- Hardcover: 440 pages
- Publisher: Anchor Books; 1st Edition edition (Oct 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385472986
- ISBN-13: 978-0385472982
- Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 15.8 x 4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,710,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Since the decade to lift the ban on gays in the military, the emergence of gay conservatives, and the onslaught of antigay initiatives across America, the gay and lesbian community has been asking itself tough questions: Where should the movement go? What do we want? In Virtual Equality, veteran activist Urvashi Vaid tackles these questions with a unique combination of visionary politics and hard-earned pragmatism.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
fantastic read. vaid's analysis of lesbian and gay liberation is a welcome break to the increasing dominance of an assimilationist, middle-class agenda. She stands up for the diversity of our community and recognises the important role lesbian and gay organisations have in fighting racism, sexism and possessing a class context. a must read.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Rather than shed light on these important issues, Urvashi Vaid disses anybody in the movement who doesn't see things as narrowly as she does. So, for example, she attacks belligerently Bruce Bawer, author of the splendid "A Place At the Table". To say that Bawer doesn't understand gay issues is obscene as well as absurd. It's Vaid who doesn't understand that gays come in all shapes and sizes, and that she doesn't represent anyone except a small bitter fringe element. Bawer resonates much more with mainstream gays and lesbians than she ever will. She might read his book and learn something from it, instead of condemning it.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Memoir, critique, manifesto
4 Jan 2002
Format:Paperback
Vaid, an activist, lawyer, and former head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, provides an ambitious and richly detailed analysis that is equal parts memoir, critique, and manifesto. For Vaid, the "mainstreaming" of the gay rights movement hasn't been a good thing. She questions how much the prevailing paradigm of gay political activism -- the seeking of legal rights and protections by working within the traditional political and judicial systems -- has actually achieved. Vaid worries that the movement will be co-opted by money and a desire for "insider" access. She argues passionately that gays and lesbians, as well as other sexual minorities, must work in coalition with other progressive groups to "supplement the limited politics of civil rights with a broader and more inclusive commitment to cultural transformation."
Vaid's style tends to be chatty and the chapters a little long-winded, though she is always sincere. Her book will resonate most with academic/queer/left types who are persuaded that gays and lesbians form a distinctive subculture in search of "liberation," a subculture united not merely by sexual expression but also by shared sensibilities, political outlook, and experience of oppression. It will be less impressive to those who believe gays should (or already do) exist largely in the mainstream, or to those who suspect that writers like Vaid talk the language of radical democracy while prescribing a specific political and cultural agenda. (Readers in search of lively debate can read Vaid as counterpoint or antidote to the work of Bruce Bawer and Andrew Sullivan, or vice versa.) While I find Vaid's perspective fundamentally limited because it's grounded in the sort of old-style, two-coasts, radical-chic queer politics that's rapidly being driven out of business by the burgeoning, sophisticated, upper-middle-class movement being built by the Human Rights Campaign (exactly, as it turns out, what Vaid feared; think of her as your pioneering little local bohemian co-op up against the Pottery Barn of gay politics), and while the content is getting somewhat dated, this remains a useful, thoughtful, and important book on its own terms.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
virtual equality
19 Mar 2000
Format:Paperback
this book is the most honest, inspiring, bold detailing of the gay and lesbian movement's successes and failures. vaid never tiptoes around sensitive or controversial topics, even her own actions. not only does she offer her well-researched, expert critique, but she also provides challenging, intelligent alternative/revised suggestions to improve the current strategy/ies. she makes the crucial point that many people don't want to face: ACCESS DOES NOT EQUAL PROGRESS. gains within legal and political arenas are very beneficial, but if we stop here then the absurd socio-cultural construct deeming queers (and all marginalized groups) inferior, which is the very root of discrimination, goes unscathed. bottom line....for anyone believing in the inherent equality of human beings on every level--cultural, social, political, economic, etc., it is absolutely essential to diligently study this book. Urvashi Vaid is an amazing person who has immersed her life in the battle for the liberation of the disenfranchised. her brilliance, effort and honesty are undeniable within this unabashed, uncloseted book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
A Valueable 1st Hand Account
17 Mar 2003
Format:Paperback
Vaid's account of her experiences in the gay movement is invaluable for the insights and lessons it offers. Should be required reading not only for activists and gays, but for everyone everywhere.
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