Emma McVicar

US Gay and Lesbian History

April 21st, 2014
The Development of Homosexuality from the 17th to 19th Century

Over the course of hundreds of years, the concept of same-sex relationships has emerged
and evolved into what it is today. Through its development, homosexuality has been described
and understood in a variety of different ways, all with unique meanings and connotations. When
the concept of same-sex relations was initially acknowledged by the public and the government,
it was essentially seen as gender inversion, rather than sexual inversion. The original sodomite
was a man who not only was attracted to other men, but was effeminate. Although homosexual
relationships were generally accepted when they existed among upper-class men or men who
looked to exercise their masculinity, homosexual relationships among middle- and working-class
men were seen as perverted and were rejected by society. Also, at the point in time were the
sodomite emerged, only men were subject to punishment for homosexual relations, due to their
imminent presence in the public sphere, as opposed to women's confinement to privacy of the
homestead . Later on, at the turn of the century, acknowledgment of female homosexual
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relationships began to emerge, as well as shift in the public view of effeminate men. Societal
changes resulted in the emergence of the mannish lesbian as well as the fairy or pansy,
terms with implications of gender inversion for both men and women. However, with the
increased acceptance of the effeminate male in the form of a fairy, came the consideration of
an entirely new type of homosexuality, having nothing to do with gender inversion of any kind:
the queer man. This new attention to homosexuality as a sexual identity rather than a gender
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Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll. Disorderly Conduct: Visions of Gender in Victorian America. New
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York, NY: A. A. Knopf, 1985: 55.
identity paved the way for modern views on what it means to be homosexual, and where that
places one in society. In this paper, I will discuss the progression of terms used to describe same-
sex relations, including with the sodomite, the mannish lesbian, the pansy, and the queer man.
Additionally, I will examine the societal changes that influenced the publics impressions and
evaluations of homosexual activity and what it meant to be homosexual.
Prior to the eighteenth century, sodomy was very rarely openly acknowledged and it was
uncommon for laws against it to be enforced. In general, the only scenarios in which sodomy or
homosexual activity would be punished were where either the social hierarchy or reputation of a
community was threatened. However, transitioning into the eighteenth century, sodomy became
more of a concern to citizens and it emerged as the most prominent of several unique types of
homosexuality. The most common sodomite was the effeminate fop, or molly, which was a new
type of homosexuality that was rejected by the public. When a man of high, aristocratic status
took a man of lower status to bed (in addition to women), it was seen as a way for them to exert
their dominance, and therefore homosexual relations did not compromise their masculinity, but
bolstered it . On the contrary, mollies, or sodomites, rejected all aspects of masculinity by only
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being attracted to men, and in turn, were considered gender deviants. The appearance of mollies
in everyday society resulted in a dramatic increase in prosecutions for sodomy, due to their
divergence from traditional manhood . Essentially, mollies were viewed as outcasts not because
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of their attraction to men, but because of their adoption of female qualities. The molly is unique
from the modern homosexual due to the wide variety of factors that shaped his identity including
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Lyons, Clare A. "Mapping an Atlantic Sexual Culture: Homoeroticism in Eighteenth-Century
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Philadelphia." William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 60, no. 1 (January 2003): 123-4.
Lyons, Mapping an Atlantic Sexual Culture, 124.
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gender, sexual attraction, and status . Another aspect to consider is the confinement of sodomy to
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the male sex. At the time when sodomy emerged as a concern, women who were attracted to
other women were largely assumed to have physical defects (being hermaphrodites, or suffering
from clitoral hypertrophy), rather than being another form of sodomite . Being a lesbian was a
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physical difference rather than a psychological one. The eighteenth century sodomite, or a molly,
represented more than just same-sex attraction, and their reputation developed based on their
divergence from masculinity and contrast with traditional male relationships, like intimate
friendships.
At the turn of the century, a new type of homosexuality emerged in the form of the
mannish lesbian and pansy. As the concept of male and female sexual identities surfaced to
accompany the previously accepted concept of gender identities, men and women were able to
form better senses of themselves based on their genders and sexual attractions. Particularly, the
modern lesbian began to form its roots with the arrival of the lesbian as a more public figure. A
woman becoming manly was a way for her to make sense of her sexuality. The new lesbian
came to see herself as an erotic subject as a woman whose desire for women was felt as a
fundamental component of her sense of self, which was a dramatic change from the female
homosexual from earlier periods . Simultaneously, the pansy or fairy became the most
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prominent figure to which young men could look to identify their own sexuality and find their
place in society. Becoming effeminate was fundamentally the only option that young men who
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Lyons, Mapping an Atlantic Sexual Culture, 126.
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Lyons, Mapping an Atlantic Sexual Culture, 127.
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Duggan, Lisa. "The Trials of Alice Mitchell: Sensationalism, Sexology, and the Lesbian Subject
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in Turn-of-the-Century America." Journal of Women in Culture and Society 18, no. 4 (1993): 791.
were attracted to other men had in terms of how to define themselves. What made them more
interesting was that not only did fairies take on female sexual roles, but they took on female
social roles as well, making it more natural for them to be attracted to men. Furthermore,
typically, both female and male homosexual relationships involved two opposing parties, one of
inverted gender (mannish lesbian or pansy) and one of standard gender identity. Normally, in
these binary relationships, only the individual with an inverted gender identity would be looked
down upon and considered a deviant, based on the notion that the party with a standard gender
identity was simply attracted to an individual of the opposite gender, despite their partners
biological sex. This binary interpretation of same-sex relationships showed the importance of an
individuals personal gender identity as opposed to ones sexual preference. With the increase in
prominence of the effeminate man and masculine woman, it became necessary to also consider
the individuals who were attracted to fairies and mannish lesbians. This gave way to the
appearance of a type of homosexuality having nothing to do with gender inversion, and
everything to do with sexual preference.
During the late nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century, the only type of
homosexuals acknowledged by the public were those who practiced gender inversion and
adopted the role of the opposite sex. However, with the contemporary prominence of the fairy
and mannish lesbian, there came an entirely new genre of homosexuality, encompassing the
individuals who were attracted to others of the same gender, but still identified as their own
biological sex. This newfound type of homosexual men, commonly referred to as queer, not
only differed from fairies in their lack of gender inversion, but also in their class and status. The
men who were engaging in sexual relations with fairies were usually middle-class, and the fairies
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were generally working-class. Due to their higher social status and male identities, queer men
often held negative opinions on fairies, and many believed it was the flagrant behavior of the
fairies on the streets that had given the public its negative impression of all homosexuals . It
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could also be assumed that part of the resentment that queer men felt toward fairies was based on
class difference, as queer men often felt superior based on their middle class status. Also, due to
their normative male demeanors and appearances, queer men found it easy to conceal their
homosexuality and function in society by passing as heterosexual. Furthermore, with the
emergence of the masculine homosexual man, came the subsequent emergence of the strictly
heterosexual man, in response to the threat that queer men and fairies posed to the average mans
masculinity and dominance. The queer man of the early twentieth century was the first glimpse
we had of a modern homosexual man, and his development was essential to the creation of what
we see as todays gay men and women.
When evaluating the history and development of homosexuality and the ways it was
interpreted, one must closely consider all of the stages of its existence as a fluid progression.
Based on societal changes that have occurred over time, we can interpret the factors that served
as catalysts for the evolution of the homosexual individual. By looking at the shifts that occurred
in opinion and interpretation of homosexuality, we can more clearly see the path that led us to
what we now know as the modern homosexual. Beginning as a crime punishable by death and
ending as a rich hidden culture, same-sex relations have shaped the way we look at human
sexuality and relationships on a grand scale and forged a modern day American culture based on
free and contemporary views on human gender and sexuality.
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Chauncey, George. Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male
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World 1890-1940. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1994: 103.