Navigating Differences

by Jammie Price, John De Cecco (Editor)

Navigating Friendships Between Gay and Straight Men is a one-of-a-kind cross-sexual study that shows you how today’s gay and straight men build, maintain, and foster true friendships. In this activist, participatory study, you’ll get a day-in-the-life look at 44 pairs of cross-sexual men’s friendships and see what helps them negotiate the terrain of their emotional, sexual, psychological, and social differences in today’s climate of often publicly defended homophobia and heterosexism.Navigating Differences succeeds in bringing the true picture of cross-sexual men’s relationships to you, regardless of your personal orientation or political affiliation. You’ll find information--straight from the lives of the study’s participants--that shows you how different sexual orientations impact the way men spend time together, maintain friendships, cope with sexual struggles, and open good communication channels. Most importantly, you’ll get detailed facts and feedback

Paperback

First published December 2, 1998

Reviews

[Tim Mcleod · Rating 4 out of 5]

I value this book, which is an expansion of a qualitative study conducted by the author in the southeast in the mid-nineties, for its novelty and frankness. Though it is a slim 160 or so pages, you would be hard pressed to find another work of this size detailing explicitly cross-sexual friendships between men.
Price outlines three major friendship styles found between the gay and straight men of the study: friends who embrace difference, who ignore it, and those who struggle with it. Each section cites interviews with participants and summarizes the overarching themes associated with each relationship.
Some of the commentary on gender is off-putting. Though it is clear that Price understands the gender constructs used by the men in her study she sometimes does not go out of her way to acknowledge its subjectivity. By using limited keywords for perceived gender behaviors (how many gay men have you met who actually have a lisp? How effective is it to use the ambiguous, politically charged term "mannerisims"?) Price seems to be reinforcing, albeit unintentionally, a monolithic masculinity that is solely the province of straight men. I believe the keyword gender problem can be attributed to the time of data collection and publishing- though 1999 was not that long ago, discourse about masculinity has widely expanded.
That being said, Navigating Differences does an admirable job of noting how heterosexism/homophobia inhibits emotional intimacy between gay and straight men, with contextually specific examples. A worthy read for anyone interested in the intersection of sexualities in masculinity studies.

[ThreeYrsLost · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the slightly dated information in the book (it was written in 1999, I don’t blame it), I still find this read to be a very important one.

It’s sociological conclusions and findings are still relevant to the relationships between gay and straight men today and touches on the complexity between these friendships. It also addresses the cultural discomfort and distrust gay men and straight men have with each other, an issue that is still very much alive today.

This book is criminally underrated, and I think everyone should read at least chapters 3, 4, and 5, or the chapters that directly tell of the mens’ friendships.

This is a topic I believe needs more attention, and if we ever come so far that this book and subject becomes completely obsolete, then this will serve as a well structured look into queer history

[Nevil Tauro · Rating 4 out of 5]

good