The Myth of the Modern Homosexual
Subtitle: Queer History and the Search for Cultural Unity
Series: Sexual Politics
Publisher: Cassell
Published: February 1998
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 288
ISBN-13: 9780304338924
Subjects: Gay & Lesbian studies; Social Science; Gender Studies; Sociology; Gay/Lesbian Nonfiction; Gay Studies; Historiography; Lesbian Studies; Men's Studies - General; Gays; History; Homosexuality; Homosexuality, Male
Description: "With careful reasoning supported by wide-ranging scholarship, this study exposes the fallacies of 'social constructionist' theories within lesbian and gay studies and makes a forceful case for the autonomy of queer identity and culture. It presents evidence that queers are part of a centuries-old history, possessing a unified historical and cultural identity. The volume reviews the fundamental historiographical issues about the nature of queer history, arguing that a new generation of queer historians will need to abandon authoritarian dogma founded upon politically-correct ideology rather than historical experience. Norton offers a clear exposition of the evidence for ancient, indigenous and pre-modern queer cultural continuity, revealing how knowledge of that history has been suppressed and censored and sets out the 'queer cultural essentialist' position on the key topics of queer history ? role, identity, bisexuality, orientation, linguistics, social control, homophobia, subcultures, and kinship patterns."--