General Geekery
So, the school year must now officially up and running: I have a research project. For my independent study in music history, I'm writing on castrati and changing understandings of gender roles. This has led me to the gender/sexuality section of the library, where--swoon--they have loads of late 19th--early 20th century material.
Which is all well and good for my paper, of course, but also ties well into "A Bizarre Proposal," the WIP that has invaded my brain as of late. One of the books I found is an English translation of Forel's Die Sexuelle Frage (or The Sexual Question). If anything, Forel's opinion of male homosexuality was even more messed up and contradictory than Robb lets on. Despite believing (or claiming to believe) in complete sexual equality and seriously suggesting that civil marriage would be "an ideal state" for committed same sex couples, he thought they were insane. Most of the gay men he met were "neurotic" or "institutionalized" for one reason or another, while all lesbians were apparently "predatory" sorts who prey on youthful innocent victims. He also had severe doubts about their ability to be in committed relationships for any length of time.
I realize, of course, that these were considered sympathetic viewpoints during the time (not to mention images that were reinforced in popular literature), but still...As Graham Robb and numerous other contemporary writers point out, since most of the early sexologists conducted their research in mental institutions and prisons, the view of sexual behavior they would get would naturally be skewered in various directions.
And yes...that view of homosexual men visiting brothels as an attempt to "cure" themselves? Totally one of Forel's examples.
Also of note...Forel retired from writing weird books on sexuality and the human mind to...keep ants. I swear. He actually wrote a long book on ant behavior. I can almost picture him and Holmes having a post-retirement chat on social insects. That is, until Forel mentions that all inverts are sociopathic criminals...That might not go over so well. (Baritsu, anyone?)
(And the library also has plenty by Havelock Ellis and Magnus Hirschfield...which I gazed at but didn't check out due to the fact that the circulation worker already gave me a weird look for taking out loads of material on sexuality in opera over the course of the past two days. Did you know that early studies of transgenderism and homosexuality mention the castrati in great, glorious detail? Ah, research...)