“Times Queer”–coming-of-age in Times Square

Dementiuk, Mykola. “Times Queer”, Synergy Press, 2007.

Coming-of-Age in Times Square

Amos Lassen

I am not sure many of you remember when New York’s Times Square was a hotbed of sexual activity and it was where Richard Kozlovsky came of age and realized his sexuality. He was young when he was abused sexually and as he matured, life was not easy for him and he grew up in an area where sexual predators feel on the young. While still a teenager, Richard (Ricky) began visiting the adult movie theaters at Times Square and quickly realized that his body could be used for profit. In the 50’s and 60’s, Times Square was a sexual cafeteria however it was open sex with no discretion and it was quite easy for a young man to get sucked into it.

However we are not sure what Ricky is—he loved women but he allowed men to use him for pleasure and he used them for financial gain. As you might guess, this is not a pretty story. It is dark and intense and the author gives us in the character of Ricky someone who we do not quite understand. His views on sex were skewed by his own experiences and we never know quite where he sits on the sexual spectrum. He meets a girl whose sexual views almost mirror his. After his sexual couplings with men he felt disdain but he continued to have relations with men. His attitude with his girlfriend is strange but then again when he was at the age to find his sexuality, he had already been using his body for gain.

I am really not sure how to feel about him. It is hard to show pity for someone who went down a path of sex for pay but then I do not know how I would react if I had had the same past. Sure, he was mixed up but I wonder if what he did was a result of the abuse he endured or a conscious decision. You will have to read the book to make up your own mind and this is quite a read. I am now reading all of Dementiuk’s books and his writing style is what drew me to them.