Preface ix

Acknowledgments xvii

1. Pleasure Consuming Medicine: An Introduction 1

2. Prescribing the Self 32

3. Recreational States 59

4. Drugs and Domesticity: Fencing the Nation 80

5. Consuming Compliance: Remembering Bodies Inhabit Pharmaceutical Narratives 106

6. Embodiments of Safety 137

7. Exceptional Sex: How Drugs Have Come to Mediate Sex in Gay Discourse 164

Notes 191

Selected Bibliography 229

Index 245

“Pleasure Consuming Medicine is written in a clear, eloquent style which makes it pleasing to read. A highlight of Race’s book is the clear narrative personality that helps tie together the themes of the chapters, which, while all on the themes of medically approved or illegal drug consumption, address quite disparate aspects of these issues.”
— Kyja Noack-Lundberg, Cultural Studies Review

“[A] serious, erudite, and wholly brilliant book. . . . Ultimately, Pleasure Consuming Medicine outlines ways to improve communication between medicine and the two communities with which Race is most concerned, HIV-positive persons and illicit drug users. Read broadly, Pleasure also provides ways of fighting back. Race furthers an argument that combats the learned helplessness of living in a society in which normalizing health messages from drug ads seem inescapable, and that reclaims for consumers the intimate politics of pleasure and health.” — Jonathan Metzl, GLQ

“[T]hose who are well versed in critical theory, social history, and queer studies and who proceed slowly and contemplate his complex argument, will be greatly rewarded. It would be appropriate to use in graduate-level courses in several fields.” — Lawrence James Hammar, Feminist Review blog

“For those of us who study drugs and drug use, the power of official discourse can seem inescapable. Almost all major research grants, for example, are explicitly framed in terms of abuse, addiction, and enforcement. But Kane Race’s excellent new book Pleasure Consuming Medicine demonstrates the critical importance of examining that framework itself. . . . This book would be a useful addition to many advanced courses in the areas of sociology of medicine, sexualities, or drug policy.” — Wendy Chapkis, Contemporary Sociology

“Race takes topics, which some may consider provocative, and crafts ethical responses that are honest and offer insight into the capabilities of the ‘drug-using body’ (189). Race’s monograph will appeal to scholars in feminist and queer studies, as well as intellectual historians because of its rich integration of twentieth-century intellectual theory.” — Bennett Goldstein, Pharmacy in History

“This book's clear prose makes a complex subject easily digestible. Race's book provides useful theoretical starting points for anyone considering gay community, discourses surrounding consumption of legal and illegal drugs, and pleasure and subjectivity. This is an important contribution to the field of queer theory and provides a catalyst for further work grounded in pleasure and embodiments.” — Jessica Rodgers, M/C Reviews

“Pleasure Consuming Medicine is written in a clear, eloquent style which makes it pleasing to read. A highlight of Race’s book is the clear narrative personality that helps tie together the themes of the chapters, which, while all on the themes of medically approved or illegal drug consumption, address quite disparate aspects of these issues.”
—Kyja Noack-Lundberg, Cultural Studies Review

“[A] serious, erudite, and wholly brilliant book. . . . Ultimately, Pleasure Consuming Medicine outlines ways to improve communication between medicine and the two communities with which Race is most concerned, HIV-positive persons and illicit drug users. Read broadly, Pleasure also provides ways of fighting back. Race furthers an argument that combats the learned helplessness of living in a society in which normalizing health messages from drug ads seem inescapable, and that reclaims for consumers the intimate politics of pleasure and health.” —Jonathan Metzl, GLQ

“[T]hose who are well versed in critical theory, social history, and queer studies and who proceed slowly and contemplate his complex argument, will be greatly rewarded. It would be appropriate to use in graduate-level courses in several fields.” —Lawrence James Hammar, Feminist Review blog

“For those of us who study drugs and drug use, the power of official discourse can seem inescapable. Almost all major research grants, for example, are explicitly framed in terms of abuse, addiction, and enforcement. But Kane Race’s excellent new book Pleasure Consuming Medicine demonstrates the critical importance of examining that framework itself. . . . This book would be a useful addition to many advanced courses in the areas of sociology of medicine, sexualities, or drug policy.” —Wendy Chapkis, Contemporary Sociology

“Race takes topics, which some may consider provocative, and crafts ethical responses that are honest and offer insight into the capabilities of the ‘drug-using body’ (189). Race’s monograph will appeal to scholars in feminist and queer studies, as well as intellectual historians because of its rich integration of twentieth-century intellectual theory.” —Bennett Goldstein, Pharmacy in History

“This book's clear prose makes a complex subject easily digestible. Race's book provides useful theoretical starting points for anyone considering gay community, discourses surrounding consumption of legal and illegal drugs, and pleasure and subjectivity. This is an important contribution to the field of queer theory and provides a catalyst for further work grounded in pleasure and embodiments.” —Jessica Rodgers, M/C Reviews

“Pleasure Consuming Medicine is one of the best examples of critical cultural studies I have read. The scholarship is truly stunning. Kane Race presents a highly original argument which extends thinking about several interconnected issues: HIV, drugs, drug culture, embodiment, medical governance, sexuality, and identities.” — Elspeth Probyn, Research SA Chair, The University of South Australia

“Kane Race's Pleasure Consuming Medicine supplies what we have missed for so long: a radical but responsible exploration of both the ethics and the politics of pleasure. Exhilarating in its daring and its intelligence, startling in its originality yet completely sensible in its interpretations, the book unerringly describes the paradoxical world where we now live out the cruelties and ecstasies of human embodiment.” — David Halperin, author of, Saint Foucault and What Do Gay Men Want?

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