Gay lifestyles are an established part of postmodern urban culture. Gone seems to be the concealment of one's sweetheart, gone the policed sex in parks, gone the neighborhood whispering, gone the 'faggot' harassment at work. Where are the problems? In the countryside, there are. In German Swabia, for example. There are gays who have not made the jump to the city or never really wanted to leave. They don't have the urban tailwind of a gay lifestyle that makes it easier to come out and live an accepted life. Jochen Hick lets gay men of different ages show him everyday life in the country. But he doesn't let the gays have the sole say; instead, he traces the heterosexual judgment of gay lifestyles with amusement, enigmatism and curiosity, lets the church choir and the regulars' table, mothers and acquaintances have their say, and documents the overwhelming profile of a heterosexual view of gay men in German lands that is as often ignorant as it is bitterly funny.
How is life as a gay in the Swabian province? An intimate insight into a hitherto unknown terrain between church and Stammtisch.
Gay lifestyles are an established part of postmodern urban culture. Gone seems to be the concealment of one's sweetheart, gone the policed sex in parks, gone the neighborhood whispering, gone the 'faggot' harassment at work. Where are the problems?
In the countryside, there are. In German Swabia, for example. There are gays who have not made the jump to the city or never really wanted to leave. They don't have the urban tailwind of a gay lifestyle that makes it easier to come out and live an accepted life.
Jochen Hick lets gay men of different ages show him everyday life in the country. But he doesn't let the gays have the sole say; instead, he traces the heterosexual judgment of gay lifestyles with amusement, enigmatism and curiosity, lets the church choir and the regulars' table, mothers and acquaintances have their say, and documents the overwhelming profile of a heterosexual view of gay men in German lands that is as often ignorant as it is bitterly funny.