Promiscuous seexuality remains a central source of cultural fear and fascination, as seen in the resurgence of heated debates within American gaay culture on its place in the era of AIDS. Cruising Culture provides the first extensive critical examination of competing understandings and experiences of promiscuity, both in post-war American gaay culture and in American culture more broadly.In this original and provocative book, Ben Gove unpicks the root assumptions and contradictions which contribute to dominant punitive notions of promiscuous seex and desire. He challenges normative dichotomies between ‘good’ monogamous seexualities and ‘bad’ promiscuous seexualities by illustrating the inherent promiscuousness of all seexual desire, regardless of consciously expressed attitudes to seexual practice. The reader is guided through the maze of conflicting attitudes towards promiscuity in American gaay culture with innovative readings of texts by influential, but hitherto critically neglected, authors such as Andr