The Birth of the Queen/the Modern Homosexual: Historical Explanations Revisited

Abstract

In this paper I review a number of explanations for the emergence of the modern homosexual category in Western (mainly Northwest European) cultures. I suggest there are four different emphases in respect of the social and cultural factors given priority in interpretations of the formation of the homosexual category. Of course, individual studies have often taken into consideration more than one single factor (most notably, Greenberg, 1988;Chauncey, 1994), and the grouping of previous studies that I here suggest only indicates where the focus of a given study is. The social and cultural factors emphasized in these four approaches are: 1) the effects of competitive capitalism on the bourgeois/middle class political economy of sexuality and sexual morals; 2) the rise of expert knowledges, controlling systems, and modern bureaucracies; 3) tensions within gender order and the struggle over new definitions of gender roles; 4) the rise of free wage labour, the proliferation of urban anonymity, and the unfolding of new modes of existence in the life-world of modern pluralist urban society.Finally, the article briefly considers the potential erosion of the homosexual vs. heterosexual divide in the light of the historical background. Almost thirty years have passed since 'The Homosexual Role', by Mary McIntosh (1968), the first notable contribution to the historical sociology of homosexuality operating within a social constructionist view of homosexuality. Since then, there have been numerous studies of the formation of the conceptual category and social aggregate of 'modern homosexual'. Researchers have differed about whether the pedigree of 'homosexual' and homosexual identities and subcultures in Western societies can be traced back to the late nineteenth century or to the

Limitations of existing cultural globalization perspectives: A case study of the influence of technology on sexualities

“…Homogenization can be found when comparing findings of previous studies between LBMDAs' usage in the United States (Chan, 2016;Fitzpatrick et al, 2015;Miller, 2015a;Rice et al, 2012), United Kingdom (Bonner- Thompson, 2017;Miles, 2017;Mowlabocus, 2016), and Brazil (Miskolci, 2015). For example, based on these studies These similarities suggest homogenization/Americanization of gay/MSM sexualities occurred in the United Kingdom and Brazil, due to strong global flows and weak local cultural barriers (Löfström, 1997;Parker, 2003). Such a conclusion can be supported by a willingness to adopt and implement neo-liberal capitalist economic systems in all three countries, along with Western management culture and style, and a high degree of cultural openness act of investment and confirmation that can never be afforded a faceless profile" (Mowlabocus, 2016, p. 103).…”

“…These similarities suggest homogenization/Americanization of gay/MSM sexualities occurred in the United Kingdom and Brazil, due to strong global flows and weak local cultural barriers (Löfström, ; Parker, ). Such a conclusion can be supported by a willingness to adopt and implement neo‐liberal capitalist economic systems in all three countries, along with Western management culture and style, and a high degree of cultural openness (Amann & Baer, ; Kingstone, ; Saad‐Filho & Morais, ; Wolford & French, ).…”

Sex/Gender: Which Is Which? A Rejoinder to Mary Riege Laner

“…2 See, for instance, Laqueur (1987Laqueur ( , 1992, Hood-Williams (1996), Hitchcock (1997), and Lofstrom (1997). 3 It is now a commonplace of philosophy that a clear distinction can be drawn between the "earlier" Wittgenstein of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1961) and the "later" work, which culminated in the Philosophical Investigations (1978).…”

Affective Guidance of Sexual Identity Construction: The Intra-psychological Level in the Service of Culture

“…The prohibition of same sex intimacy is internalized as part of bureaucratic personality which enhances homophobic anxiety. Or the issue of the gender of a sexual partner, which was not an important matter in antiquity, and in medieval Europe, but became significant in Western culture in the 18th century (Löfström 1997).…”