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People with a History: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans* History Sourcebook

Section X Frequently Asked Questions

Editor: Paul Halsall


Contents:

Section X: Frequently Asked Questions

Go to the following pages for other parts of People with a History


FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

Please do not write to me before you have looked through here. If the answer to any question is on this site, I shall not respond. This page is really a collection of miscellany.


Gay and Lesbian General Interest Questions


Gay and Lesbian Hostile Questions

  • Gerbils [At QRD] [Internet Archive version here]
    Gay men do not put gerbils in condoms into their rectums. People of all sexual orientations do, in fact, put an amazing variety of objects inside themselves, but the Gerbil myth has been especially common. There is no basis in fact for the story.
  • Wikipedia: Gerbilling
  • Wikipedia: Rectal foriegn body
  • Pedophilia
    There is no topic more controversial than the issue of inter-generational sex. There are many web pages on the net which promote "boy love" but they are not linked to from here. GLAAD and the ILGA [International Lesbian and Gay Association], about as mainstream LGBT organizations as one can find, take a specific stance Against Pedophilia and NAMBLA [Jan 16, 1994, Was At GLAAD, now Internet Archive]. In the 1970s, Gay Pride Parades took a liberationist position and any group could march. That meant some pedo organizations did. Judged by the boos the pedophile groups meet at LGBT Pride Parades, they had little support in the LGBT community. By the mid 1990s Pride organizers took a a stronger position on who could march and such organisations were banned.

    There is nothing specifically homosexual about pedophilia - some pedophiles are attracted to children of the same sex, others to children of the opposite sex, and some to children in general. There is little doubt, furthermore, that the vast majority of cases of childsex involves men, usually fathers or stepfathers, with girls.

    One final point: although historic formulations of homosexual eros often are called "pederasty", as in Greece and Rome, these formulations were not about adult-child sex. The proposed younger partners were what we would now call "older teenagers", i.e. young sexually mature adults, not "boys". The advent of industrial society has created a situation in which people reach sexual maturity before they reach social maturity, but this was not the case in the periods when age-dissonant homosexuality was the norm.

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NOTES

People with a History: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans* History Sourcebook is part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project. Date of inception was 1997. People with a History is a www site presenting history relevant to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people, through primary sources, secondary discussions, and images. Links to files at other site are indicated by [At some indication of the site name or location]. WEB  indicates a link to one of small number of high quality web sites which provide either more texts or an especially valuable overview.



The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of  Fordham University, New York. The Internet Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at the Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University.  Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.

© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 11 March 2024 [CV]