Campbell and Carilli (both, Purdue University Calumet) have assembled a collection of accessible essays that interrogate contemporary LGBTQ texts, politics, and experiences. Contributions include reflections on and controversial responses to programs such as SpongeBob SquarePants, The L Word, Will and Grace, Queer as Folk, Glee, and TransGeneration; a modern application of Vito Russo's arguments from The Celluloid Closet (CH, Mar'82); critiques of songs such as 'I Kissed a Girl' (Katy Perry) and 'Born This Way' (Lady Gaga); the subversive potential of effeminate/queer Japanese male television commentators; the dissident maternity photos of Thomas Beatie; the often-forgotten legacy of Kathy Kozachenko, the first voter-elected openly lesbian city councilor in the US; the sex/gender policing of intersex athletes; (in)conspicuous advertising to/within the LGBTQ community; and sexualized/hetero-normative assumptions of children's television programs. Many of the essays also offer recommendations about the ways in which a queer representation could be fashioned into a more nuanced and socially just representation. The breadth and depth of this collection is impressive; it is a must read for anyone interested in media criticism, popular culture, and LGBTQ studies. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers/faculty, professional/practitioners.

Choice Reviews

From Sponge Bob to Glee to I Kissed a Girl, this much needed, comprehensive collection addresses how gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people are depicted across a wide variety of media. Through intriguing analyses of images, sexuality as performance, and the implications and effects of living marginalized, this book is a must-read for anyone interested not only in the specifics of the right to realistic representations but also in issues of identity and ethics of representation.

Debra Merskin, University of Oregon