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Just in Timefor

 

BY WALTER ZEICHNER

Sex Camp

by Brian -McKnight

Author House 2005
Paperback 446 pp.

 Sex Camp is
the latest book
by Brian McNaught, the author
of On Being Gay among other

_books, and a speaker and trainer

in sexuality diversity. There are
many perspectives from which 7
one can approach this work.

It is, initially, a fiction-
alized account of a week of
experiences of staff and partici-
pants at the Annual Workshop

on Sexuality, held for 30 years at 

Thomfield in upstate New York,
a retreat center owned by the
Episcopal Church. By ‘fictional-
ized’ I mean that the participants
are all made-up by the author,
likely based on parts of real par-
ticipants, parts of the author’s
own psyche, and characters that
would work in this context. The
staff, however, are based on the
real staff of the Workshop on
Sexuality, including the use of
their real names.

Sex Camp takes us
through the week of the work-
shop, from registration to staff
debriefing at the end. We get to
experience the week through the
eyes of nearly all of the charac-
ters at one point or another, their
joys and their sorrows, as well
as their interpersonal ‘experi-
ences with each other. In this
way it reads somewhat like a
screenplay. As fiction the book
is entertaining and engaging. I
laughed, I cried, I read it in two
sittings.

The author, however, is
not just out to entertain us. He
has an agenda! This book is
propaganda at its finest. It hap-
pens to be propaganda for things
like freedom, truth, compassion,
liberation, and many other quali-
ties admired by peaceful pro-
gressive people, so I’m for it!

The story of the char-
acters is essentially a ruse by
which McNaught takes us
through the material taught at
the workshop. We get to vicari-

ously react through the charac-
ters as they are amused, offend-
ed, appalled, challenged, cared
for, allowed to grow and
process, and ultimately to dis-
cover that the spectrum of
human sexuality is diverse and _
beautiful. They are even chal-
lenged to love themselves as
they experience their own
epiphanies.

I’m sure anyone read-
ing this book will find material
to identify with when characters
are telling their personal stories,

or coming up against a fear or a "

repressed feeling. Those of us
not fortunate enough to attend

_ the Thomfield workshop get to
I do it internally. Tl_;ere’s lots of

good informationin the book, as
well as valuable references for
anyone interested in learning
more.

There is a strong
Christian theme throughout the
book. McNaught is a Catholic,
the workshop is held at an
Episcopal retreat center, and
many of the characters are cler-
gy or religious in some capacity,
as well as being a diverse group
racially, by age, gender, gender
identity, sexual orientation, level
of ability  gee did I miss any-
thing? I hope not.

The only things miss-

, ing were a Witch and a Faerie,

but with the clearly Christian
bent to the setting that may be
an omission the author chose
deliberately. Something he defi-
nitely did deliberately is to use
the characters’ religious back-
grounds to challenge the Judco-
Christian doctrine—based con-
demnation of gays and lesbians.
As he does in his live presenta-
tions and in his other books,
McNaught takes great pains to
address the specific scriptural
interpretations used by the reli-
gious right to oppress queer peo-
ple. It’s well done too.

The odds are that peo-
ple who really need to read this
book won’t, but it can provide
any of us with good material to
use when confronted by homo-
phobia, racism, sexism, hetero-
sexism, etc. As someone who
teaches Human Sexuality in the
context of college-level psychol-

 

Summer .

ogy, I’d love to use this book as
one of my texts. There is an
emphasis on homosexuality and
transgender issues, but I have
found that in order to really .
open up to accept the spectrum
of sexual orientations it is criti-
cal to address the “pink ele-
phants,” i.e., queemess in its
many forms. Sex Camp does that
well. _

Lest you think this will
be a chewy read, take my word
for it, it reads more like a soap
opera than a textbook. There are
a few areas that are slightly
tedious and preachy, but out of
446 pages maybe 20 of them are
like that.

N; Anyone who knows
me will bewondering by now,
“Where’s the biting criticism??”
I don’t have any. I do have a few
pet peeves with the book. He p
keeps referring to Sex in the City
when the show is actually called

‘Sex and the City. There is some

conflict—avoidance by the author,
particularly when one lesbian is
expressing some of her anger at
men but makes it clear that of
course she isn’t angry at any of
the men present  why not?
She started out pissed at one guy

. but then kind of talked herself

out of it. The thing I found most
annoying in the book is Brian’s
relationship with workshop fel-
low—facilitator Carol. They snipe
at each other “affectionately”
throughout the book. Halfway
through I wanted to tell them to
just fuck and get it over with
already. If I’d been on staff with
them I would probably ask them
what was under all that “good-
natured” sarcasm. Other than
those relatively minor criticisms,
I really enjoyed “Sex Camp.” I
think you will too! V

Walter I . Zeichner is a witch,
permaculturist, and activist cur-
rently traveling across Canada.
You can read his blog at
http://www.walterzeichnencom/B
log/index.html