09:50pm
The sexual backwardness of my country has always fuelled my writing – we are a sexually repressive country, a sexually punitive country. Witness the persistent gay-bashing of the recent Republican presidential candidates – and not just their opposition to gay marriage. Among those self-described social conservatives, the similarity between opposition to abortion and opposition to gays and lesbians is obvious. The righteous condemnation of women with an unwanted pregnancy, and condemnation of gays and lesbians wanting to be treated the way straight people are treated, is born of sexual disapproval. The social conservatives want pregnant women to “pay the price” for their presumed-to-be-promiscuous sexual activity, and they want gays and lesbians to suffer accordingly.
— John Irvine, aged 70, author of The World According to Garp, interviewed by Michael Hodges (Time Out London, 17–23 May 2012) about his new novel In One Person (2012)
— John Irvine, aged 70, author of The World According to Garp, interviewed by Michael Hodges (Time Out London, 17–23 May 2012) about his new novel In One Person (2012)
