Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans* History |
©1997 |
Special Themes 1: Same Sex Marriage
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In a sense, much of the history claimed by "lesbians and gays" is a history of people who were functionally bisexual. In particular many of the famous names on lists of "famous homosexuals" were sexually active with both men and women. However, it also seems to be true that a clearly, or even hazily, formulated "bisexual" social identity is even more recent than "homosexual" and "heterosexual" identities. I will correct this statement if it is shown to be wrong, but specifically "bisexual" organizations seem only to have existed since the 1970s.
This relatively new formulation does not mean that there is no
"history" of bisexuality. There have been voices in
the past which have proclaimed a need for sexual freedom - whether
these be the "libertines" of the 16th century, the English
"rakes" of the 17th century, or the sexual radicals
of the 1960s. It has proved quite possible to be explicitly homo(mono)sexual
and fundamentally conservative in sexual expectations. I would
take as the most significant aspect of the history of bisexuality
not those people who were bisexually active, but those who sought
to explore the complexities of human sexual choices.
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Special Themes 3: Trans* History
"Trans*" is a complex category to analyze and document historically. In some respects, however, it is easier conceptually than "gay": although homosexual activity is documentable in many societies, it is much harder to document social and psychological ideas about "identity" and "orientation". On the other hand, the existence of neither male nor female gendered people ("transgressive" .or not) is very widely documented throughout many societies and cultures. This includes cross-dressers, women who lived as men, eunuchs, "third sex" people, "two-spirited" people, modern transvestites, modern surgical transsexuals, and so forth.
Some modern gays and lesbians seek to distance themselves from
this trans* history: some gay men in particular have sought to
portray their homosexuality as fully "masculine". In
fact, modern homosexuals do transgress one of the basic markers
of gender identity in modern society, the marker than says masculinity
is marked out by having sex with women.
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[see also under "Native American Societies" for "berdache"
discussions]
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Special Themes 4: Anti-Gay: Gay Criticism of Gay Culture
There has been a persistant willingness by gay writers to criticise aspects of gay culture, and of lesbian writers to criticise lesbian culture.
Some of the criticism is probably justified, but elements of sheer intellectual and class-based snobbery towards the lumpen-schwulen play an important part.
In general these writers live in comparatively safe urban gay environments (London, New York, San Francisco. West Hollywood), have come to terms with their homosexuality long ago, and feel free to offer critiques. Their targets usually (repeatedly in fact), include gay activists, gay commercial culture, gay entertainment, Pride events and so forth. Despite protestations to the contrary, they tend to obliterate the very real struggles still going on for most gays and lesbians (violence, discrimination, religious intolerance), and ignore the benefits of a commercial culture. Above all they create tendentious constructions of gay culture in order to attack.
© 1997, Paul Halsall, halsall@murray.fordham.edu
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Last updated April 13, 2007
