Social Perspectives in Lesbian and Gay Studies

A Reader

Peter M. Nardi, Beth E. Schneider, Peter M. Nardi, Beth E. Schneider

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781136219382
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

This comprehensive reader brings a social science perspective to an area hitherto dominated by the humanities. Through it, students will be able to follow the story of how sociology has come to engage with gay and lesbian issues from the 1950s to the present, from the earliest research on the underground worlds of gay men to the emergence of queer theory in the 1990s.
Bringing together classic readings and the best work of younger scholars from all parts of the English-speaking world, this reader will be an invaluable resource for courses at undergraduate and graduate level in all areas of the sociology of sexuality and gender. Separate sections cover:
* theoretical foundations
* identity and community making
* institutions and social change
* challenges for the future.
Each section begins with an introduction giving readers a brief guide to the readings in that section, contextualises them and relates them to one another and the book ends with an afterword by Ken Plummer summing up the present state of play and looking forward to the future.

PART 1

Looking – The Sociological Baselines

PART ONE

INTRODUCTION

For the first hundred and fifty years of its history, sociologists were mute on the subject of homosexuality. Only in the post-World-War-II period – and even then in a very modest way – were preliminary sociological speculations on homosexuality made. Ironically, the first major social statements came from a biologist and not a sociologist: the monumental Kinsey (1948, 1953) studies on the sexual behavior of the human male and the human female not only introduced the celebrated notion of a “continuum” (the 0–6 scale of heterosexuality–homosexuality) which helped to weaken the idea of homosexuality as a fixed condition, but – and perhaps more significantly – provided large-scale evidence about the differential social distribution and organization of same-sex experience.

In the 1950s the social psychological work of Evelyn Hooker (1958) attempted to demonstrate empirically the “normality” of the homosexual. Two “popular” books by Cory (1951) and Westwood (1960) turned attention in America and Britain, respectively, to the social lives of homosexuals. Both claimed that the “minority framework” used to study race was appropriate for studying homosexuals and both recognized the powerful role of prejudice in making the social experience of homosexuality a difficult and painful one. The first social surveys were conducted in the work of Schofield (1965) and suggested the importance of “the attitudes of other people” as significant in shaping the homosexual experience.

Although these early writers recognized different types of homosexual, they did not problematize the very concept. Even with these very few writings, no professional sociologist had yet tried to bring “the sociological imagination” to bear on an area that generally remained hidden from society. Slowly, a few scattered attempts were made. Part 1 includes some of these first studies.

Several sociologists attempted to approach homosexuality as an ethnographic phenomenon. Sometimes accused of being overly voyeuristic, they attempted to chart the inner meanings, social worlds and diversities of gay lifestyles and communities. The first section, Researching Homosexualities, includes five examples of the beginning empirical work on same-sex people. One of the earliest studies of a gay community is by Leznoff and Westley of a Canadian community which is marked by “overts” and “coverts.” There soon followed Albert Reiss's classic study of male hustlers and the ways they construct an identity for themselves in an age when “queer” held a different meaning from the way it is used by contemporary “queer” theorists.

Also included is a chapter of Laud Humphrey's infamous study of men who cruised public toilets for impersonal sex, many of whom saw themselves and behaved as “straight married” men, and a striking ethnography of gay men and drag by Esther Newton. We offer these as instances of a particular style of work that developed during the 1950s and 1960s and, as is evident, one that was rooted in concepts of deviance. This section concludes with an excerpt from the first major survey research of gay men conducted in San Francisco in 1970 (but published in 1978) by Bell and Weinberg.

During the 1960s, sociology became a significant academic subject, and the sociology of deviance became increasingly one of its most studied specialities. Most notably, there was the development of labelling theory and a number of early papers attempted to apply this theory to homosexuality. It was indeed highly relevant since it stressed that (1) the societal reactions to deviance were critical variables in the understanding of deviance; (2) the focus of deviance research should be upon these societal reactions; and (3) deviance was not an absolute but a relative phenomenon which took many of its characteristics from the societal reactions towards it (Plummer 1979).

By the late 1960s, papers informed by labelling theory emerged. The second section, Theorizing Homosexualities, includes these articles as well as others that introduced the debates surrounding constructionist and essentialist perspectives. Work by John Gagnon and William Simon and an influential article by British sociologist Mary McIntosh set a much broader context for the analysis of same-sex relations: the themes of survey research, social epidemiology, and social prejudice give way to the need to reconceptualize sociologically the very problematic of study. Here, for the first time, there was no longer a sense that it was “the homosexual” who needed to be studied; instead the focus turned to placing same-sex experiences in a much wider social and historical context. No longer should “the homosexual” be seen as a universal entity, but instead the homosexual category should itself be analyzed and its relative historical, economic, and political base be scrutinized. Furthermore, “the homosexual” should not be studied in extraordinary ways: the focus now became to locate same-sex experiences within the much more casual social experiences of everyday life.

Many of the papers presented in this section helped to generate what eventually became known as “the essentialist–constructionist” controversy, an issue that dominated lesbian and gay studies through much of the 1980s, but which at last seems to have settled. Broadly, essentialists perceived homosexuality as a universal entity; constructionists argued that same-sex experiences were always socially mediated and historically transformable. Fred Whitam provides the classic essentialist critique of McIntosh; and Ken Plummer clarifies the problems of constructionism in a chapter from an influential anthology of the early 1980s, The Making of the Modern Homosexual. And Gayle Rubin challenges scholars to think politically about sexuality and to develop a theory of sexual stratification and social change.

Finally, Carole Vance's article presents a valuable overview, defense, and clarification of constructionism and Steve Epstein's paper establishes a more nuanced debate by successfully breaking down the somewhat crude polarization that had dominated the discussions. In the articles collected in Part 1, sociology took a first look at homosexuality and established a baseline for much future work.

REFERENCES

Cory, D. W. (1951), The Homosexual in America (New York: Greenberg).

Hooker, E. (1958), “Male Homosexuality in the Rorschach,” Journal of Projective Techniques 22: 33–54.

Kinsey, A., W. Pomeroy and C. Martin (1948), Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders).

Kinsey, A., W. Pomeroy, C. Martin and P. Gebhard. (1953), Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders).

Plummer, K. (1979), “Misunderstanding Labelling Perspectives,” in D. Downes and P. Rock (eds) Deviant Interpretations, (Oxford: Martin Robertson).

Schofield, M. (1965), Sociological Aspects of Homosexuality, (London: Longmans).

Westwood, G. (1960) A Minority: A Report on the Life of the Male Homosexual in Great Britain (London: Longmans).

MAURICE LEZNOFF and WILLIAM A. WESTLEY

“The Homosexual Community”

from Social Problems 3 (1956): 257–63

The significance of homosexuality in our society has been minimized and obscured by the force of social taboo. Yet there is evidence that homosexuals are distributed throughout all geographical areas and socio-economic strata.¹ Furthermore, the subjection of homosexuals to legal punishments and social condemnation has produced a complex structure of concealed social relations which merit sociological investigation. The psychological isolation of the homosexual from society, his dependence upon other deviants for the satisfaction of sexual needs and self-expression, the crystallization of social roles and behavior patterns within the deviant group, the reciprocal obligations and demands within the homosexual community, and their significance for the larger society in which they occur, are but a few of the areas of theoretical interest to the sociologist.

In this paper we shall confine our discussion to the social organization of one homosexual community and its constituent social groups: their function, etiology, and interrelationships.

The report is based upon an intensive study of sixty homosexuals in a large Canadian city. The data consist of four-hour interviews with forty homosexuals and briefer interviews with twenty others.² In addition, the data include information based on the observation of many homosexual parties and gatherings in bars and restaurants, and a series of thirty letters written by one homosexual to another.

FUNCTIONS OF HOMOSEXUAL GROUPS

The primary function of the homosexual group is psychological in that it provides a social context within which the homosexual can find acceptance as a homosexual and collective support for his deviant tendencies. Most homosexuals fear detection and are often insecure and anxious because of this. The following statement illustrates this:

The thought that you are “gay” is always with you and you know it's there even when other people don't. You also think to yourself that certain of your mannerisms and your ways of expression are liable to give you away. That means that there is always a certain amount of strain. I don't say that it's a relief to get away from normal people, but there isn't the liberty that you feel in a gay crowd. When I associate with normal people I prefer very small groups of them. I don't like large groups and I think I try to avoid them when I can. You know, the only time when I really forget I'm gay is when I'm in a gay crowd.

To relieve this anxiety the deviant seeks collective support and social acceptance. Since the homosexual group provides the only social context in which homosexuality is normal, deviant practices moral, and homosexual responses rewarded, the homosexual develops a deep emotional involvement with his group, tending toward a ready acceptance of its norms and dictates, and subjection to its behavior patterns. The regularity with which he seeks the company of his group is a clear expression of this dependency.

A prohibition against sexual relationships within the group, in a manner suggestive of the incest taboo, indicates the extent to which the group culture is oriented to this function. The quotation which follows is indicative of this taboo:

As far as I know, people who hang around with each other don't have affairs. The people who are friends don't sleep with each other. I can't tell you why that is, but they just don't. Unless you are married³ you have sex with strangers mostly. I think if you have sex with a friend it will destroy the friendship. I think that in the inner mind we all respect high moral standards, and none of us want to feel low in the eyes of anybody else. It's always easier to get along with your gay friends if there has been no sex. Mind you, you might have sex with somebody you just met and then he might become your friend. But you won't have sex with him any more as soon as he joins the same gang you hang around with.

Within these groups the narration of sexual experiences and gossip about the sexual exploits of others is a major form of recreation. The narration of sexual experiences functions to allocate prestige among the members because of the high evaluation placed upon physical attraction and sexual prowess. Yet it creates hostility and sexual rivalry. The intense involvement of homosexuals in the results of this sexual competition is illustrated in the following statement which was overheard in a restaurant:

Who wouldn't blow up. That bitch is trying to get her⁴ clutches into Richard. She can't leave anybody alone. I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up with a knife in her back. I don't mean to say I'm threatening her. But she's not going to get away with that stuff forever … playing kneesies under the table all night long. I had to get her away from Richard. That lousy bitch. From now on she better keep away from me.

An additional function is the provision of a social situation in which the members can dramatize their adherence to homosexual values. Thus, the gossip about sex, the adoption and exaggeration of feminine behavior, and the affectation of speech, represent a way of affirming that homosexuality is frankly accepted and has the collective support of the group. The extreme but not uncommon instance of this is the homosexual institution of the “drag” in which the members...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• A Note on the Editors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Looking – The Sociological Baselines
• 2 Looking In – Identities and Communities
• 3 Looking Out – Institutions and Social Change
• 4 Looking Ahead – Challenges for Future Research
• Index