The Velvet Rage by Alan Downs (Paperback)
www.queerlit.co.uk
Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man's World. Today's gay man enjoys unprecedented, hard-won social acceptance. Despite this victory, however, serious problems still exist. Substance abuse, depression, suicide, and sex addiction among gay men are at an all-time high, causing many to ask, "Are we real

I read this book years ago when it was the first edition. It really spoke to me about some feelings I thought were really personal but turned out to be fairly common.

I read it again years later and it was a good read again. It has some really useful lessons and ideas I think.

I’m really curious if anyone else has read it, particularly someone younger than 40, and what they thought about it. If you haven’t read it I would recommend giving it a go if you can find it, I’m going to give it another read now it’s popped into my head.

  • SpeckleOPMEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    Thanks for your reply, it seems like there are still some parts of it that have relevance which is interesting to hear.

    Yeah I don’t believe the author claims it’s universal experience, more like some strong trends they’ve noticed working with their clients. I see it myself in a lot of gay men that I’ve known as well with pride and brittle egos. But again it’s not universal.

    That’s an interesting point about the inherent bias in there. His clients are defintely going to be from a very specific demographic, I don’t fall into that and neither do most people I know who’ve read it and we’ve all got something from it.

    Good to know that there’s still some relevance!