Jeffrey Escoffier | Brooklyn Institute for Social Research (original) (raw)

Books by Jeffrey Escoffier

Research paper thumbnail of Sex, Society and the Making of Pornography: The Pornographic Object of Knowledge (New Brunswick & London: Rutgers University Press, forthcoming February 2021)

As Laura Kipnis proclaimed, “Pornography is the royal road to the cultural psyche (as for Freud, ... more As Laura Kipnis proclaimed, “Pornography is the royal road to the cultural psyche (as for Freud, dreams were the route to the unconscious).” This book explores that claim. Hardcore pornographic films have combined fantasy and real sex to create a unique genre of entertainment. Pornographic films are also historical documents that give us access to the sexual behavior and eroticism of different historical periods. This book shows how the making of pornographic films is a social process that draws on the fantasies, sexual scripts and sexual identities of performers, writers, directors, and editors to produce sexually exciting videos and movies. Yet hardcore pornographic films have also created a body of knowledge that constitutes, in this digital age, an enormous archive of sexual fantasies that serve as both as a form of sex education and self-help guides. Sex, Society and the Making of Pornography focuses on sex and what can be learned about it from pornographic representations.

Research paper thumbnail of American Homo: Community and Perversity, (reprinted: Radical Thinkers, Verso Books, 2018; Berkeley, University of California Press, 1998).

“Explores sexual revolution as a prolonged process rather than a single event, and the central an... more “Explores sexual revolution as a prolonged process rather than a single event, and the central and formative role of LGBT struggles within that. [Escoffier is] firmly committed to the significance of LGBT agency and grass-roots knowledge in creating the conditions for radical change. This is a landmark book that deserves to be read and re-read.”
– Jeffrey Weeks, author of What is Sexual History?

“Compelling and necessary!”
– Cirus Rinaldi, University of Palermo

“Deeply informed, conceptually potent, and essential analyses of LGBTQ histories, economics, and social life. A great deal of how I think about these things has come from his work.”
– Gayle Rubin, author Deviations: A Gayle Rubin Reader

Research paper thumbnail of Bigger Than Life: The History of Gay Porn Cinema from Beefcake to Hardcore (Philadelphia: Running Press/Perseus Book Group, 2009)

Research paper thumbnail of Sexual Revolution (New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2003)

Research paper thumbnail of Mark Morris’s L’Allegro, il Peneroso ed il Moderato: A Celebration, (New York: Marlowe and Co, 2001)

Research paper thumbnail of John Maynard Keynes, Lives of Notable Gay Men and Lesbians, (New York: Chelsea House, 1995).

Creativity and Economics in 1970s New York by Jeffrey Escoffier

Research paper thumbnail of Cutting Up the City in Crisis: Gordon Matta-Clark and Urban Commons

Gotham Center for New York City History, CUNY Graduate Center, 2018

The traditional narrative of 20th century New York urban living has often concerned itself with t... more The traditional narrative of 20th century New York urban living has often concerned itself with the antipodal philosophies of urban planner Robert Moses and critic Jane Jacobs. This binary conception of American urban life contrasted Moses’ radical projects to remake New York City to suit the automobile with Jacobs’ admonishments that quality of life required small, organic neighborhoods of diverse inhabitants and independent businesses. These philosophies, however, were no longer applicable in 1970s New York. In a new city characterized by crisis, ruins, and abandonment, a fundamentally new way of conceiving of the urban realm was required. The artist, activist, and ‘un-builder’ Gordon Matta-Clark was one of the first to explore and embody an alternative—and he remains a representative figure of the unique culturo-political ferment of 1970s New York. This paper argues that Matta-Clark’s art, actions, and writings express his vision of the de-industrializing metropolis as a city of possibility and that his approach to the urban realm rejected a clean image of historical continuity in favor of the radical discontinuity of times of disaster. We claim that he accepted the city as it was, presently, for him—dirty, contested, and struggling—and devised strategies for reclaiming dignity amidst a ruinous landscape. A key cultural instigator and advocate for a particular type of urban commons, Matta-Clark was more than an artist and activist; he was, in his unique manner, both an urban planner and urban philosopher—his work embodying Henri Lefebvre’s notion of the ideal city as the “perpetual oeuvre of the inhabitants.”
[This article published by the CUNY Grad Center is the general readership version of an upcoming academic article.]

Research paper thumbnail of Cracks in the Pre-Invented World: Disaster, Art and the Sublime in New York, 1970 to 1992

Gotham Center for New York City History, CUNY Graduate Center, 2018

In this review of the Whitney Museum's David Wojnarowicz retrospective for the CUNY Graduate Cent... more In this review of the Whitney Museum's David Wojnarowicz retrospective for the CUNY Graduate Center's Gotham Center for New York City History, we explore Wojnarowicz as a representative figure of the experimentalism in art-practices and urban living that occurred in the 1970s/1980s New York City.

Research paper thumbnail of Relics of the Underground: The Afterlife of Cultural Spaces

Gotham Center for New York City History, CUNY Graduate Center, 2018

This article first examines the complex relationship that underground culture has with brick-and-... more This article first examines the complex relationship that underground culture has with brick-and-mortar institutions ("depends on specific spaces yet transcends the particulars of place"), then employs Sharon Zukin's analysis of kairological images to explore how individual myth-making and commercial interests make use of such institutions after they are no longer hosts to underground or avant-garde culture.

Sexuality by Jeffrey Escoffier

Research paper thumbnail of I COPIONI SESSUALI Storia, analisi e applicazioni

by Cirus Rinaldi, Vulca Fidolini, Alain Giami, Jeffrey Escoffier, Aurelio Castro, Kevin Walby, Florian Vörös, Mathieu Trachman, Cosimo Marco Scarcelli, Lucas Monteil, and James Farrer

Research paper thumbnail of Review of Gilbert Herdt, Sexual Cultures and Migration in the Era of AIDS: Anthropological and Demographic

cross-cultural comparisons, anthropology and demography,

Research paper thumbnail of The Age of Promiscuity: Gay Male Sex Before AIDS -- Seminar Syllabus

Syllabus In the early days of the AIDS epidemic " promiscuity " and public sex were frequently ci... more Syllabus In the early days of the AIDS epidemic " promiscuity " and public sex were frequently cited as the primary causes of the epidemic – and while gay men's sexual behavior certainly played a part, there were many other factors at play—sexual freedom, personal development, collective intimacy, community building, and cultural expression. This seminar will explore the gay male sexual subculture that existed in NYC before the epidemic and will examine the impact of HIV/AIDS on gay male sexuality – by contrasting the 1970s with the gay male subculture of today. In this seminar we will examine the films, art, and literature that played such an important role in the development of this sexual subculture.

Research paper thumbnail of American Sexual Character: Sex, Gender, and National Identity in the Kinsey Reports

Contemporary Sociology-a Journal of Reviews, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of The Invention of Safer Sex: Vernacular Knowledge, Gay Politics and HIV Prevention

From the Berkeley Journal of Sociology: A Critical Review, Volume 43/1998-99

Research paper thumbnail of Sex, Safety, and the Trauma of AIDS

Research paper thumbnail of In Memoriam, John Gagnon, 1931-2016

This piece was originally published as the Foreword to John Gagnon's "The Interpretation of Desir... more This piece was originally published as the Foreword to John Gagnon's "The Interpretation of Desire: Essays in the Study of Sexuality" (University of Chicago Press, 2004).

Dance Studies and Music by Jeffrey Escoffier

Research paper thumbnail of Review of Helena Wulff, Ballet Across Borders: Careers and Culture in the World of Dancers

cross-cultural comparison of ballet's occupation culture

Research paper thumbnail of Figures of Dancing: The Thinking Body and its Metaphors

dancing as thinking, why intellectuals should care about dance, originally prepared as a talk to ... more dancing as thinking, why intellectuals should care about dance, originally prepared as a talk to the Florida Atlantic University, Program in the Comparative Studies for Public Intellectuals, October 1999

Research paper thumbnail of Balanchine Noir.pdf

Research paper thumbnail of Accidental Pleasures.pdf

Research paper thumbnail of Sex, Society and the Making of Pornography: The Pornographic Object of Knowledge (New Brunswick & London: Rutgers University Press, forthcoming February 2021)

As Laura Kipnis proclaimed, “Pornography is the royal road to the cultural psyche (as for Freud, ... more As Laura Kipnis proclaimed, “Pornography is the royal road to the cultural psyche (as for Freud, dreams were the route to the unconscious).” This book explores that claim. Hardcore pornographic films have combined fantasy and real sex to create a unique genre of entertainment. Pornographic films are also historical documents that give us access to the sexual behavior and eroticism of different historical periods. This book shows how the making of pornographic films is a social process that draws on the fantasies, sexual scripts and sexual identities of performers, writers, directors, and editors to produce sexually exciting videos and movies. Yet hardcore pornographic films have also created a body of knowledge that constitutes, in this digital age, an enormous archive of sexual fantasies that serve as both as a form of sex education and self-help guides. Sex, Society and the Making of Pornography focuses on sex and what can be learned about it from pornographic representations.

Research paper thumbnail of American Homo: Community and Perversity, (reprinted: Radical Thinkers, Verso Books, 2018; Berkeley, University of California Press, 1998).

“Explores sexual revolution as a prolonged process rather than a single event, and the central an... more “Explores sexual revolution as a prolonged process rather than a single event, and the central and formative role of LGBT struggles within that. [Escoffier is] firmly committed to the significance of LGBT agency and grass-roots knowledge in creating the conditions for radical change. This is a landmark book that deserves to be read and re-read.”
– Jeffrey Weeks, author of What is Sexual History?

“Compelling and necessary!”
– Cirus Rinaldi, University of Palermo

“Deeply informed, conceptually potent, and essential analyses of LGBTQ histories, economics, and social life. A great deal of how I think about these things has come from his work.”
– Gayle Rubin, author Deviations: A Gayle Rubin Reader

Research paper thumbnail of Bigger Than Life: The History of Gay Porn Cinema from Beefcake to Hardcore (Philadelphia: Running Press/Perseus Book Group, 2009)

Research paper thumbnail of Sexual Revolution (New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2003)

Research paper thumbnail of Mark Morris’s L’Allegro, il Peneroso ed il Moderato: A Celebration, (New York: Marlowe and Co, 2001)

Research paper thumbnail of John Maynard Keynes, Lives of Notable Gay Men and Lesbians, (New York: Chelsea House, 1995).

Research paper thumbnail of Cutting Up the City in Crisis: Gordon Matta-Clark and Urban Commons

Gotham Center for New York City History, CUNY Graduate Center, 2018

The traditional narrative of 20th century New York urban living has often concerned itself with t... more The traditional narrative of 20th century New York urban living has often concerned itself with the antipodal philosophies of urban planner Robert Moses and critic Jane Jacobs. This binary conception of American urban life contrasted Moses’ radical projects to remake New York City to suit the automobile with Jacobs’ admonishments that quality of life required small, organic neighborhoods of diverse inhabitants and independent businesses. These philosophies, however, were no longer applicable in 1970s New York. In a new city characterized by crisis, ruins, and abandonment, a fundamentally new way of conceiving of the urban realm was required. The artist, activist, and ‘un-builder’ Gordon Matta-Clark was one of the first to explore and embody an alternative—and he remains a representative figure of the unique culturo-political ferment of 1970s New York. This paper argues that Matta-Clark’s art, actions, and writings express his vision of the de-industrializing metropolis as a city of possibility and that his approach to the urban realm rejected a clean image of historical continuity in favor of the radical discontinuity of times of disaster. We claim that he accepted the city as it was, presently, for him—dirty, contested, and struggling—and devised strategies for reclaiming dignity amidst a ruinous landscape. A key cultural instigator and advocate for a particular type of urban commons, Matta-Clark was more than an artist and activist; he was, in his unique manner, both an urban planner and urban philosopher—his work embodying Henri Lefebvre’s notion of the ideal city as the “perpetual oeuvre of the inhabitants.”
[This article published by the CUNY Grad Center is the general readership version of an upcoming academic article.]

Research paper thumbnail of Cracks in the Pre-Invented World: Disaster, Art and the Sublime in New York, 1970 to 1992

Gotham Center for New York City History, CUNY Graduate Center, 2018

In this review of the Whitney Museum's David Wojnarowicz retrospective for the CUNY Graduate Cent... more In this review of the Whitney Museum's David Wojnarowicz retrospective for the CUNY Graduate Center's Gotham Center for New York City History, we explore Wojnarowicz as a representative figure of the experimentalism in art-practices and urban living that occurred in the 1970s/1980s New York City.

Research paper thumbnail of Relics of the Underground: The Afterlife of Cultural Spaces

Gotham Center for New York City History, CUNY Graduate Center, 2018

This article first examines the complex relationship that underground culture has with brick-and-... more This article first examines the complex relationship that underground culture has with brick-and-mortar institutions ("depends on specific spaces yet transcends the particulars of place"), then employs Sharon Zukin's analysis of kairological images to explore how individual myth-making and commercial interests make use of such institutions after they are no longer hosts to underground or avant-garde culture.

Research paper thumbnail of I COPIONI SESSUALI Storia, analisi e applicazioni

by Cirus Rinaldi, Vulca Fidolini, Alain Giami, Jeffrey Escoffier, Aurelio Castro, Kevin Walby, Florian Vörös, Mathieu Trachman, Cosimo Marco Scarcelli, Lucas Monteil, and James Farrer

Research paper thumbnail of Review of Gilbert Herdt, Sexual Cultures and Migration in the Era of AIDS: Anthropological and Demographic

cross-cultural comparisons, anthropology and demography,

Research paper thumbnail of The Age of Promiscuity: Gay Male Sex Before AIDS -- Seminar Syllabus

Syllabus In the early days of the AIDS epidemic " promiscuity " and public sex were frequently ci... more Syllabus In the early days of the AIDS epidemic " promiscuity " and public sex were frequently cited as the primary causes of the epidemic – and while gay men's sexual behavior certainly played a part, there were many other factors at play—sexual freedom, personal development, collective intimacy, community building, and cultural expression. This seminar will explore the gay male sexual subculture that existed in NYC before the epidemic and will examine the impact of HIV/AIDS on gay male sexuality – by contrasting the 1970s with the gay male subculture of today. In this seminar we will examine the films, art, and literature that played such an important role in the development of this sexual subculture.

Research paper thumbnail of American Sexual Character: Sex, Gender, and National Identity in the Kinsey Reports

Contemporary Sociology-a Journal of Reviews, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of The Invention of Safer Sex: Vernacular Knowledge, Gay Politics and HIV Prevention

From the Berkeley Journal of Sociology: A Critical Review, Volume 43/1998-99

Research paper thumbnail of Sex, Safety, and the Trauma of AIDS

Research paper thumbnail of In Memoriam, John Gagnon, 1931-2016

This piece was originally published as the Foreword to John Gagnon's "The Interpretation of Desir... more This piece was originally published as the Foreword to John Gagnon's "The Interpretation of Desire: Essays in the Study of Sexuality" (University of Chicago Press, 2004).

Research paper thumbnail of Review of Helena Wulff, Ballet Across Borders: Careers and Culture in the World of Dancers

cross-cultural comparison of ballet's occupation culture

Research paper thumbnail of Figures of Dancing: The Thinking Body and its Metaphors

dancing as thinking, why intellectuals should care about dance, originally prepared as a talk to ... more dancing as thinking, why intellectuals should care about dance, originally prepared as a talk to the Florida Atlantic University, Program in the Comparative Studies for Public Intellectuals, October 1999

Research paper thumbnail of Balanchine Noir.pdf

Research paper thumbnail of Accidental Pleasures.pdf

Research paper thumbnail of Oscar Wilde's Politics-Escoffier

Research paper thumbnail of The Queer Issue: New Visions of America's Lesbian and Gay Past: Editors' Introduction

Radical History Review, 1995

Notes 1. Robert Padgug, "Introduction," Radical History Review 20 (Spring/Summer, 1979)... more Notes 1. Robert Padgug, "Introduction," Radical History Review 20 (Spring/Summer, 1979): 5. 2. Jonathan Ned Katz, Guy American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the USA (New York Avon Books, 1976); Katz, GaylLesbian Almanac: A New Documentary (New York Harper ...

Research paper thumbnail of Left-Wing Homosexuality: Emancipation, Sexual Liberation, and Identity Politics

Research paper thumbnail of Fabulous Politics-Gay, Lesbian and Queer Movements, 1969-1999.pdf

Research paper thumbnail of Socialism as Ethics (1986).pdf

The failure of the traditional working class and labor movements to achieve political dominance a... more The failure of the traditional working class and labor movements to achieve political dominance and to reform capitalism has set us adrift both strategically and morally.

Research paper thumbnail of The Sexual Revolution, 1960-1980

Gordon Rattray Taylor's sweeping generalization that "the history of civilization is the... more Gordon Rattray Taylor's sweeping generalization that "the history of civilization is the history of a long warfare between the dangerous and powerful forces of the id, and the various systems of taboos and inhibitions . . . erected to control them" goes so far as to be almost meaningless. Fluctuations in the regulation of sexual activity have taken place in many different historical periods and cultures. Usually such changes are local and limited to one aspect of sexual life. Given this context, the dramatic changes in American sexual behavior, mores, and attitudes that took place during the 1960s and 1970s are noteworthy indeed.

Research paper thumbnail of Stigmas, Work Environment, and Economic Discrimination Against Homosexuals

Homosexual Counseling Journal, , 1975

Research paper thumbnail of Ballet across Borders: Careers and Culture in the World of Dancers, A Review

Contemporary Sociology,, 2000

Most books on ballet focus on celebrated performers or on the history of ballet as a cultural for... more Most books on ballet focus on celebrated performers or on the history of ballet as a cultural form. Helena Wulff's book is probably the first work to explore, cross-culturally, the occupational culture of ballet dancers from an anthropological and sociological perspective.

Research paper thumbnail of Every Detail Counts: Robert Stoller, Perversion and the Production of Pornography

Psychoanalysis and History

After the publication of his pioneering book Sexual Excitement in 1979, Robert Stoller devoted th... more After the publication of his pioneering book Sexual Excitement in 1979, Robert Stoller devoted the last 12 years of his life to the study of the pornographic film industry. To do so, he conducted an ethnographic study of people working in the industry in order to find out how it produced ‘perverse fantasies’ that successfully communicated sexual excitement to other people. In the course of his investigation he observed and interviewed those involved in the making of pornographic films. He hypothesized that the ‘scenarios’ developed and performed by people in the porn industry were based on their own perverse fantasies and their frustrations, injuries and conflicts over sexuality and gender; and that the porn industry had developed a systematic method and accumulated a sophisticated body of knowledge about the production of sexual excitement. This paper explores Stoller's theses and shows how they fared in his investigation.

Research paper thumbnail of Scripting the Sex

The Sexual Self

... They are" 0 written by scriptwriters or verbally coached by directors, or (in co... more ... They are" 0 written by scriptwriters or verbally coached by directors, or (in conjunction with the, g director's choreography) partly improvised by the performers.£- When I first began to interview the people who work in the gay porn industry, Mi-chael Lucas, who has worked as a ...

Research paper thumbnail of Sex in the Seventies: Gay Porn Cinema as an Archive for the History of American Sexuality

Journal of the History of Sexuality

Research paper thumbnail of Imagining the She/Male: Pornography and the Transsexualization of the Heterosexual Male: Psychoanalytic Reflections

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 15240657 2011 610230, Oct 7, 2011

... To return now to the imagined viewer of she/male porn: I think that viewer is in a state some... more ... To return now to the imagined viewer of she/male porn: I think that viewer is in a state somewhere between hallucination and reality, where the ... a penis was a dream, but it played out in sex with her husband in countless scenarios where she would wear a dildo and surprise him ...

Research paper thumbnail of NYC CPPW-Obesity Media

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: Media was effective in tobacco control and is being tested as a strategy t... more ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: Media was effective in tobacco control and is being tested as a strategy to prevent and reduce obesity in NYC in conjunction with other CPPW policy, system, and environmental change strategies. Initial focus has been on developing hard-hitting sugary drink counter-advertising aimed at reducing sugary drink consumption. METHODS: Loss-framed messages based on psychological reactance theory were developed, tested, placed,and evaluated. RESULTS: Concepts with hard-hitting illustrations of health effects unfamiliar to laypeople were considered most impactful, and common, identifiable behaviors like frequent consumption of sugary drinks over the course of a day. To date, 2 campaigns have been placed: 1) Refresher of a previously-developed sugary drink campaign, including a YouTube video (125,000 views), a print campaign placed on mass transit (64M impressions), and a press release. Over 70 earned media placements were generated. 2) Major sugary drink campaign was placed on television and mass transit and complemented by a press release (63M impressions and a GRP of 75). A street intercept survey conducted among 1200 New Yorkers shown campaign images found that 75% recalled seeing one or more campaign ads; and half reported drinking less sugary drinks than the same time last year. DISCUSSION: These represent the first innovations taking obesity media to the level of tobacco media, reaching millions of New Yorkers with hard-hitting campaigns.

Research paper thumbnail of American homo : community and perversity

Page 1. AMERICAN HOMO \ 1 Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. Page 5. AMERICAN HOMO Thi s O I Hill TNXD-SHP-U... more Page 1. AMERICAN HOMO \ 1 Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. Page 5. AMERICAN HOMO Thi s O I Hill TNXD-SHP-UOKQ Page 6. Page 7. AMERICAN HOMO Community and Perversity JEFFREY ESCOFFIER UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles London Page ...

Research paper thumbnail of Gay-for-Pay: Straight Men and the Making of Gay Pornography

Qualitative Sociology, 2003

Research paper thumbnail of Stigmas, Work Environment, and Economic Discrimination Against Homosexuals

Homosexual Counseling Journal, 1975

Research paper thumbnail of Generating "buzz":Earned media and NYC's "Pouring on the Pounds" campaign

Research paper thumbnail of NYC CPPW-Obesity Media

INTRODUCTION: Media was effective in tobacco control and is being tested as a strategy to prevent... more INTRODUCTION: Media was effective in tobacco control and is being tested as a strategy to prevent and reduce obesity in NYC in conjunction with other CPPW policy, system, and environmental change strategies. Initial focus has been on developing hard-hitting sugary drink counter-advertising aimed at reducing sugary drink consumption. METHODS: Loss-framed messages based on psychological reactance theory were developed, tested, placed,and evaluated. RESULTS: Concepts with hard-hitting illustrations of health effects unfamiliar to laypeople were considered most impactful, and common, identifiable behaviors like frequent consumption of sugary drinks over the course of a day. To date, 2 campaigns have been placed: 1) Refresher of a previously-developed sugary drink campaign, including a YouTube video (125,000 views), a print campaign placed on mass transit (64M impressions), and a press release. Over 70 earned media placements were generated. 2) Major sugary drink campaign was placed on t...

Research paper thumbnail of Beefcake to Hardcore

Media and the Sexual Revolution, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Sexuality || The Invention of Safer Sex: Vernacular Knowledge, Gay Politics and HIV Prevention

Research paper thumbnail of Reaching Teens: The Use of MySpace to Raise Awareness About Mental Health

Research paper thumbnail of Pornography, Perversity and the Sexual Revolution

Research paper thumbnail of Imagining the She/Male: Pornography and the Transsexualization of the Heterosexual Male: Psychoanalytic Reflections

Studies in Gender and Sexuality, 2011

... To return now to the imagined viewer of she/male porn: I think that viewer is in a state some... more ... To return now to the imagined viewer of she/male porn: I think that viewer is in a state somewhere between hallucination and reality, where the ... a penis was a dream, but it played out in sex with her husband in countless scenarios where she would wear a dildo and surprise him ...

Research paper thumbnail of Homophobia: Effects on Scientists

Science, 1980

Title: Homophobia: Effects on Scientists. Authors: Escoffier, Jeffrey; Malyon, Alan; Morin, Steph... more Title: Homophobia: Effects on Scientists. Authors: Escoffier, Jeffrey; Malyon, Alan; Morin, Stephen; Raphael, Sharon. Publication: Science, Volume 209, Issue 4454, pp. 340. Publication Date: 07/1980. Origin: JSTOR. DOI: 10.1126/science.209.4454.340. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Allan Berube: In Memoriam

Journal of Homosexuality, 2009