{"id":640,"date":"2011-12-20T12:53:01","date_gmt":"2011-12-20T18:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/?p=640"},"modified":"2011-12-20T12:53:01","modified_gmt":"2011-12-20T18:53:01","slug":"steven-petrows-complete-gay-lesbian-manners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/steven-petrows-complete-gay-lesbian-manners\/","title":{"rendered":"Steven Petrow’s Complete Gay & Lesbian Manners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Petrow, Steven. Steven Petrow\u2019s Complete Gay & Lesbian Manners: The Definitive Guide to LGBT Life.<\/em> Uncorrected proofs. New York: Workman Publishing, 2011. Paperback. 395pp. $17.95. ISBN: 978-0-7611-5670-3.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"This comprehensive guide to LGBTQ manners covers it all, from first dates to public sex to coming out on Facebook. Petrow\u2019s acceptance of such practices as bathhouse sex and online hookups \u2013 subjects not usually discussed in etiquette guides \u2013 mean that he\u2019s not judgmental. Topics like how to get out of a boring conversation at a club prove that the author understands what etiquette really means, and it\u2019s not whether the water glass goes on the left or the right. It\u2019s about treating people with kindness and respect.<\/p>\n

The guide is up-to-the-moment without forgetting the past; a page on internet dildo purchases sits next to a decryption of the old-school hankie codes. This balanced look at the queer community continues throughout the book. Petrow realizes that the queer population has its own set of rules, but also that we have straight friends and family; in the helpful Q&A sidebars, for example, he puts a gay twist on some questions that otherwise apply just as well in the straight world (\u201cI lent my friend money for his business but he spent it on a gay cruise\u201d), while some are specific to queers (\u201cMy friends want to set me up with all the gay guys they know just because they\u2019re gay\u201d).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s refreshing to read dating advice that doesn\u2019t assume the partners are of different genders. The section on blind dates, for example, uses same-sex couples throughout its coverage, offering much of the same information that would be addressed in a conventional etiquette or dating book \u2015 safety first, what to do if you want to end the date early, etc.<\/p>\n

A book that focused only on the gay aspects of dating or etiquette would be incomplete; some of the human experience is, after all, universal. It\u2019s better to have the info. all in one place than to have to purchase a \u201cregular\u201d etiquette book along with a supplemental gay one \u2013 how othering!<\/p>\n

There is nothing out there like this book. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by, Daisy Porter<\/strong>
\nManager of KACY (King Access, Children\u2019s, and Youth)
\nSan Jos\u00e9 Public Library<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Petrow, Steven. Steven Petrow\u2019s Complete Gay & Lesbian Manners: The Definitive Guide to LGBT Life. Uncorrected proofs. New York: Workman Publishing, 2011. Paperback. 395pp. $17.95. ISBN: 978-0-7611-5670-3. This comprehensive guide to LGBTQ manners covers it all, from first dates to public sex to coming out on Facebook. Petrow\u2019s acceptance of such practices as bathhouse sex […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}