For around a hundred years up to the Stonewall riots, the word used for gay men was 'queers'. In The Culture of Queers, Richard Dyer traces the contours of queer culture, examining the differences and continuities with the gay culture which succeeded it.
Opening with a discussion of the very concept of 'queers', Dyer asks what it means to speak of a sexual grouping having a culture, and addresses issues such as gay attitudes to women and the notion of camp. From screaming queens to sensitive vampires and sad young men, and from pulp novels to pornography to the films of Fassbinder, The Culture of Queers explores the history of queer arts and media.

Richard Dyer is Professor of Film Studies at the University of Warwick. His books include White: Essays on Race and Culture (Routledge 1997), The Matter of Images (Routledge 1993) and Now You See It (1990).

1. Introduction. 2. The Politics of Gay Culture 3. Believing in Fairies: The Author and The Homosexual 4. Gay Misogyny 5. It's Being So Camp as Keeps Us Going 6. Dressing the Part 7. It's in his Kiss!: Homosexuality as Vampirism, Vampirism as Homosexuality 8. Queer Noir 9. Coming Out as Going In: The Homosexual as a Sad Young Man 10. L'Air De Paris: No Place for Homosexuality 11. Charles Hawtrey: Carrying on Regardless 12. Rock Hudson: The Last Guy You'd Have Figured? 13. Reading Fassbinder's Sexual Politics 14. Idol Thoughts: Orgasm and Self-Reflexivity in Gay Pornography 15. Homosexuality and Heritage