Ritch Williams Savin: 4 books

"...And Then I Became Gay is about the lives of young men who express the complications, adversities, and satisfactions of being a sexual outsider in North America during the 1980s and 1990s. Consisting of narratives which chronicle developmental progression from first memories of being attracted...

Proud, happy, grateful—gay youth describe their lives in terms that would have seemed surprising a generation ago. Yet many adults, including parents, are skeptical of this sea change—coming out is supposed to involve struggle. This is the kind of thinking, say the honest, humorous young men in Ritch Savin-Williams’s new book, that needs to change.

A growing number of young men today say they are “mostly straight” and yet feel a slight but enduring desire for men. Ritch Savin-Williams explores the stories of 40 mostly straight young men to help us understand the biological, psychological, and cultural forces that are loosening the sexual bind many boys and young men experience.

Books on adolescence have been written for a variety of purposes. Hall's (1904) two volume Adolescence encompasses most of them: to advocate a particular theoretical approach to adolescence, to stimulate use of a particular brand of scientific methodology when studying youth, to address issues of...