Lester Strong and David Waggoner: "XY on XY," 2008, Introduction
XY on XY
Lester Strong and David Waggoner
Synopsis
XY on XY explores through prose and visual art what it means to be a gay man in today's world. It shows that gay men are not only obsessed by sex, but know how to think about it intelligently.
The book is comprised of four pieces of prose (two by each author), followed by short dialogues between the authors discussing the themes in each piece, and six pieces of visual art, accompanied by a dialogue discussing their themes. Among the topics explored: love, sexuality, relationships, promiscuity, public sex, HIV/AIDS, coming out, sexual fantasies, pornography, confronting and overcoming homophobia.
Table of Contents
Lester Strong and David Waggoner: "XY on XY," 2008, Introduction
- Preface
Lester Strong and David Waggoner: "XY on XY," 2008, page 1
- New Story (David Waggoner)
- Dialogue: Positive/Negative
Lester Strong and David Waggoner: "XY on XY," 2008, page 2
- Anagrams (Lester Strong)
- Dialogue: Blood Brothers
Lester Strong and David Waggoner: "XY on XY," 2008, page 3
- Process + Elimination (David Waggoner)
- Dialogue: High Art in Low Places
Lester Strong and David Waggoner: "XY on XY,"
' 2008, page 4
- Diary (Lester Strong)
- Dialogue: The Pornographic Imagination
Lester Strong and David Waggoner: "XY on XY," 2008, page 5
- Dialogue: Faces Not Needed
- Art: Blue Pose, Brown Pose, Red Pose (David Waggoner); Gold Leaf, Black T, Silver Arrow (Lester Strong)
- About the Authors
Copyright © 2008 Lester Strong and David Waggoner. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any other information retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the authors.
Preface
• Mark Foley, former Republican Congressman from Florida
• Ted Haggard, former pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and former president of the 30-million-member National Association of Evangelicals
• Larry Craig, Republican Senator from Utah
WHAT DO THESE individuals have in common? Publicly they denounce and condemn what they call the “gay lifestyle,” while secretly they engage in gay sex themselves. Publicly they advocate antigay legislation and social sanctions, while they’re charged with secretly pursuing same-sex affairs with adolescents (Foley), indulging in illegal but sex-enhancing drugs (Haggard), and soliciting sex from other men in public restrooms (Craig).
Arguably, these individuals are but the visible tip of a hidden domain consisting of many men—not all of them by any means antigay right-wing political or religious leaders—who every day live their own versions of the down low. Equally arguably, they represent a society deeply conflicted about not just homosexuality, but sexuality in general—a society puritanical in its official attitudes about sexual behavior that nevertheless supports a multibillion-dollar-a-year porn industry.
There’s another adjective besides “conflicted” that describes this kind of person and society: hypocritical.
XY on XY—which translates easily from the terminology of genetics into colloquial English as “Male on Male”—explores from the inside what it means to be a gay man in our hypocritical society. Its subject matter encompasses experiences and issues encountered daily by most gay men: love requited and not requited, relationships, promiscuity, public sex, HIV/AIDS, coming out, dealing with family and friends, sexual fantasies, pornography, confronting homophobic social bias, learning to like living in your own skin despite all the antigay bigotry continually thrown in your face.
Above all XY on XY is an artists’ book, produced by two gay men who are both verbal and visual artists. It consists of two prose pieces each, three drawings of male nudes each, and dialogues between the two of us on the writings and the visual art.
The drawings are not subordinate to the prose. Gay men, like men in general, are a highly visual lot in their sexual proclivities. “A picture is worth a thousand words” for most gay men, and the art in this book is intended as a visual glimpse into the gay male erotic imagination.
XY on XY is not a diatribe against mainstream society, heterosexuals, or even homophobia. It is meant to be suggestive, not definitive, about the topics it tackles. It has been published in the belief that gay male sexuality offers something of decided value to the world at large.
Welcome, then, to our exploration of the world of male-on-male sexuality.
Lester Strong & David Waggoner
