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VC Fellow, La Trobe University

Dennis Altman is a writer and academic who first came to attention with the publication of his book Homosexual: Oppression & Liberation in 1972.

This book, which has often been compared to Greer’s Female Eunuch and Singer’s Animal Liberation was the first serious analysis to emerge from the gay liberation movement, and was published in seven countries, with a readership which continues today.

Since then Altman has written twelve books, exploring sexuality, politics and their inter-relationship in Australia, the United States and now globally. These include The Homosexualization of America; AIDS and the New Puritanism; Rehearsals for Change, a novel (The Comfort of Men) and memoirs (Defying Gravity). His book, Global Sex (Chicago U.P, 2001), has been translated into five languages, including Spanish, Turkish and Korean. His most recent books are Unrequited Love [2019] and God save the Queen [2021]

Altman was Professor of Politics and Director of the Institute for Human Security at LaTrobe University in Melbourne, and is now a Professorial Fellow at La Trobe. He was President of the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific (2001-5), and a member of the Governing Council of the International AIDS Society [2004-12].

In 2005 he was Visiting Professor of Australian Studies at Harvard, and was a Board member of Oxfam Australia. In 2007 he was made a member of the Order of Australia, and in 2017 he was awarded an honorary doctor of letters by Macquarie University

Experience

  • –present
    Professor of Politics, La Trobe University
  • –present
    Director, Institute for Human Security , La Trobe University

Honours

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