CAHSS Faculty Books and Book Chapters
Between Kansas and Oz: Drugs, Sex, and the Search for Gay Identity in the Fast Lane
Book Title
The Story of Sexual Identity: Narrative Perspectives on the Gay and Lesbian Life Course
Document Type
Book Chapter
ISBN
978-0195326789
Publication Date
3-6-2009
Editors
Phillip L. Hammack, Bertram J. Cohler
Keywords
gay men, homosexuals, Miami, sexual identity
Description
This chapter describes how gay men attempt to locate themselves in an environment in which change, spectacle, and the search for altered states of being are the main constants. It draws on extensive qualitative data collected over a decade to trace patterns in the narratives that gay men use to describe their experiences as they absorb and sometimes separate from the sex-drug pleasure dome that Miami is often seen to represent. The chapter presents the story of how men from diverse backgrounds integrate the sense of themselves as developed throughout childhood and adolescence (“Kansas”) into this urban space that for most of them feels like “Oz”.
DOI
10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326789.003.0007
Publisher
Oxford University Press
City
New York, NY
First Page
151
Last Page
176
Disciplines
Social and Behavioral Sciences
NSUWorks Citation
Kurtz, S. P. (2009). Between Kansas and Oz: Drugs, Sex, and the Search for Gay Identity in the Fast Lane. The Story of Sexual Identity: Narrative Perspectives on the Gay and Lesbian Life Course, 151-176. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326789.003.0007
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