Historical gay sex

A History of Gay Sex
June 26, 2015 5:08 PM Subscribe

"What sorts of things did gay men get up to in the past, and how much did these differ from what we receive up to today? Does gay sex have a history, or do the forms of pleasure last the same across centuries? Have some tastes declined, and new tastes arisen?!" (NSFW for olde approach (and slightly hilarious) descriptions of gay sexual activities.) Homosexuality in the ancient Greco-Roman world: "Most of us know that the ancient pagan world was more tolerant of homosexuality than the one god religions that would trail. But how tolerant were the ancient Greeks and Romans? It turns out they weren’t nearly as tolerant as you might like to think." (The next one is a Daily Mail link, but its not their usual fare) "Hidden history of homosexuality: New British Museum guide explores past of gay love hidden among its exhibits."
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A History of Queer Sex

What sorts of things did lgbtq+ men get up to in the past, and how much did these differ from what we get up to today? Does gay sex contain a history, or do the forms of pleasure last the same across centuries? Have some tastes declined, and new tastes arisen?

Some things, like cruising and cottaging, have been popular for centuries. Public latrines and baths or "stews" were good pick-up spots in the late Middle Ages. Dutch gay men in the first 18th century coined the word "kruisen", and their favourite cruising grounds were the quays along the waterfront. In Amsterdam in the 1760s many sodomites were arrested in the public toilets built next to the city�s numerous bridges; favourite toilets were given nicknames, such as The Old Lady and The Long Lady. In 18th-century London, gay men were regularly arrested in the Lincoln�s Inn bog house, on the east side of New Square, Lincoln�s Inn Fields. The Savoy bog house was used so regularly by gay men that members of the Soci

Brian Gerald Murphy

These days lots of gay guys are using Grindr for hooking up. But we didn’t always have sex free at our fingertips. For centuries (or longer!) gay and bi guys include found ways to connect with each other, even when doing so was illegal. Most of us don’t reach from queer families and so we don’t learn our LGBTQ history at home. So, I set out to uncover the ways that gay and bisexual guys acquire met each other for friendship and sex. Here’s a brief history of gay cruising

These days lots of gay guys are using Grindr for hooking up. But we didn’t always have sex ready at our fingertips. From bathhouses to bars, sex parties to saunas, even to parks and bathrooms. Gay guys have found a way to locate each other, even before Grindr.

For the past 11 years, up until this past January, I lived in New York Urban area. It’s one of the centers of gay life in the United States. It’s a port city and after the sailors returned home from Earth War II, many of the guys who had set up connec

INTRODUCTION

How can we tell whether someone was gay? There are many answers to that question, but ultimately we cannot know whether a person who lived in the past would be considered lesbian, gay, bisexual, or gender diverse today.

That does not mean that we cannot study gay history. Individuals took part in gay relationships, wrote poems and novels celebrating such relationships, deviated from gender norms, and suffered for transgressive behavior in ways that are well-documented in the historical record.

Beneath the covers of our books there are many stories. To paraphrase the late queer activist Harry Hay (1912-2002), history knows more about gay people than it knows it knows.

Frances E. Willard

Frances E. Willard. Glimpses of Fifty Years. Chicago: Woman's Temperance Publication Association, 1889.

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, 1855.

According to Cornelia King, who curated the 2014 exhibition: