Barry Reay. New York Hustlers: Masculinity and Sex in Modern America. Encounters: Cultural Histories Series. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010. xiv + 279 pp. $35.00, paper, ISBN 978-0-7190-8008-1. Reviewed by Jason Narlock Published on H-Histsex (June, 2011) Commissioned by Timothy W. Jones (University of South Wales, & La Trobe University) One of the most enduring legacies of the les‐ York City. Hypermasculine and ostensibly hetero‐ bian and gay rights movement in the twentieth sexual, in uniform and in for same-sex sex, these century has been the attempt to craft a unifying men traversed both the fctional and nonfictional history of same-sex desire; to graft onto a multi‐ sexual geography of Gotham: from Times Square plicity of sexual practices a single sexual identity; to Coney Island, from the novels of John Rechy to to, in essence, create a great gay “we” that is his‐ paintings of Paul Cadmus. torically self-conscious and politically forward For Reay, these men offer another opportuni‐ thinking. To be sure, poststructuralists, Queer Na‐ ty to reveal the “rich continuities of taxonomies tion, and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick have all shown missed by a tendency to categorize all same-sex that such an attempt tends to be, if anything, an sexuality activity as ‘gay,’”--to, in other words, exercise in exclusivity where “we” are more often continue the sustained attack on the great gay than not white, male, affluent, and urban. “we” of twentieth-century lesbian and gay Ameri‐ Yet over two decades since the publication of ca and, in the process, challenge “our notions of Sedgwick’s Epistemology of the Closet (1990), in heterosexuality and homosexuality” (p. 17). This the midst of a decade-and-a-half-long stretch of is not a “recent turn” in the history of homosexu‐ historical research that has revealed queer desire ality (p. 14). Rather, it is a distinct theoretical shift on the rural roadsides of Mississippi and in the in historical accounts of same-sex desire that, at suburban cul-de-sacs of Southern California present, requires further elaboration and refine‐ (those places “we” were not supposed to be), and ment in the light of new historical evidence and that has given voice to femmes and fairies alike scholarly research. In short, Reay’s New York Hus‐ (the people “we” were not supposed to be), Barry tlers speaks to an important debate within the Reay presents a new voice in a familiar place: the male “hustlers” and “trade” of mid-century New H-Net Reviews history of homosexuality--if not a “recent turn” tentially move cultural materialism in a whole then definitely a turning point. new direction. How does Reay and New York Hustlers stack At the same time, Reay’s research uncovers a up in this regard? Reay offers an impressive recurring reassertion of masculinity within the amount of new and underappreciated historical lives of hustlers and within the sexual proclivities evidence on the male hustler in mid-century New of the hustled. In the words of one fctional hus‐ York that goes far in ensuring that the “recent tler, quoted by Reay, “‘HUSTLERS ARE NOT turn” toward a multifaceted history of same-sex QUEER’” (p. 171). Indeed, the hustler defined and desire is maintained. Indeed, Reay’s detailed anal‐ was defined by an aversion to effeminacy that ysis of the Thomas Painter archives is, at times, was increasingly reinforced by the burgeoning exemplary. A close informant of Alfred Kinsey lesbian and gay rights movement from the 1950s and a detailed devotee of New York’s hustler onward. Again, this is the sort of historical evi‐ scene, Painter’s collection of photographs, corre‐ dence that could potentially reinvigorate present- spondence, and pseudo-scientific observations of‐ day debates within feminist circles over the im‐ fers a wonderful insight into the life of the male pact of gendered practice on the sexual “tax‐ hustler as well as the lives of those who sought onomies” of postwar America. their companionship. In conjunction with court But Reay does not seem very interested in ad‐ records and cultural ephemera, Reay is able to dressing these sorts of theoretical issues, even if paint a detailed picture of the male hustler, a his research practically begs for it. As Matt Cook noteworthy component of his work in and of it‐ puts it in his backcover blandishment for New self. The New York hustler was both homosexual York Hustlers, “Reay wears his theoretical knowl‐ object-choice and heterosexual subject par excel‐ edge and expertise lightly.” Reay does so at his lence; he moved between illicit same-sex activity peril. What about the implications of the hustler and “legitimate” society in a manner that destabi‐ for cultural historians, for those interested in the lized the gay world-making ethos of lesbian and manner by which ethnicity or class affected the gay apologists and, I presume, distressed the het‐ sexual availability of men in New York City? What eronormative stakeholders of postwar America. about the implications of the hustler for histori‐ In addition, Reay’s detailed primary sources ans of the built environment, for those interested reveal two important elements that characterize in the “spatial stories”being told by the hustler’s the mid-century male hustler: money and mas‐ movements through the public places, parks, and culinity. While the structural logic of New York prisons of New York? In light of all this wonderful Hustlers is rather difficult to comprehend (Reay primary material, so what? would have done well to eschew his fve-page In all fairness, Reay leaves the door open for laundry list of the hustler in American culture for researchers interested in the theoretical or politi‐ an introduction that summarized main argu‐ cal effects that the character of the hustler might ments and chapter outlines), the role of capital in have on the history of sexuality. His thorough the lives of the New York hustler is not. Through‐ analysis of the Thomas Painter archives gives out the monograph, Reay presents a fascinating those not able to nip over to Indiana a privileged connection between prostitution, homosexuality, look into the possibilities that such material might and profit that, in many ways, offers an uninten‐ hold. In this regard, New York Hustlers is worth a tional history of situational homosexuality. It is trip to the library. the sort of “gay for pay” narrative that could po‐ 2 H-Net Reviews If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-histsex Citation: Jason Narlock. Review of Reay, Barry. New York Hustlers: Masculinity and Sex in Modern America. H-Histsex, H-Net Reviews. June, 2011. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=31892 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.