Here is a book with oral histories and folklore tales from ethnographers that went to Africa. The book is an eyeopening one into the sexuality aspect of Africans often challenging theories of sexuality. It is an excellent book to answer to the question of How & Why Does Same Sex Sexual Behavior Varies Cross Culturally? It was writing an essay on this topic that got me to this book, I have always wanted to know about this issue since there has been a lot of denial from African colleagues but once I have read the first few pages of the book that 'denial' and "shh" feelings that exist within many Africans, was brought to light. The same smoothness and revelation is experienced throughout the book. The book seperates Africa into four regional sections to illustrate the diversity of African culture within that vast continent. It is very easy to read and simple too. If you are a book worm, you will love this one. It is the book for History, Anthropology or Gender Study students or those with interest in the above mention + Sexuality. The book now occupies a special place in my selective collection, get one too, I am sure there will be no regrets!

The first book to attempt to survey homosexualities across (sub-Saharan) Africa is also a very good one. At a time when certain East African leaders are trying to hold onto power by scapegoating homosexuality as "un-African," Murray and Roscoe show that there are and have been a wide range of roles in "traditional" African cultures for those who love persons of their own sex. Once this is established - and it is established beyond any reasonable doubt - most readers will probably be more interested in the parts of the book dealing with contemporary individuals (including a young Kikuyu's male's memoir, Amory's chapter on the changing conceptions on the Swahili coast, and an explanation of the view in Lesotho and elsewherre that two women cannot have "sex," so that their physical relations are not seen as "sexual").

The book concludes by looking at the "social construction" of homosexualities by cross-tabulating societies with a kind of homosexuality (with relationships structured by age, structured by gender, or more-or-less egalitarian ones) with other structures (e.g., of inheritance, postpartum taboos) in the same societies. No absolute, categorical patterns emerge. I.e., there are correlations, but no clear "if x, then homosexuality y" conclusions.

By starting with life experiences of some individual male and female berdache, Roscoe literally captivates readers, before carrying us into the comparative, theoretical, analytical second half which is sophisticated but clearly written. Will Roscoe's work on North American berdache/"two spirit" is far and away the most theoretically sophisticated and historically systematic work in a burgeoning field. While many people have been pawing at a few historical records and fantasizing a great deal, he has systematically gone through a multilingual literature, showed how the discourse unfolded in specific European national traditions, and sorted out continuities and discontinuities in space and in time (both in the discourse and in the phenomena of Native American cultural survivla, insofar as it can be glimpsed through Christianity-distorted lenses).

Although Roscoe's primary focus is on historical records of "berdache," he has also discusses contemporary "gay Indians," building on his earlier book _Living the Spirit_. My only regret is that Roscoe did not include his article "Was We'Wah [the Zuni "man-woman' he wrote an earlier book about] a homosexual?" in this book. _Changing Ones_ is the single indispensable book on the subject of gender and sexuality of Native American gender-mixing roles.

Will Roscoe has compiled a wonderful and invaluable overview of a long-neglected topic. As he notes in the introduction to this volume, our language is currently burdened by an archaic and often unhelpful lexicon in addressing 'third and fourth genders' so commonly encountered in pre-Columbian North America. This book includes a compilation of the historical and current literature, and readers will find the extensive Glossary and the Tribal Index to be of great use as a source for further investigation. Roscoe's will undoubtedly remain one of the most useful contributions in this are

For this book The Zuni Man-Woman William Roscoe received the 1991 Margaret Mead Award presented by the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology; and along with the high academic award, he has written an extremely readable book. For those interested in the impact of the dichotomous world-view of Western society on an individual's role in that society, this book provides an eye-opening experience. "Gender", the role assignment or assumption that individuals undergo, is clearly compared with "sex" characterized by individual sexual practices.Based on a study of Zuni gender roles illustrated by the life of berdache We'wha during the Nineteenth Century, Roscoe leads the reader to examine a third gender choice available in that matrilineal society. This "third gender" provided an avenue for the expression of variations in both sex and gender which allowed individuals to make unique contributions to their communities. Their contributions crossed the barriers imposed by traditional views of masculinity and femininity. The social, religious and artistic contributions made possible by an accepted "third gender" benefitted Zuni society by increasing the pool of individuals who could contribute their talents to that society.Today American gender roles are shifting also, and this author gives us historical evidence that many societies have benefitted from uncoupling "gender" and "sex" in the public imagination. As a result of this author's research, it is possible to view the employed mother's syndrome of trying to "do it all" and the questions men have about their inclinations toward artistic ventures, nurturing activities, and service to others in a new light. The historian Roscoe provides rich examples from a variety of Native American societies that avoided the trap of either/or gender identities. Further he provided a detailed review of the impact of both Zuni and Puritan ethics on the well being of the Zuni and the "American" tribes and their individual members.If you are interested in Southwestern Native Americans, the Nineteenth Century politics of ethnic absorption or extermination, or the impact of gender roles on individual opportunities and on the strength of a society, then you must read the contribution of this historian.

There is a growing movement of gay lesbian and gender diverse people to discover their own history, to learn what was taken from us. When we learn how vast our history is, how it has spanned the full reaches of time, we can challenge those who would deny us our beauty and purpose in the world.

Read this book, it is one of the classics to gaining this understanding.

This incredible book is a compilation of essays, stories, poems, and biographical accounts of living as a gay, bisexual, transsexual, or hermaphrodite American-Indian (all which have been lumped under the term 'berdache'). This book not only deals with the history of American Indians, and how they embraced the non-heterosexual members of their society as healers, but shows how, with the creation of the New World, the English made American-Indians turn against their own, converting their religion, and, in turn, converting them into a homophobic subculture. Finally, there are wonderful accounts of living in modern society as a gay American-Indian, and the scorn these people receive. This is an eye-opening and disturbing book that really gives us a better understanding of all the things we took from American-Indians.

Harry Hay is one of the fathers of American gay rights. But this is not essentialist idol-praising. Hay was a big part of the big pre-Stonewall organization, Mattachine Society. He was a strong Communist, back when it was risky to be one. In addition, Hay knows a lot about gender theory and gay history and such. He's a sage. Will Roscoe has written a number of important gay books, especially concerning gay Native Americans. Basically, this is an important historical subject written by a strong gay author. You should peep this book if you can.

Honestly, I wish there were negative stars so that I could express my opinion of this book more accurately.

This book should be better listed in the "fiction" category, since so much of it is based on unreliable personal accounts. The whole premise of the book rests upon the old Euro-orientalist myth that "sinful" behavior such as homosexuality runs rampant in the "sinful" realm of Islam, and that the religion of Islam is more tolerant of gays and lesbians than Christianity.

As most Muslims know, such ideas are utter nonsense. After all, a few strict Muslim jurists argue that the death penalty is the proper Islamic punishment prescribed for persons convicted of homosexual intercourse. How many Christian high-priests would today concur with that sentence? (Of parenthetical note, however, is the fact that the Biblical book Leviticus actually recommends that very punishment.)

All things considered, the book represents less an in-depth analysis into homosexuality in Muslim culture than an idealized, perverted fantasy world of these Western-born and bred authors.

Put aside the homophilism and the jargon, both of which are a bit strong, and what's left is a fascinating and eye-opening book about a topic much hinted at but little considered systematically. The authors not only have the benefit of knowing homosexuality in many other societies but are well grounded in matters Islamic. Despite the title, they deal predominantly with men; lesbians are little known about.

As with so much else in the sexual realm, Islamic norms differ profoundly from Western ones. The authors establish several points: (1) Islam treats homosexuality far less harshly than does Judaism or Christianity. (2) Sex between men results in part from the segregation of women and in part from the poetic and folk heritage holding that the penetration of a pretty boy is the ultimate in sexual delight. (3) Sex between men is 'frowned upon, but accepted' so long as the participants also marry and have children; and also if they keep quiet about this activity. (4) The key distinction is not hetero- vs. homosexual but active vs. passive; men are expected to seek penetration (with wives, prostitutes, males, animals); the only real shame is attached to serving in the female role. (5) Youths usually serve in the female role and can leave behind this shame by graduating to the male role. (6) The great Muslim emphasis on family life renders homosexuality far less threatening to Muslim societies than to Western ones (Muslim men seeking formally to marry each other remains unimaginable).

In the most startling parts of Islamic Homosexualities, Murray and Roscoe re-interpret important historical developments through the prism of male sex among Muslims. For example, they make a plausible case that sexual attraction was a significant impetus for the development of military slavery throughout the Muslim world. Less persuasively, they speculate that the relaxed Muslim attitude on this subject incited medieval European hostility to homosexuality as a way for those otherwise backward peoples to 'feel superior' to Muslims.

Middle East Quarterly, June 1997

From the cover to the last page, *Islamic Homosexualities* is packed with information that is really useful to the queer Muslim of today. From "Slave Elites" of the Ottoman Empire to the "Gender-Defined" roles of African Homos, from the "Male Actresses" to the "Pakistani Male Prostitues," the book is truly packed with shocking yet factual information.

There is little information about lesbians in the book. In fact, there are only two lesbian voices in the book! A "Balkan Sworn Virgin" and a "Gender-Crossing in Southern Iraq." Beside those, the book is all about the boys, the boys and just some more boys.

I will tell you right now, the last part of the book is my favorite! Why? Because it is packed with stuff from our time. While it was interesting reading about Muslim fags in the Ottoman Empire, it couldn't be compared with the current situations in places like Pakistan. Delicious, Oh my Goodness! And I don't mean that in a sexual way, mind you. But rather it feeds the soul. Hassan Mujtaba, a journalist, hits the road and you can just take big guesses what he finds!

Without giving away the nutrious stories in the book, let me just say that it remains the top on my "best" list... for... ever!

Why would anyone want to listen to dark, dreary stories of the undead, Angels that drink blood, this book was very misrepresented in the title. "Deamon" fantasies is much more appropriate. I was looking forward to a spiritual uplifting, instead I threw all the tapes and box into the trash, right where it belongs.