Yka Shonibare, Gay Victorians, 1999 · SFMOMA

Contents:

• BEFORE STRAIGHT AND GAY
• THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY
• SEX SYMBOL: HOW ANTO BEME A GAY CO WORD THE VICTORIAN ERA
• THE SURPRISG TTH ABOUT THE LIV OF GAY MEN VICTORIAN ENGLAND
• A GAY VICTORIAN AFFAIR
• GAY VICTORIANS
• GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
• GAY MOSW · CY GUI
• SECRET’S OUT ON THE HIDN LIFE OF GAY VICTORIANSHISTORIAN JEFF EVANS IS LOOKG AT ATTUS TO HOMOSEXUALY DURG THE LAST 150 YEARS. HE HAS NOW CHARTED MANCHTER’S ORIG AS BRA’S GAY PAL AFTER A PASTAKG TRAWL THROUGH THOANDS OF RERDS.MENBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYYAKUB QURHI09:00, 19 FEB 2011UPDATED02:29, 18 JAN 2013BOOKMARKON THE¿RECORD: JEFF EVANS HAS BEEN LOOKG AT URT PAPERS FOR EVINCE OF PROSECUTNS AGAST GAY MENSIGN UP TO THE MYSALFORD NEWSLETTER TO KEEP UP WH WHAT'S HAPPENG AND AROUND THE CYMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 SIGN UP TO THE MYSALFORD NEWSLETTER TO KEEP UP WH WHAT'S HAPPENG AND AROUND THE CYINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

BEFORE STRAIGHT AND GAY

The Victorian era is important to be looked at so that we know the cultural ntext which Osr Wil ed to live homosexualy went agast the notn of masculy, was talked about rarely and threatened the fay stcture as well as was believed to go agast beg fundamentally Brish. This lack of rmatn om different mediums of munitn is the reason why discsn of homosexualy was not seen throughout society.

THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY

Discsns about homosexualy among society was very mimal bee Victorian cizens tried to ignore the fact ncept that mal might have sexual relatnship wh other mal. Homosexualy Victorian eraAttus and expectatns about maral and timate relatnships were very strict durg Victorian era.

Homosexualy Victorian eraPublicly homosexualy was not discsed and was hard to accs private sexual behavur. Many believed that one uld be moral and at the same time have sexual was one of the reasons why homosexualy was extremely problematic issue the Brish society faced at that time. In the fundamental Brish society, was embarrassg to speak of this sexual was only when the trials of Osr Wil were gog on that the term and ia of classifyg homosexualy me to limelight.

Homosexualy was very rarely discsed Victorian society and whenever was discsed there were severe nsequenc for the men. Observable homosexualyEven though heterosexualy was nsired normal and natural throughout Victorian era, there is seen visible crease homosexualy pecially among men as well as telligentsia durg that perd of history.

SEX SYMBOL: HOW ANTO BEME A GAY CO WORD THE VICTORIAN ERA

The reason was that homosexualy was prohibed as cent behavur public and privately, gay sex behd closed doors was not nsired crimal offence until 1885. HomosexualyVictorian cizens rarely lived up to their stereotyp when me to genr, health and sexualy. It is believed that Victorians had a more lenient attu towards gay relatnships or attu to sex between men than their 1960s unterparts.

THE SURPRISG TTH ABOUT THE LIV OF GAY MEN VICTORIAN ENGLAND

Before Straight and GayThe discreet, disorientg passns of the Victorian eraMarc BurckhardtEven by the formidable standards of ement Victorian fai, the Bensons were an timidatg lot.

As a great al of queer history has by now monstrated, the strictly fed tegori of “homosexual” and “heterosexual” are relatively new: bright l drawn across the late-20th-century sexual landspe that ma “g out” a dichotomo the Victorians, the suatn was much more fluid. Though sex between men was a crimal offense ( Bra, lbianism was visible before the law), there was, as yet, hardly a homosexual inty fed by same-sex sire.

A GAY VICTORIAN AFFAIR

He don’t diagnose the Bensons retrospectively and anachronistilly as a fay of reprsed homosexuals. Even though the term homosexual was g to currency, he did not e until 1924, the year before he died. And when he did e , after a theoretil nversatn on the subject wh Fred, he wrote the word out—“the homo sexual qutn”— a way that suggted ’s another way of unrstandg reticence, though, which Fred, Arthur’s sunnier brother, suppli.

Unlike Fred Benson, she was unsentimental about her Victorian upbrgg, yet as the dichotomy between homosexual and heterosexual solidified, she uld see what had been lost: “Where people mistake, as I thk, is perpetually narrowg and namg the immensely pose and wi flung passns—drivg stak through them, herdg them between screens. ” The irony of all this is somethg that no gay liberatnist would have thought possible when the mpaign for homosexual rights was regard as a grave threat to the social orr.

Sandwiched between the fluidy of the Victorian years and the proliferatg sexual and genr inti of the new lennium, the late 20th century’s straight-gay paradigm looks cidly old-fashned—maybe even a ltle stodgy.

GAY VICTORIANS

While the topic of homosexualy wasn’t routely spoken about durg the Victorian era, ultimately beme a big issue by the end of the 19th century. One of the most famo stanc of a gay man gog to jail occurred 1895 when Osr Wil was sent to Readg Gaol after beg charged wh gross cency and sodomy.

GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI

It’s tertg to note that the word ‘homosexual’ didn’t enter the English lexin until 1912 while ‘sodomy’ has been ed sce 1297.

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

As such, is easy to image that beg gay durg the Victorian era was downright dangero bee you were likely to spend a few years behd bars. However, historian Jeff Evans lved to a legn of urt s volvg the crimalizatn of homosexuals and was surprised by what he found.

In the Victorian era, homosexualy was emed to place a terrible stra on the fay dynamic and when cizens and officials were forced to speak about , the ‘acced’ men were vilified, ostracized, and classified as dividuals who went outsi acceptable masculy. Ined, the punishment for makg false claims about a man’s sexualy rried a more severe punishment than beg homosexual.

SECRET’S OUT ON THE HIDN LIFE OF GAY VICTORIANSHISTORIAN JEFF EVANS IS LOOKG AT ATTUS TO HOMOSEXUALY DURG THE LAST 150 YEARS. HE HAS NOW CHARTED MANCHTER’S ORIG AS BRA’S GAY PAL AFTER A PASTAKG TRAWL THROUGH THOANDS OF RERDS.MENBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYYAKUB QURHI09:00, 19 FEB 2011UPDATED02:29, 18 JAN 2013BOOKMARKON THE¿RECORD: JEFF EVANS HAS BEEN LOOKG AT URT PAPERS FOR EVINCE OF PROSECUTNS AGAST GAY MENSIGN UP TO THE MYSALFORD NEWSLETTER TO KEEP UP WH WHAT'S HAPPENG AND AROUND THE CYMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 SIGN UP TO THE MYSALFORD NEWSLETTER TO KEEP UP WH WHAT'S HAPPENG AND AROUND THE CYINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

While was primarily men who were punished for homosexualy, was maly women who got the wrong end of the stick when me to mercial heterosexual sex. However, both men also engaged homosexual relatnships and the thori began watchg them and wag for the duo to slip up.

Although was fantastic news for them, hered a dark age for homosexuals Bra as future laws ma easier to punish gay men.