In Sailors and Sexual Inty, thor Steven Zeeland talks wh young male sailors--both gay- and straight-intified--about ways which their social and sex
Contents:
- SAILOR'S KILLER 'DISGUSTED' BY GAYS
- THIS VETERAN'S JOB WAS DISCHARGG GAY SAILORS IN THE NAVY — BUT HE HAD A SECRET
- 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
- THE SECRET HISTORY OF ATRALIA'S GAY DIGGERS
- GAY SHIPMAT? SENATORS LISTEN AS SAILORS TALK
SAILOR'S KILLER 'DISGUSTED' BY GAYS
* homosexuality among sailors *
By referencg the nearly accintal act of 'sodomy, ' Cleland taps to the popular imprsn that sailors engaged homosexualy. Rictor Norton, at his webse Homosexualy Eighteenth-Century England, has llected an imprsive number of primary sourc, though few reference sailors.
THIS VETERAN'S JOB WAS DISCHARGG GAY SAILORS IN THE NAVY — BUT HE HAD A SECRET
Somethg that be clear Norton's work is that there was ltle or no legal distctn at the time between those who engaged a sgle same-sex act, those who were exclively homosexual, and anyone who fell between. In his A Queer History of the Uned Stat, Michael Bronski pots out that the very term 'homosexual' wasn't vented until 1869 'to help nstct a narrative around a person fed by his or her same-sex sexual sir and actns. We nnot say that sailors who engaged homosexual acts intified as homosexual, nor n we say that others fed them as such before they were nvicted.
Brish society believed that a lack of accs to women gave rise to homosexualy, and there was perhaps no place the eighteenth century so exclively male as the navy. ' Today we would regnize the facts as irrelevant to the act self, but eighteenth century law, a sgle homosexual act was equated wh beg exclively homosexual.
Rodger argued his book The Woon World: An Anatomy of the Geian Navy that acts of homosexualy were not as mon the mid-eighteenth century Royal Navy as many assume:. Consirg that the navy oped up thoands of young men for months on end whout accs to women, is surprisg how few homosexual cints rulted prosecutn. Earle agreed that 'the crowd ndns of shipboard life ma difficult to nceal homosexual relatns om other members of the crew.
'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
Wh the threat of ath hangg over their heads, the unlikelihood of fdg a man wh the same sexual clatns, and the very real chance of tectn, even those men wh homosexual leangs faced many obstacl to actually engagg the act. Early the eighteenth century, the famo Puranil preacher Cotton Mather ma the nnectn between an terveng God and homosexual acts among sailors:. Homosexualy was often overlooked, vered up, or treated as the lser crimal charge of 'uncleanls' to avoid the ath penalty.
Arthur Gilbert, his paper 'Buggery and the Brish Navy, 1700-1861, ' agreed that officers avoid accg their ras of engagg homosexualy. For what n be seen as a victim-ls crime (at least s of nsensual homosexual acts) officers would unrstandably be reluctant to prosecute seafarers. Rodger argu that homosexualy and homosexual acts were almost entirely absent the navy and treated wh difference, while Gilbert believed to be unmon but unniably prent and treated wh dranian btaly.
He believed that fear of beg pated as a homosexual stutn motivated officers to be overzealo punishments when they were forced to nont them urt. [20] Stark agre wh Gilbert: 'Englishmen, unlike other European men, did not approve of any show of affectn between men, ' bee 'a male homosexual was a threat to the very ncept of malens. Gilbert and Stark, on the other hand, thought that officers feared a perceptn by the general public of the Royal Navy as an herently homosexual stutn.
THE SECRET HISTORY OF ATRALIA'S GAY DIGGERS
'[23] Hawks' anecdote supports Gilbert's argument that homosexualy was wily feared the Navy, but is the only reference I've e across yet that even impli homosexualy throughout the urse of the Sailors' Memoirs Project. Both Gilbert and Rodger agree that homosexual acts were treated as a crime that rried an unually harsh punishment, and for this reason was sometim overlooked. This mak the task of exhumg the prevalence of, and attus toward homosexualy exceedgly difficult and sometim, the words of Gilbert, 'impossible.
GAY SHIPMAT? SENATORS LISTEN AS SAILORS TALK
[16] Gilbert, Arthur, 'Buggery and the Brish Navy, 1700-1861, ' History of Homosexualy Europe & Ameri (Studi Homosexualy), Wayne R. Their excln om service and s remembrance for much of the 20th century have left a dark unrbelly of misogyny, racism and homophobia. Homosexualy, on the other hand, was nebulo and shadowy, a behavur and an inty type difficult to ppot wh any accuracy but potentially vastatg to the efficy of all-male forc.
Anxieti about homosexualy reached fever pch the send world war wh the risg fluence of psychology and s promise to make better armi. Atralia, Canada and Great Bra all heed “expert” warngs of the imment dangers homosexualy posed, but the US rang the alarm lour than anyone else. Ocsnally historians strike lucky the archiv and stumble upon que extraordary evince which pels to re-evaluate what we thk we know about gay life the forc.
Confintly queer personnel ducted ras like Jam Lord, documented his memoir My Queer War, to new ways of dog and beg gay on the home ont Boston. Fellow wrer and airman Edward Field summed up nicely his short memoir when he noted the Amerin army had a “gay world built to ”, even if was very different to the gay inti wh which we are faiar today. As one Amerin sailor statned New Caledonia explaed to naval thori 1943 “ is more of the feme tra to want somethg that is mascule … It is the thrill of havg a [butch] man, and not another [effemate] homosexual”.