGHES 63. Queer Smartphones SIMON CLAY List of Contributors Notes Photo References Index  

About the Author :
CHRIS BRICKELL is a professor of gender studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. His books include Mates and Lovers: A History of Gay New Zealand, Manly Affections: The Photographs of Robert Gant, 1885–1915, and Teenagers: The Rise of Youth Culture. JUDITH COLLARD is a senior lecturer in the department of history and art history at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.  

Review :
"The queer angel of history has brought us from New Zealand this remarkable book of objects that have aroused memories – involuntary and voluntary, painful and uplifting, individual and communal. A deeply moving exploration of history, memory, and queerness." - Jeffrey Escoffier (author of American Homo: Community and Perversity) "I’ve been waiting for a book like Queer Objects that examines the stuff of material culture through the sensibilities of many contributors. Each chapter reveals insider knowledge of a particular item, framing it in passionate queer context that triggers our own associations and memories. This is a gorgeous book; you’ll want to keep it out in plain view." - E.G. Crichton (visual artist, creator of LINEAGE: Matchmaking in the Archive and Migrating Archive) "In this masterful volume, the material culture of the LGBTQ+ community is sumptuously depicted. Both coffee-table book and academic tome, Queer Objects is richly illustrated with huge, colorful photos on nearly every one of its 400-plus pages. Well balanced in that the multiplicity of the artifacts reflects the rich diversity of the gay community, Queer Objects is difficult to put down. We never knew we needed this book so much. Essential." (Choice)