my high school English teacher did this to Oscar Wilde and tried to convince us all that any evidence of him being gay was pure propaganda
*boggle* How is that even possible?
I don't know, the whole concept of gay/straight is such a modern one, and the historical record what it is--I'm not really all that bothered if people think someone might have been queer, but really (not that we can know for sure) they never looked at anyone not of the opposite gender. Most of history seems to be far more focused on acts than identity when it comes to sex, so all of this gets into strange territory pretty quickly (says she who has been reading far too much about Roman sexuality lately, and being very glad she isn't one).
(My feelings on Richard I are that he might well have been bisexual, but that is not the most interesting thing about him. And I still like The Lion in Winter as a piece of historical fiction.)
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my high school English teacher did this to Oscar Wilde and tried to convince us all that any evidence of him being gay was pure propaganda
*boggle* How is that even possible?
I don't know, the whole concept of gay/straight is such a modern one, and the historical record what it is--I'm not really all that bothered if people think someone might have been queer, but really (not that we can know for sure) they never looked at anyone not of the opposite gender. Most of history seems to be far more focused on acts than identity when it comes to sex, so all of this gets into strange territory pretty quickly (says she who has been reading far too much about Roman sexuality lately, and being very glad she isn't one).
(My feelings on Richard I are that he might well have been bisexual, but that is not the most interesting thing about him. And I still like The Lion in Winter as a piece of historical fiction.)