Combining poetry, wit, polemic and dazzling scholarship with memorial and autobiography, these essays have set new standards of passion and truthfulness for current theoretical writing. The essays range from discussions of Diderot, Oscar Wilde and Henry James to queer kids, political correctness adn the poetics of spanking. What unites Tendencies is the vision of a new queer activism and thought which, however demanding and dangerous, can also be intent, inclusive and fun.