Homosexual desire

Series Q

by Guy Hocquenghem

English, French (translation)

Genres: Queer, Theory, Philosophy, LGBT, Nonfiction, Psychoanalysis, France

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Guy Hocquenghem, essayist and activist, is often considered the father of Queer theory. He was the author of Homosexual Desire (1972) and L'Amour en relief (1982). The Screwball Asses is his first work available from Semiotext(e).

Reviews

[Talkincloud · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Raz jeszcze, potrzeba nam rewolucji”.

[final muzak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Queer theory that’s not attempting to situate or justify itself entirely in history and/or biology? Hell yeah, let’s go Guy. Also, somebody please translate his other texts. While you’re at it, stop making the physical copies of his other english translations exorbitantly expensive, you piece of shit.

[Lars Meijer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit is, zoveel jaar na dato, nog steeds een fris en uitdagend werk. Het lijkt me waardevol als er meer van dit soort oudere activistische queer teksten worden gelezen, zodat we niet constant verzanden in discussies en gesprekken over seksualiteit die veertig jaar terug ook al werden gevoerd. In principe staat dit haaks op wat Hocquenghem lijkt te opperen - een 'basis' slaat gauw om in een hiërarchie - maar daar kan ik mee leven. Ik voelde me uitgedaagd tijdens het lezen.

*4,5

[FräuleinHallo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich kann verstehen, warum das Buch ein nicht nur schwules sondern queeres Manifest ist. Homosexualität zu entpathologisieren und diese (damalige!) Pathologisierung nicht medizinisch sondern kapitalistisch zu begründen ist so einleuchtend. Trotzdem ist das Buch extrem schwere Kost und muss wohl eher als queertheoretisches geschichtliches Manifest als denn tatsächlich wegen des sperrigen Inhalts gelesen werden( hab es zu Teilen auch nur überflogen) .

[moony · Rating 3 out of 5]

“raz jeszcze, potrzeba nam rewolucji” dobra, ale za dużo mi penisów. posłowie świetne.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

No posfácio de O Desejo Homossexual, Paul Beatriz Preciado fala que o autor do livro, Guy Hocquenghem foi um dos primeiros autores a colocar o queer em evidência em um livro teórico, de forma a quebrar o que está estabelecido e usar as características próprias dessa comunidade, de causar estranhamento, como algo positivo a ser usado também na construção científica do conhecimento. Concordo com ele, o livro é muito bom neste aspecto. Porém, a psicologização demasiada feita no livro usando muito da psicanálise, para mim, é algo que deixa a leitura enfadonha, por mais que quando se fale em desejo é necessário invocar Freud e Lacan. Ao mesmo tempo, a posfácio de Preciado, chamado Terror Anal, é muito impressionante, uma leitura muito mais agradável e contestadora que o texto de Hocqueghem, que vale a compra do livro, mas entendo que sem o pioneirismo do autor da publicação ele não teria a possibilidade de existir. Assim, O Desejo Homossexual acaba, na minha visão, tendo um papel de importância muito mais de pioneirismo, ineditismo e de marco de uma luta do que em seu conteúdo em si.

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

comme c’était rafraîchissant de lire un texte sur la vie/la culture gaies qui n’était pas basé dans le contexte anglo-américain!

[Vince · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5⭐

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent text in queer/gay theory exploring the resistance and difference that homosexual desire produces in relation (or distinction) to the traditional Oedipal structuring of the family unit that also structures most social 'discursive' spaces (politics, education, economics, etc.). If Deleuze and Guattari are a little too inaccessible this text works with similar themes, has just as much punch, and is more stylistically accessible.

[Paige Peploe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars because I could barely understand it (not the fault of the author), but the points I did understand were great!

[Wan Feng An · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty interesting book on queer theory which draws heavily upon psychoanalysis(mostly Freud and D&G)and a healthy dose of literature. Some of it feels almost naive in our political landscape — the gay liberation movements he hails as revolutionary have either been dismantled or neutralised into a palatable liberal form, analytical psychiatry is almost nowhere to be seen and the rhetoric of gay rights is one of biology rather than one of desire and its limitless expressions.
Still a very interesting psychoanalytical look into the social imaginary regarding homosexuals, how they represent the polyvocal undifferentiated desire present at the start of our lives, how they are boxed into models and ideas which only serve to stem the tide of desire and how institutions manage to capture and manipulate desire in all its forms.

[Jakov]

this was a wild ride...

prventstveno početak koji je bio ispunjen vulgarnostima (razumijem da je cilj teksta biti kontroverzan i da upadne u oko), međutim ta perpetuacija opisa eksplicitnih radnji je za mene u trenutcima bila malo previše

ostatak knjige, iako dosta zgusnuto napisan, zapravo ne donosi previše informacija koje queer osoba već i sama nema kroz iskustveno znanje

that being said, djelo je iznimno korisno u sagledavanju suvremene psihoanalitičke teorije, kako i queer teorije

(hocquenghem u srcu)

[dete · Rating 3 out of 5]

you need a dictionary for it but it's really worthed

[Júlia · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Aquilo que causa problema não é o desejo homossexual, é o medo da homossexualidade”

Como colocar aquilo que existe fora da lei, dentro dela? O “Desejo Homossexual” de Guy Hocquenghem é uma obra polêmica, sem papas na língua, vai nos dizer e colocar através de exemplos como a figura homossexual (predominantemente de um ponto de vista masculino) é vista pela sociedade. Considerado um dos primeiros trabalhos de teoria queer, ele vai colocando muitas vezes em cheque essa noção da criminalidade associada à homossexualidade, justamente por essa periculosidade que ela oferece aos modelos idealizados de relações. Ele usa também de vários elementos da psicanálise, recomendaria inclusive ter uma bagagem de leitura prévia antes dessa já que por muitas vezes é necessário saber alguns termos debatidos para entender o ponto onde o autor queria chegar.

É um livro que fala muito sobre desejo, causando até uma estranheza para aqueles que se sentem tímidos ou envergonhados quando falamos de sexualidade. Além disso, ele toca nesse desejo de uma forma muito peculiar: olhando para as nossas relações através desse modelo de produção capitalista. Ele traz muito desses embates entre identidades, colocando o homossexual como um produto amendrontante, parte de um conjunto de normas necessárias para o controle e a exploração, assim como o proletariado.

Eu entro muito brevemente – e até de maneira rasa – sobre tudo que o autor escreve neste livro. É uma ótima referência para quem estuda teoria queer, recomendo bastante. E recomendo mais ainda o posfácio do Paul Preciado que traz um resumão perfeito e até menos teórico que o autor, sintetizando muito bem o teor grandioso dessa obra.

[Fariz · Rating 3 out of 5]

albeit (understandably dated) and my apparent apprehension of many French intellectuals in contribution of that signature, Hocquenghem's queer theory still remains as an important kaleidoscopic transition of queer theory in lieu with the constant transformation of nuclear family and capitalist structure while also innovative enough to provoke changes and retrospective of Freudian psychoanalisis and many borrowed concepts from D&G's Anti-Oedipus as an aphoristic reflection of queer as self and how they're placing themselves within the oedipalized world.

i find it interesting that it doesn't really particularly searching for further solution of solidarity but to confront the repressed desires, which begs some kind of further thinking enrichment to actually making me able to interpret many of his arguments esp. regarding what constitutes queerness as liberation, will linger on my mind quite a while and to remind me to finish AO for real this time

[Maxim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I dropped it. Neurotic freudian mind contamination. He’s criticising patriarchy but follows the same patriarchal style that Lacan has.

Feels like his trying so hard to make you buy it but it just generally feels shallow and pretentious, like all those mental “hence” and “thus” and “obviously”. Feels like a 14 years old is trying to sound significant.

What else can I say ? 1. My mind is anti-French.
2. French philosophers are just a fraud. 3. Maybe anarcho-communist nerds might like it but that’s not me.

I guess that the AI summary of that book can be much more interesting than the book itself.

[bunnygirlhomicide · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love it when my boys both pull from and at, importantly, critique and develop the works of Guattari, Reich and Freud in a way that is affirming itself without reactionary basis and still relatively easy to take the fundamentals of and play with it's application to the current times.
Anticipates Foucault's critique's in the initial volume of History of Sexuality too.

When I learn french, i WILL be bringing over more hocquenghem texts, dont you worry.

[jolene piercer · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Bible.

[ben hofmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was running out of money in LA and this was the most expensive book in the used book shop (15 dollars!!) but not once did I regret this purchase

[Severin M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionally good and you can see exactly where queer negativism is deeply indebted to Hocquenghem. The constant references to Anti-Oedipus made me want to read that text again

[Ptro · Rating 2 out of 5]

L'autore era chiaramente un twink di filosofia and it shows

[Pala Hux · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein wichtiger (grundlegender) Beitrag zu einer radikalen Queer Theory. Obwohl der Dialog mit Psychoanalyse und (der französischen) Linken sehr kritisch ausfällt, schafft es Hocquenghem dennoch, einen hoffnungsvollen Blick auf die Schwulenbewegung seiner Zeit zu werfen. Besonders erhellend ist in diesem Zusammenhang auch die Schlusserläuterung mitsamt kurzer Biografie des Autoren durch die Herausgeber und Neuübersetzer Lukas Betzler und Hauke Branding.

[Shulamith Farhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bracing experiment in hybridizing psychoanalysis, schizoanalysis and queer theory more broadly. The section on paranoia is excellent and the analysis of the privatization of the anus wonderfully lampoons a heterosexual masculinity terrified of its anal drive.

[6655321 · Rating 4 out of 5]

slightly dated but still relevant

[Alys · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me: a wonderful illustration of what has been lost in the transition to assimilation and contemporary queer identitarianism.

[Richard K. W. Hsu · Rating 5 out of 5]

pilot study of sexualities