Christopher Hitchens, one of the current bad boys of popular journalism (he’s one of the New Atheists, among other things) has, in the June issue of Atlantic Magazine, driven a stake through the heart of those homophobic critics who insist there’s no such thing as a continuing gay culture. His essay praising WWI writer Saki (H.H. Munro) draws a one-two-three historical connection between (gay) Oscar Wilde, (gay) Saki and (gay) author Noel Coward. Saki is not much read today, says Hitchens, and he ought to be. Try a few of his stories: ‘Sredni Vashtar,’ ‘The Lumber Room’ or ‘The Open Window.’ Many of his stories star not-exactly-innocent but elegant young men who Saki’s biographer, Sandie Byrne (‘The Unbearable Saki’), calls ‘feral ephebes.’ Some of Munro’s works shouldn’t be read in public: You’ll laugh until you’re hopelessly hiccoughing (on the bus, plane, etc.).
Mental Floss Magazine (March-April 2008), in an article entitled ‘The Future of Sex,’ has a few interesting tidbits: male sweat scent has pheromones (chemicals) that turn on straight women and gay men; pheromones in female urine ‘…stimulated straight men and gay women;’ and female mice whose pheromone-detecting organ was disabled turned into super-butch lesbian mice with ultrasonic squealing climaxes in the presence of ‘normal’ female mice. This all has possible future human potential: ‘ [I] t’s possible that the right drug cocktail could blur your sexuality. You’d probably still prefer redheads or button noses, because you’d be the same person, but you might find those features attractive in males one night, females the next.’
From the ‘Kiss-Is-Not-Just-a-Kiss’ file, The New York Times (May 15) reports that all daytime TV soaps lost viewers except one: the ‘historically stodgy’ CBS drama As the World Turns. They know exactly why this is: The audience is following the college-age story of Luke & Noah, whose first, second and third gay kisses are seen over and over on YouTube.
From the ‘Forgive-Me-Father-For-You-Have-Sinned’ file, The New York Times Book Review (May 11) looks at ‘The Bishop’s Daughter: A Memoir’ by Honor Moore. Ms. Moore tells of dad Episcopal Bishop Paul Moore, his wife, nine kids and his gay relationship of 30 years.
R.I.P., Nuala O’Faolain, who, besides having obits in the regular place in many papers, landed on the editorial page of The New York Times (May 13). Ms. O’Faolain, the unmarried bisexual Irish writer, mesmerized the public with her unsentimental memoirs that tell all, including a relationship with Northern Irish civil-rights activist Nell McCafferty.
Finally, go out and get cartoonist/writer Lynda Barry’s new book, What It Is. Why should a gay person get this work? Well, it’s mainly because, as her character Marlys would say, you can’t find a straight writer with a more sympathetic, detailed surrealistic view of the problems of gayness among working-class kids in America; it’ll make you laugh and make you cry and many other things, too. So, OK, there are other things besides Freddy’s gayness.