Category: Uncategorized
-
Gay bars vs. Grindr: Let’s stay on our phones tonight
Will Grindr Kill Gay Bars? Grindr Founder Responds To Claim That The Hook-Up Is Killing Gay Bars. This week saw a spate of articles about whether Grindr and other geo-enabled smartphone apps are hurting gay bars because of an interview with Grindr CEO Joel Simkhai in Time Out Hong Kong: Many people think apps like…
-
Supporting colleagues, repudiating anti-Semitism
I am writing to show support to my Jewish colleagues in the face of the anti-Semitic speech by one of our colleagues. I appreciate President Krislov’s strong defense of academic freedom, even though it makes me queasy to have it applied in this situation. As someone who conducts research into and teaches about sexuality, I…
-
Taylor Mac is good for America
This was the conclusion of Patrick O’Connor, my colleague and companion last Saturday to Taylor Mac‘s Ann Arbor performance of Act II of his virtuosic “24-Decade History of Popular Music.” One hour per decade, three decades per show, our segment was 1956-1986. When I first heard about the show I thought, “who’s going to sit…
-
Page 99 test for my book
Today I’m the guest blogger for the Page 99 Test, a project by Marshal Zeringue for the Campaign for the American Reader. My page 99 starts with “smash a brothel cartel;” you can see the rest of what I wrote on his blog. Check it out!
-
Guest essayist on Policy Trajectories
Today I’m the featured essayist on Policy Trajectories, the official organ of the Comparative-Historical section of the American Sociological Association. The essay is about how prostitution policy presaged the unraveling of the European Union. Read it out here, and check out the company I’m in! Seriously star-struck.
-
1/3 Whatever happened to obscene phone calls?
Hello? You never hear about obscene phone calls anymore, despite everyone having a phone in their pocket. Yesterday’s item about the guy who was issued Sir Mix-A-Lot’s old phone number treats it as a joke, but I remember being taught in school around 1984 about the danger of “heavy breathers.” At the same time, Barry…
-
Against moral panic (for cultural politics)
Pundits, sociologists, and activists frequently use the term “moral panic” to describe what they perceive as a public overreaction to an issue (or non-issue). Examples include “Prostitution and Human Trafficking – The Anatomy of a Moral Panic,” “What’s Flakka and is it Real? A Guide to the New Moral Panic Drugs,” From Miasma to Ebola:…
Greggor Mattson 