Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South (Caravan Book)

Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South (Caravan Book) Review

Johnson, E. Patrick. "Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South", University of North Carolina Press A Caravan Book, 2008.

Hearing What Is Not Usually Heard

Amos Lassen

If there is any group in the GLBT community that we know little of, it is the Southern Black Gay male. I have never understood why this is so but I must congratulate E. Patrick Johnson for helping to fill that void. Incidentally he is now on tour with his one man show based on this book and bringing awareness to the matter.
"Sweet Tea" (what a great title) is a detailed oral history of the subcultures of Black gay men in the South and it covers all milieus. Johnson interviewed sixty-three men to give us a picture of what it is like to be gay and Black. He uses a set slate of questions for all he interviewed and this is one of the two faults of the book in that there is little variety especially in the matter of faith issues. The other problem that I see it that Johnson did not follow up on some of the answers that he received that showed a new insight into Black gay life.
I did like the way that the book is arranged by categories such as love and relationships, coming out, etc. It is extremely difficult for a Black man to claim both Southern and Black cultures as we read here and we are all well aware that racism is not dead. It is indeed difficult to find acceptance in rural areas of the Bible belt south and in many cases identities must be redefined.
Those interviewed are indeed a cross section, Johnson interviewed men between the ages of 19 and 93 and we learn that there is a Black gay subculture in the South and we learn how this community is maintained, Here in Little Rock, for example, we were able to have a Pride celebration in 2008 because of a lack of volunteers. I was very surprised when I learned that there was a very successful Black Gay Pride festival especially since I knew nothing about the local Black gay community. I do not go out much in Little Rock and I do not recall seeing Black gay men when I did.
The book reads wonderfully, almost as if it is a collection of stories instead of honest testimonies and thereby proves that in the South we know how to tell a tale.

Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South (Caravan Book) Feature

• ISBN13: 9780807832097
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South (Caravan Book) Overview

Giving voice to a population rarely acknowledged in writings about the South, Sweet Tea collects life stories from black gay men who were born, raised, and continue to live in the southern United States. E. Patrick Johnson challenges stereotypes of the South as "backward" or "repressive," suggesting that these men draw upon the performance of "southernness"—politeness, coded speech, and religiosity, for example—to legitimate themselves as members of both southern and black cultures. At the same time, Johnson argues, they deploy those same codes to establish and build friendship networks and to find sexual partners and life partners.

Traveling to every southern state, Johnson conducted interviews with more than seventy black gay men between the ages of 19 and 93. The voices collected here dispute the idea that gay subcultures flourish primarily in northern, secular, urban areas. In addition to filling a gap in the sexual history of the South, Sweet Tea offers a window into the ways that black gay men negotiate their sexual and racial identities with their southern cultural and religious identities. The narratives also reveal how they build and maintain community in many spaces and activities, some of which may appear to be antigay. Ultimately, Sweet Tea validates the lives of these black gay men and reinforces the role of storytelling in both African American and southern cultures.

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Without Condoms: Unprotected Sex, Gay Men and Barebacking

Without Condoms: Unprotected Sex, Gay Men and Barebacking Review

If you work with gay men as a health care provider, especially as a psychotherapist or health department prevention case manager, this book is a must. It is directed at professionals, and is quite scholarly, with thirty-three pages of references. However, the fact that the author talks about his own experience as a clinical social worker in private practice, and also the fact that he, himself has HIV, makes the book all the more compelling. It is extremely thorough (with one exception), and explores, in depth, the many reasons that gay men choose to have sex without condoms. The conclusion is that there is no simple answer, and clinicians need to individualize their assessments. No broad brush can put the crystal meth party boy in the same category as the committed couple who stop protection. "Barebacking" can be too easily demonized. The bare, unvarnished fact is that the majority of gay men are not 100% safe, 100% of the time. As health care workers we must be realistic, and look for other interventions besides, "Just say no". In this vein Shernoff discusses the "harm reduction model", offering very specific suggestions. Our challenge is to accept our clients where they are, without condemnation, if we are to truly engage them in a process of change. At the same time we must acknowledge it can be a challenge to witness what seems to us to be provocative behaviors. Shernoff explores his own reactions to his clients' confessions, and how he deals with them; encouraging all of us to do the same.

The one exception to this extremely thoughtful and in-depth examination has to do with Shernoff's cursory treatment of sex addiction. He devotes less than a page to the subject, and describes it as "controversial" and "based on a heteronormative concept". Sorry, I beg to differ: it is based on an addictions concept. If you substitute "sex" for "alcohol" in the criteria for alcoholism, the many parallels are obvious. In no way does this mean that the sex gay men have, even in a casual context, is a sex addiction, just as a gay bar patron is not necessarily an alcoholic - but in some cases both meet the criteria of addictive behaviors. The significance of this is that groups such as Sex Addicts Anonymous and the 12-Step process can offer significant support for alternative ways to cope with life, and better choices for harm reduction. For more information the interested reader can get another perspective from Robert Weiss's book, Cruise Control: Understanding Sex Addiction in Gay Men (LA: Alyson Books, 2005).

This, however, is a very minor drawback to an otherwise exhaustive examination of the issues. I have worked in this field since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic both as a private therapist and health department consultant. Even with an extensive background and experience this book had much to say to me, and much that I could apply to my own practice. If you work in a related field, this should be required reading.

Michael E. Holtby, LCSW, BCD

Without Condoms: Unprotected Sex, Gay Men and Barebacking Overview

After years of activism, risk awareness, and AIDS prevention, increasing numbers of gay men are not using condoms, and new infections of HIV are on the rise. Using case studies and exhaustive survey research, this timely, groundbreaking book allows men who have unprotected sex, a practice now known as "barebacking," to speak for themselves on their willingness to risk it all.

WithoutCondoms takes a balanced look at the profound needs that are met by this seemingly reckless behavior, while at the same time exposing the role that both the Internet and club drugs like crystal methamphetamine play in facilitating high-risk sexual encounters. The result is a compassionate, sophisticated and nuanced insight into what for many people is one of the most perplexing aspects of today's gay male culture and life style. Michael Shernoff digs deep and forces us to see that the AIDS epidemic is not over. We must now ask the hard questions and listen to the voices that answer. The stakes are too high to ignore.

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