University Of Michigan Prof's New Book On Gay Culture Says Sex Is Overrated

David M. Halperin is a professor of the history and theory of sexuality at the University of Michigan who has written a new book, "How to Be Gay."

New York Times reviewer Dwight Garner says Halperin provocatively argues that when it comes to defining what it means to be a homosexual man, sex is overrated.

 Culture matters more, writes Halperin.

Garner writes: “Gayness,” Mr. Halperin declares, “is not a state or condition. It’s a mode of perception, an attitude, an ethos: in short, it is a practice.” The great value of traditional gay male culture, he further posits, perhaps even more challengingly, “resides in some of its most despised and repudiated features: gay male femininity, diva worship, aestheticism, snobbery, drama, adoration of glamour, caricature of women and obsession with the figure of the mother.”