One of the best books I’ve read in a while is Marcus McCann’s Park Cruising: What happens when we wander off the path. Taking the police raids of Marie Curtis Park in the west end of Toronto as a launching point (labeled by cops as ‘Operation Marie’), McCann presents ten essays on the regulation of sex and pleasure and how it fits into protecting heteronormative norms of safety and control.
McCann, a Toronto-based lawyer, delves deep into the history of gay male cruising in and around the city, interrogates police control and violence, and frames pleasure as a social value rather than criminal vice.
I could not put this book down, even taking it with me to Hanlan’s Point for a beach read. I am a huge fan of well-researched queer and sexual history, especially when written so accessibly.
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