Sexual Minorities

1. The concept of homosexuality during the 19th century - Group 1 Sexual Minorities 1

2. The Development in Europe • Karl Heinrich Ulrichs 1825-1895 • Kraft-Ebbing’s Psychopathia Sexualis 1892 • Magnus Hirschfeld’s Scientific Humanitarian Committe 1897-1933 • Elisar von Kupffer wanted to broaden the public perspective of homosexuality 2

3. Psychology and Criminology • Congenital • A symptom of ”other” psychopathic behavior • Degeneracy theory 1870s and 1980s • “The sodomite had been a temporary aberration; the homosexual was now a species” - Foucault • 1973 DSM-II no longer a diagnosis 3

4. Germany • The emancipation movement 1890-1934 • Paragraph 175 • Nazi Germany 1929-1945 4

5. Great Britain • 1836 The last execution • 1921 Attempt to criminalize lesbianism • 1895 Oscar Wilde • “The Well of loneliness” by Radclyffe-Hall 5

6. Decriminalization • 1791 France (first West European country) • 1811 Netherlands • 1944 Sweden • 1967 England and Wales • 1968 East Germany • 1969 West Germany 6

7. The American development 7

8. Pre-Civil War • Rural towns • Small population • Importance of the Church • Homosexuality = sin 8

9. Criminalization • Punishable by death • Thomas Jefferson • Repeal 9

10. First american subculture 10

11. Decriminalization • Illinois 1961 • […] • Alabama, Kansas, the south… 2003 • Don’t ask, don’t tell 11

12. Rictor Norton • Rictor Norton was born in 1945 in New York • He wrote his thesis on homosexual themes in English renaissance literature and several books focusing on the LGBT issues • He is a supporter of the essentalism theory 12

13. The essentialism homosexual theory • This theory supports that sexual orientation reflects a reality that can’t be changed • This theory goes against the social construction of sexual orientation • The sexual orientation of a person is the essence of who the person really is • To summarize, the sexual orientation is pre-determined and can’t be a choice 13

14. The Myth of the modern homosexual: queer history and the search for cultural unity • Norton tries to prove that homosexuality was not invented in the modern West time • Norton supports the autonomy of homosexual culture and identities • Norton wants to show that homosexuals played a part in history and that it was revised to be more conform with a heterosexual vision 14

15. Jonathan Ned Katz • Born in 1938 • American historian specialized on human sexuality • Same-sex attractions and changes in the social organisation of sexuality over time. • Constructivism theory: the categories with which we describe and define human sexuality are historically and culturally specific = “constructions”

16. « The Invention of Heterosexuality  » (1995) • Translated and published in Brazil, Italy, France, Spain. • Cited by U.S. Supreme Court in majority opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, June 2003. • JNK seeks to prove «  that “heterosexuality” as we conceive of it today is not a fixed, absolute state, and that the fundamental binary of homo vs. hetero, upon which our current culture so heavily relies, is similarly arbitrary.  »

17. Demonstrates that sexuality is constructed throughout history. • Critic of scholars and activists, working on the history of the homosexuality => marginalization of gay people • « We also need works that question the idea of a sex margin and sex center » (JNK)