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Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (Sexual Cultures)

by Samuel R. Delany

Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (Sexual Cultures) Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

If one street in America can claim to be the most infamous, it is surely 42nd Street. Between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, 42nd Street was once known for its peep shows, street corner hustlers and movie houses. Over the last two decades the notion of safety-from safe sex and safe neighborhoods, to safe cities and safe relationships-has overcome 42nd Street, giving rise to a Disney store, a children's theater, and large, neon-lit cafes. 42nd Street has, in effect, become a family tourist attraction for visitors from Berlin, Tokyo, Westchester, and New Jersey's suburbs.

Samuel R. Delany sees a disappearance not only of the old Times Square, but of the complex social relationships that developed there: the points of contact between people of different classes and races in a public space. In Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, Delany tackles the question of why public restrooms, peepshows, and tree-filled parks are necessary to a city's physical and psychological landscape. He argues that starting in 1985, New York City criminalized peep shows and sex movie houses to clear the way for the rebuilding of Times Square. Delany's critique reveals how Times Square is being renovated behind the scrim of public safety while the stage is occupied by gentrification.

Times Square Red, Times Square Blue paints a portrait of a society dismantling the institutions that promote communication between classes, and disguising its fears of cross-class contact as family values. Unless we overcome our fears and claim our community of contact, it is a picture that will be replayed in cities across America.

Synopsis:

Long the most infamous street in America, in recent years Forty-Second Street has been remade into a sanitized tourist haven. In the forced disappearance of peep shows and street hustlers, to make room for a Disney store, a children's theater, and large, neon-lit cafes, Samuel R. Delany sees a disappearance, not only of the old Times Square, but of the complex social relationships that developed there.<P>Times Square Red, Times Square Blue paints a portrait of a society dismantling the institutions that promote communication between classes and disguising its fears of cross-class contact as "family values".

About the Author

Samuel R. Delany is a renowned novelist and critic, whose award-winning fiction includes Atlantic: Three Tales (1995) and The Mad Man (1994), as well as Babel-17 (1966), Nova (1968) and Dhalgren (1975). Winner of the William Whitehead Memorial Award for a lifetime's contribution to gay and lesbian literature, he has been a professor of comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst for the last decade.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780814719206
Author:
Delany, Samuel R.
Publisher:
New York University Press
Author:
Delany, Samuel
Location:
New York
Subject:
General
Subject:
History
Subject:
Human Sexuality
Subject:
Sex customs
Subject:
Pornography
Subject:
Sex oriented business
Subject:
Homosexuality, male
Subject:
Urban renewal
Subject:
NEW YORK (N.Y.)_SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS
Subject:
NEW YORK (N.Y.)_COMMERCE
Subject:
CULTURAL STUDIES_USA
Subject:
URBAN COMMUNITIES_USA
Subject:
Times Square (New York, N.Y.)
Edition Description:
Paperback
Series:
Sexual Cultures (Paperback)
Publication Date:
November 2001
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
203
Dimensions:
8.00x6.02x.53 in. .75 lbs.

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