Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Snapshot
Review: Newton's research in Mother Camp is now dated, however its lasting value is in the rich snapshot that she has captured of gay street and performace life pre-liberation and feminist movements. For those who were there, much of Newton's work will ring true and for those who weren't, her book measures the distance between where gay liberation was and where it is today. The reader may wish for a more poignant feminist or cultural analysis of Newton's subject but when one considers the date of the research and writing (1965-69), Newton's analysis actually displays a surprisingly astute and diasporic handling of the sex/gender system. Newton steers clear of the exceptional epi-centers of gay activity (New York, San Fran) and in doing so manages to sieze upon a drag sensibility that may be more familiar to the majority of middle American gays and lesbians. In my estimation, this book makes a perfect if not necessary historical compliment to studies that include films such as Paris is Burning or other works on drag, camp, performance, or early gay culture.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Snapshot
Review: Newton's research in Mother Camp is now dated, however its lasting value is in the rich snapshot that she has captured of gay street and performace life pre-liberation and feminist movements. For those who were there, much of Newton's work will ring true and for those who weren't, her book measures the distance between where gay liberation was and where it is today. The reader may wish for a more poignant feminist or cultural analysis of Newton's subject but when one considers the date of the research and writing (1965-69), Newton's analysis actually displays a surprisingly astute and diasporic handling of the sex/gender system. Newton steers clear of the exceptional epi-centers of gay activity (New York, San Fran) and in doing so manages to sieze upon a drag sensibility that may be more familiar to the majority of middle American gays and lesbians. In my estimation, this book makes a perfect if not necessary historical compliment to studies that include films such as Paris is Burning or other works on drag, camp, performance, or early gay culture.