Synopses & Reviews
The first comprehensive history of homophobia-from ancient Athens to the halls of Congress-this bold, original work is certain to become a classic.
It is the last acceptable prejudice. In an age when racial and ethnic name-calling are viewed with distaste, and physical epithets are frowned upon, hatred of homosexuals remains rife. Now, in a tour de force of historical and literary research, Byrne Fone chronicles the evolution of homophobia through the centuries. Delving into literary sources as diverse as Greek philosophy, the Bible, Elizabethan poetry, and the Victorian novel, as well as historical texts and propaganda from the French Revolution to the Moral Majority, Fone finds that same-sex desire has always been the object of legal, social, and religious persecution. Fone shows how the biblical story of Sodom became the primary source for later prohibitions against homosexuality. He charts the subtle shifts in public attitudes and law, from Anglo-Saxon edicts that imposed death by burning upon "confess'd sodomytes," to Victorian decrees that punished sodomy with "forfeiture of all rights, including procreation" (i.e., castration). Sifting the evidence of our own times, including Reader's Digest articles and TV talk-show transcripts, Fone demonstrates that homophobia remains one of the central tenets of law, science, faith, and literature, and defines the very essence of what it means to be male or female. Written by an acclaimed expert in gay and lesbian history, Homophobia is the best sort of history: lively, accessible, and enlightening.
Review
"This sweeping introduction to homophobia throughout Western history offers an illuminating . . . way to survey the dimensions of acceptance."--
Alison Shonkwiler, Out Magazine"At a time when the word 'homophobia' is dismissed by many as politically correct rhetoric, Fone's work remains a powerful introduction to the undeniable historical impact of the attitudes it describes."--Publishers Weekly
"An important work, Homophobia: A History successfully records a portion of the often elusive past of a largely invisible and highly vilified minority."--David Massengill, Seattle Weekly
"How did sex between men start out as an admired act of masculinity and end up as a shameful badge of effeminacy? How did homosexual love and sex, which were seen as important to the development of virtue, nobility, and the foundation of a strong society, become an enemy of the state? Fone answers these questions in exquisite detail with a masterful command of history, a balanced interpretation of contradictory documents, and an explosive set of assertions that fly against the conventional view of not just homophobes but of gay people themselves."--Michael Alvear, Salon
Synopsis
The first comprehensive treatment of the history of homophobia--from ancient Athens to the halls of Congress.
A tour de force of historical and literary research, Byrne Fone's chronicle of homophobia is the first book to give a complete account of the evolution of hatred toward homosexuals. Delving into literary sources as diverse as Elizabethan poetry, Greek philosophy, and the Victorian novel, as well as historical texts such as papal bulls and trial transcripts, Fone finds that same-sex desire has always been the object of social antipathy and of legal, social, and religious persecution, even during periods of relative tolerance.
Fone shows how the biblical story of Sodom became the scriptural source for later prohibitions against homosexuality. He examines changes in sodomy statutes over the centuries to discern subtle shifts in public attitudes and trace the remote origins of our own age's obsessive fear of homosexuality. Fone concludes that homophobia thrives during periods of rapid social and economic change, when traditional notions of gender come under intense scrutiny.
A bold and original work of scholarship, Homophobia is certain to become a classic in its field.
Synopsis
In this
tour de force of historical and literary research, Fone, an acclaimed expert on gay and lesbian history and professor emeritus at the City University of New York, chronicles the evolution of homophobia through the centuries. Delving into literary sources as diverse as Greek philosophy, Elizabethan poetry, the Bible, and the Victorian novel, as well as historical texts and propaganda ranging from the French Revolution to the Moral Majority to the transcripts of current TV talk shows, Fone reveals how and why same-sex desire has long been the object of legal, social, religious, and political persecution.
About the Author
Byrne Fone, a pioneer in the teaching of gay and lesbian studies, is the author of three previous books, including A Road to Stonewall and editor of The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature, which won a Lambda Award. Professor emeritus at the City University of New York, he lives in Hudson, New York.national media appearances
Table of Contents
Before homophobia?: "Homosexuality and "homophobia" in antiquity -- Inventing Sodom: Sodom and homosexual behavior in the Old and New Testaments -- A thousand years of Sodomy: defining sodomy, 500-1400 -- Lighting bonfires: sodomy and anxiety in the Renaissance -- Sodomy and the Enlightenment: unmasking and punishing sodomites, 1700-1860 -- Victorian secrets: Uranians, inverts, perverts, and homosexuals, 1850-1910 -- New world homophobia: sodomy and persecution in America, 1500-1900 -- Normal homosexuals: homophobia and resistance in the twentieth century.