ABSTRACT
Writers concerned about the centrality of sex and drugs in specific gay men's subcultures are not isolated, marginalized voices. Historian George Chauncey documents the intensification of sex panic that occurred after World War II, which targets homosexuals and linked them to child abuse. The chapter provides an evidence of the emerging moral panic in the United States. It talks about an alarm that focuses on gay men's sexual spaces, men who participate in circuit parties, and post-AIDS sexual practices such as "bareback" sex. San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City all experiences intense scrutiny of gay sex cultures by local officials, community activists, and the gay and mainstream press. Scapegoating subcultures requires two primary tools: a population that can be identified and fingered as bearing primary responsibility for the current problem plaguing society; a theory that explains why the population is a threat.
