Emergence Of Homosexual Identities In Early Modern Europe

This recognition of sodomy as the characterizing practice of homosexuals indicates society's general disregard of women as homosexuals. It was apparently beyond the capability of most people during the eighteenth century even to consider that women could engage in any practice so unnatural and strange. Women, themselves, used this disbelief to their advantage, as in the case of a woman suspected of homosexual involvement, a suspected "Mistress Clap, who was asked by a judge whether she had anything to say for herself. 'I hope it will be considered that I am a woman,' she replied briefly, 'and therefore it cannot be thought that I would ever be concerned with such practices"' (Hyde 64).

In Greece, homosexuality became common within their culture; which with this socially accepted involvement, some could say, provided the groundwork for the child molestation act of pederasty. It appears the Greek’s institutionalized sodomy to a new level for children that involved predominantly upper-class men in the 7th century B.C.; shamefully, boosted with pride concerning this ‘training system as their civil duty.’ They professed to be giving needed guidance to young boys (eromenos); who became effectively courted by older men (the erastes or ‘lover’). The Greeks became flamboyant with their exploitation of adolescents and cunningly gave personal attention to young boys to produce sexual cooperation. Distinctly, there existed a real challenge between Greek homosexuals, involving who would become the ‘dominating partner;’ (which transpires as an extreme shame if you were the lesser); therefore, an infinite number of repugnant circumstances arose, while using children’s passiveness to conceal the men’s perverted actions.

It was not until the twelfth century that homosexuality started to be condemned. This condemnation proved to live through then until now. Due to the fact that America incorporated these early views into its early laws, even the most bland of today's sex acts were seen as unlawful (“Homosexuality and Mental Health”). Since then, these laws have changed, however, there is still a primarily negative connotation on homosexuals when coming from a church or legal standpoint concerning the masses of America.

The dehumanization and organization of non-heteronormative (gay) men took place long before the Holocaust began, starting with the legislative passage of Paragraph 175 in Germany. This legislation resulted in highly detailed police records of men suspected of homosexual activities readily accessible. Inevitably these records made it easier than ever for gay men to be arrested and detained for their identities, and for their

“You’re gay,” a term now used so freely to not only insult peers but to take a stab at the homosexual community. But was this homosexual stigma always prevalent in history? Over two thousand years ago, the ancient Roman state ruled most of the known world. During those five hundred years, emperors rose to power and fell, a republic formed and was destroyed but what perhaps is one the most important aspects of Roman society is free love.

This public harm posed by the homosexual sadomasochistic acts though committed privately, was seen as a harm posed to passive victims in this case the members of the society who needed policing by the criminal justice from such harm. This passive victims being the heterosexual male bodies. The private aspect that was underlined especially in this present case is one that has attracted a lot of debate, and which I will mule over as it is not of particular interest at this juncture. It is apparent that the homosexual sadomasochism was construed as a harmful activity which consequently resulted to the conviction of the accused persons. Such legal reasoning disregarded in totality the idea of consent attached with sadomasochism and went ahead to equate it to a

In the year 1933, when Hitler becomes the leader of the third Reich, the Nazi Regime began to persecute not only Jews, but also all human beings considered racially inferior. German Homosexuals whose sexual orientation was considered an interference to the expansion of the German population were also persecuted and sent to concentration camps. German homosexuals were considered weak individuals unable to fight and unwilling to create a traditional German family. During the Nazi Regime, Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code prohibited sexual acts between men and considered Homosexuality an immoral act. “In Nazi ideology, homosexuality was not merely immoral, nor was it simply a set of acts defined in the penal code. Rather, it was a sickness, something that had to be cured. Homosexuals were separated from other prisoners in concentrations camps to prevent the spread of the “disease.” In Buchenwald, some were experimented upon with male hormones, a system of torture that yielded no medical gains. And, if the affliction couldn’t be cured, it would be erased. Castration became a kind of plea bargain, a humiliating, degrading way of avoiding the concentration camps.” (Retrieved from

In Mathew Kuefler’s chapter “Homosexuality” he discusses the idea that modern-day sex scandals on behalf of many Christian Leaders can be traced back to the teachings of Saint Augustine of Hippo. While in “Hermaphroditism in the western Middle Ages” Irina Metzler argues that during the medieval period hermaphrodites were allowed to decide their own gender, but as time went on it was demanded that they fully embrace their chosen gender in order to prevent homosexual behavior. At first glance, it seems that these articles may have little in common, but in actuality the authors of these readings are demonstrating a natural progression of society in terms of homosexuality. Popular opinion was not against, if not in favor of homosexuality before

In 1945, “After the Allied forces liberated the concentration camps, those interned for homosexuality are not freed, but required to serve out their full sentences because of the German law outlawing homosexual behavior” ” (“A History of the LGBTQA Movement”). The Holocaust is often seen as a major injustice in Jewish history, but it also had a huge impact on lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals who were found guilty of homosexuality and even though they faced the same horrors of the Holocaust that Jewish people did, they did

Alan Bray, in his book Homosexuality in Renaissance England, states that “[T]he term ‘homosexual’ did not exist in 1611,’ in fact, ‘[I]t was not until the 1890s that the term ‘homosexual’ first began to be used in English, and none of its predecessors now survive in common speech” (Bray, 13). Homosexual men were often called Bugger, Ganymede, and many other terms. The most popular term used to describe a homosexual was the word ‘sodomite’. The modern definition of sodomy is

In the 20th Century there is a visible pattern of criminalizing homosexuality and a misunderstanding of homosexuality. This impact of this error is still prominent today, with society’s continuous delusion that homosexuality and pedophilia overlap or are the same thing. In 1948 with the implementation of the Miller Act, which was created as a tool to protect children from sexual violence; like molestation, and indecent exposure (Eskridge). Creating the Miller Act allowed for harsher charges against offenders, but it also escalated the charges for crimes that were homosexuality motivated (Eskridge). The special interest in crimes against children that are homosexual in nature is motivated from a place of fear of the spread of homosexuality-

On Friday, October 14, 2016, I had the pleasure of listening to Jeffrey Aaron Robinson talk about LGBT History. He emphasized how far the LGBT community has come to being able to express their sexuality freely. Robinson, personally being part of the LGBT movement, clearly reminded that people similar to him, have been around since the beginning; they did not just appear out of nowhere. Furthermore, he highlights the historical event of Great Britain passing the Buggery Act in 1533, an act that categorized homosexual behavior, especially sexual relations between men, punishable by death. Prior to this, the English did not believe such a sexuality existed. For example, if an individual seemed to engage in gay affairs, the public would just think

The Old Norse language abounds with extraordinarily negative epithets for men who engage in same-sex intercourse. The Roman historian Tacitus is the earliest author to record in writing such Norse curses. He explains in his pan-Germanic historical chronicle Germania, that the rather common Norse word argr meant “slothful and unwarlike and sexually infamous” (Encyclopedia 1156). Tacitus continues on to record that the law demanded that any many who was confirmed to be argr be drowned in a swamp as punishment for his crime. Professor Sørensen at the University of Odense states, ” den arge mand er villig til, disponeret for ellet interesseret i at fungere som den “kvindlige” part i et seksuelt forhold” [The argr man is willing to, disposed towards or interested in playing out the ‘womanly’ part in sexual relations] (Nørront Nid 22). This words was so common throughout the Norse world that it has survived in a vestigial form to this day in several languages whose ancestors had extensive contact with the Norse; “in Finnish and Estonian the loan word argr is a complete inventory of the traits ascribed to the passive-effeminate homosexual, while in Modern German the word arg means simply ‘bad’” (Encyclopedia 1157).

Homosexuality is not a 20th century situation but has been in history from the age of ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt, and even China. The attitude toward homosexuality always has been a variable, depending on the social, cultural and morality, or even the political development (Barnecka et al., 2005). Back in Greek history the concept of relations between two men was seen as the highest form of love, whereas the Judaic view always was against and frowned upon these relations considering it immoral and illegal. However, when the Roman rule was destroyed and the Christians took over Europe, homosexuality was seen as perverse (Woodward, 1997).

As religious culture took hold of many countries, the normality and acceptance of homosexual behavior became viewed as a sinful life. The spread of homophobia attributed to so-called “accurate translations” of the bible condemning such a lifestyle began as early as the 12th century. In the year 342, the Christian emperors Constantius II and Constans declared the death penalty for any man who played the role of a wife. In the year 390, the Christian emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I, and Arcadius accused males "acting the part of a woman" to be publicly burned in order to make sure such acts openly condemnable. The Christian emperor Justinian, years 527–565, made those who would now be called "homosexuals" a scapegoat for problems such as famines, earthquakes, and pestilences (Crogiez, Jailette & Poinsotte, 2009). Overwhelming fear and distrust spread throughout the societies, permanently changing the way homosexuality would be received for decades.