Slapping Leather
Queer Cowfolx at the Gay Rodeo
Published on 9. January 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-295-75213-6 (ISBN)
Description
Unapologetically brings gay rodeo out of the closetCampy and competitive, gay rodeo offers a community of refuge that straddles the urban and rural. Since the mid-1970s, gay rodeos have provided space to both embrace and challenge the idealized masculinity associated with the iconic cowboy of the US West. Slapping Leather traces the history and growth of gay rodeo over the decades, demonstrating how queer cowfolx have fought to build a community where LGBTQ+ people can escape discrimination in both mainstream rodeos and broader society.
Yet not all LGBTQ+ groups have found full acceptance in gay rodeo. Originally formed by gay men for gay men, the rodeo has at times perpetuated historically problematic ideas about the US West, the iconic cowboy, and the meaning of masculinity. Despite the gay rodeo's credo of acceptance, its history reveals complicated relationships with straight rodeo, gender stereotypes, and women competitors. Drawing from multiple archives and over seventy oral history interviews, historians Elyssa Ford and Rebecca Scofield demonstrate how amid these tensions, participants, volunteers, and spectators continue to redefine the performance of the cowboy and national belonging.
Yet not all LGBTQ+ groups have found full acceptance in gay rodeo. Originally formed by gay men for gay men, the rodeo has at times perpetuated historically problematic ideas about the US West, the iconic cowboy, and the meaning of masculinity. Despite the gay rodeo's credo of acceptance, its history reveals complicated relationships with straight rodeo, gender stereotypes, and women competitors. Drawing from multiple archives and over seventy oral history interviews, historians Elyssa Ford and Rebecca Scofield demonstrate how amid these tensions, participants, volunteers, and spectators continue to redefine the performance of the cowboy and national belonging.
Reviews / Votes
"Slapping Leather offers a personalized history and clearly explains a complex, often heart-wrenching episode of our past. Equally important, this book brings an elevated, needed awareness that will lead to more good questions and inspire continued research." * Pacific Historical Review * "An excellent contribution to the growing field of rural LGBTQ history, rodeo history, and modern American history." * Pacific Northwest Quarterly *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Seattle
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Maps; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 1 Tables, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white; 25 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
471 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-295-75213-6 (9780295752136)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Elyssa Ford is associate professor of history at Northwest Missouri State University and author of Rodeo as Refuge, Rodeo as Rebellion: Gender, Race, and Identity in the American Rodeo. Rebecca Scofield is associate professor of American history at the University of Idaho and author of Outriders: Rodeo at the Fringes of the American West.