John Alan Lee

The social organization of sexual risk

The gay S/M (sado-masochistic or slave-master) subculture is considered an extreme test case of the risks encountered in casual sex with strangers. The experiences of 35 gay male practitioners of S/M sex show a relatively low rate of fright and injury arising from casual sexual encounters where one man has allowed himself to become prisoner of another. Protected territories, screening processes, negotiation of the S/M scenario, and maintenance of consent throughout the encounter are considered aspects of social control for the level of risk of physical injury and involuntary detention. The dramaturgical sociology of Erving Goffman is used to explain S/M as an alternative sexual lifestyle. S/M is considered a significant form of recreational sex with implications for a social analysis of the intersection of sex and power in North American society.

Invisible Men: Canada's Aging Homosexuals. Can They be Assimilated into Canada's “Liberated” Gay Communities?

This article outlines the results of two studies 1) a qualitative study of two groups of elderly homosexuals; 2) a four-year study of the life of 54 male homosexuals, aged between 50 and 80. The data offers an explanation for the fact that liberated gay communities are not seemingly willing to make room for the elderly homosexual. The explanation suggests: there is a significant cultural difference between young and old, particularly where privacy (“intimacy”) is concerned.