Take the Young Stranger by the Hand: Same-Sex Relations and the YMCA (The Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society)
by John Donald Gustav-Wrathall
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Book Summary Information
Author: John Donald Gustav-WrathallEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1998-10-01
ISBN: 0226907848
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Book Reviews of Take the Young Stranger by the Hand: Same-Sex Relations and the YMCA (The Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society)
Book Review: It's much more than 'swim and gym'
Summary: 5 Stars
Because I have grown up in a heterosocial era, John Donald Gustav-Wrathall's study of the Young Men's Christian Association was especially fascinating. Sure I've heard the Village People's infamous song many times over, but I had not previously imagined how complex these relationships were---or explored all reasons for the "Y"'s comparative decline as a homosocial/homosexual cruising site.
Allegedly to avoid clogging the swimming pools with their cotton swim suits, many men at the "Y" simply elected to swim nude. Not attaching anything sexual to the action, both the men and the organization accepted it as a matter of fact that men would see each other naked at the "Y".
The tension between people who wanted to keep things as they were and those who wanted the organization to project a 'family image' (hence the designation of "Family Y's" in post-war America) rivals any dramatic work which I've seen thus far. Considering the 'intense relationships' which they formed as consequence of working in the 'Y' movement, I also found it odd that some people in the YMCA would accuse their counterparts in the Young Women's Christian Association of being lesbians. These men had apparently absorbed the double-standards of their own day which negated women's public sphere influence.
The admission of women as members into the previously all-male realm of the Y was also interesting. This move was another tactic to convince people---inside and outside the organization---nothing improper was happening. During it's history, the organization also faced criticisms of it's program.
In 1912, the Portland, Oregon YMCA, with the ninth largest membership in North America, became the center of a sex scandal. A Portland newspaper charged many of the city's most prominent men with sodomy and delinquency of minors. A few of the implicated men lived at the YMCA and others used the sports facilities. This was the first time that a connection between the YMCA and homosexuality was publicly made.
The organization continued struggling with the issue of homosexuality, but their 'front lines'--the desk clerks allegedly supposed to guard against homosexuality---looked the other way. In this closeted era, the YMCA was a critical meeting space for 'queer' young men.
For all of the critical perspective, the book does praise it's subject. The "Y" pioneered racial unity AND sex education in an era when even many secular organizations lacked courage to even consider taking on the issue. I was especially heartened by the advocay of factually-based sex education, myself living in an era when so many other organizations with 'Christian' in their name actually advocate that people not have access to any of this information. How refreshing to read of an alternative---and in a much earlier era too!
This book is part of the Chicago series on Sexuality, History and Society, but people wanting to read about YMCA history would also find it interesting because the authors have used very inclusive and broad 19th century framework to explore intimate relationships among men. Finally, it would be a good acquisition for people who are just interested in American history period, however altered from it's founding, the "Y" still exists as an institution and continues to promote racial justice and sex education. This is one of the scholarly works which professionals and the general public will both readily enjoy.
Summary of Take the Young Stranger by the Hand: Same-Sex Relations and the YMCA (The Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society)
Now associated with family health clubs, the YMCA's bland image is the result of relentless outreach and the studied avoidance of controversy. But, as John Gustav-Wrathall shows in his revealing social history of the organization, the life of the YMCA has been filled with strife, tragedy, and irony, a life that itself reflects the struggle over the shifting societal mores regarding masculine friendship and intimacy. Take the Young Stranger by the Hand presents the YMCA as an institution of profound contradictions, reflective of society's views of same-sex love and sexuality.
"Gustav-Wrathall's book offers an in-depth history of the origins and purposes of the Young Men's Christian Association and how it evolved into?and out of?a gay playland."?Arnie Kantrowitz, Lambda Book Report
"The book's absorbing exploration of the sometimes schismatic, sometimes synergistic relationship between spirituality and sexuality is a fascinating addition to the growing body of social history."?Jim Van Buskirk, San Francisco Bay Guardian
"Gustav-Wrathall's book offers an in-depth history of the origins and purposes of the Young Men's Christian Association and how it evolved into?and out of?a gay playland."?Arnie Kantrowitz, Lambda Book Report
"The book's absorbing exploration of the sometimes schismatic, sometimes synergistic relationship between spirituality and sexuality is a fascinating addition to the growing body of social history."?Jim Van Buskirk, San Francisco Bay Guardian
There are two decidedly different images of the YMCA and its contributions to the lives of young men alone in the city, set adrift from hearth and home. Although it positions itself as a stabilizing moral force, it also has a reputation for housing unregulated gay male sexual activity. In Take the Young Stranger by the Hand, John Donald Gustav-Wrathall performs a fascinating and entertaining analysis that reveals these contradictory traditions as so intertwined historically and socially as to be inevitable.
Founded in the mid-19th century, the YMCA fostered close, spiritually sustaining relationships between young men. By the century's end the "Y," as it became known, had implemented a wide-scale program of physical exercise and sex education, in part to combat the increasingly visible specter of physical intimacy between men. But this emphasis on the perfected male body only increased the institution's reputation as a haven for homosexuality. Drawing upon diverse sources, including YMCA records, social histories, urban and economic studies, "physical culture" physique magazines, and gay memoirs, Gustav-Wrathall explicates not only the hidden sexual subtexts of the Y's social history but examines how changing attitudes about sexuality, male friendship, gender, marriage, and privacy all contributed to shaping the nature and both the overt and covert purpose of the organization. Take the Young Stranger by the Hand is a highly readable addition to the ever-growing body of gay history and theory. --Michael Bronski
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