Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Repeater (2021), 180 pages
Description
Adam Zmith reveals the long history of the quick rush from sniffing poppers. 3, 2, 1... inhale, deep. From the Victorian infirmary and the sex clubs of the 1970s, poppers vapour has released the queer potential inside us all. This is the intriguing story of how poppers wafted out of the lab and into gay bars, corner shops, bedrooms and porn supercuts. Blending historical research with wry observation, Adam Zmith explores the cultural forces and improbable connections behind the power of poppers. What emerges is not just a history of pub raids, viral panics and pecs the size of dinner plates. It is a collection of fresh and provocative ideas about identity, sex, utopia, capitalism, law, freedom and the bodies that we use to experience the world. In Deep Sniff, what starts as a thoughtful enquiry into poppers becomes a manifesto for pleasure.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member rivkat
A short book about the cultural meaning of poppers and their relationship to pleasure and gayness. They’re apparently still widely available in the UK and the USA, “thanks to a pact between authorities and sellers. Everyone agrees to say that these products are not for human consumption, which
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means they are labelled with fake uses like ‘room odouriser’ and ‘boot cleaner.’” Interestingly, unlike with opiates, pharmacos apparently were actually worried that people—that is to say, young gay men—were using the product for pleasure and reported that to the FDA. I guess pleasure that makes you want to have sex (Zmith repeatedly emphasizes how poppers can be used to relax physically for anal sex) is more morally concerning than pleasure that just makes you happy. Zmith also argues that popper marketing participated in the promotion of a muscular, aggressive gay masculinity, e.g., an ad for Locker Room poppers “showed a butch superhero with a six-pack, cape and battering-ram thighs leaning against a locker door beside the words ‘Purity power potency.’” Thus poppers “were both countercultural, simply by being gay, and also deeply conventional in how they were marketed.” Zmith also discusses how moral panics over poppers were intertwined with moral panic over AIDS—indeed, one contrarian insisted for many years that it was poppers, and not HIV, that caused AIDS. I loved the bit about disputes at a gay hotline over what to say about poppers—one volunteer wrote, “People who sniff poppers need an extra physical kick from sex as they get no emotional satisfaction,” while another responded, “You sanctimonious tie-wearer.” The bit on popper vids—clips from multiple porn videos edited together with a soundtrack and instructions about when exactly to sniff—was also very “through a glass darkly” from my own fannishness. Show Less
LibraryThing member pomo58
Deep Sniff by Adam Zmith is a fun and fascinating trip through the history of poppers and into an idealized queer future. Whether you're familiar with poppers or have just heard of them, this will be the kind of read that surprises you as you go.
I read another review and found it interesting that
I do think that some readers may only find certain aspects interesting, maybe the cultural/social history and memoirish parts because of the nostalgia (good or bad) or the history of the product itself, which is part basic science and part marketing/PR history. I also believe that the aspect that may miss some readers is also the part that I think Zmith is still likely forming, namely the speculation about some better, or at least different, queer future. Like any speculative theorizing this is a work in progress, so readers should read this as a contribution to the discussion, not the entire discussion.
I would recommend this is those interested in queer studies, as well as those who simply want to know more about a common pleasure enhancer.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
I read another review and found it interesting that
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we saw many of the same qualities yet interpreted them differently. It is a good review, doesn't trash the book, but sees disjointed jumping between product history, cultural history, memoir, and speculation where I see the weaving of these into a whole. Albeit an imperfect whole, but not nearly as disjointed as that person sees. That may be because of my past, most of my study and research was interdisciplinary and I am accustomed to reading accounts that weave different threads into a new cloth.I do think that some readers may only find certain aspects interesting, maybe the cultural/social history and memoirish parts because of the nostalgia (good or bad) or the history of the product itself, which is part basic science and part marketing/PR history. I also believe that the aspect that may miss some readers is also the part that I think Zmith is still likely forming, namely the speculation about some better, or at least different, queer future. Like any speculative theorizing this is a work in progress, so readers should read this as a contribution to the discussion, not the entire discussion.
I would recommend this is those interested in queer studies, as well as those who simply want to know more about a common pleasure enhancer.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
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Awards
Lambda Literary Award (Finalist — 2022)
Polari First Book Prize (Winner — 2022)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2021
Physical description
180 p.; 7.72 inches
ISBN
1913462420 / 9781913462420