HIS 72B Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Homosociality, Subculture, Heterosexuality
Document Summary
Prior to the 1880s and 1890s, the identities of homosexual or heterosexual did not exist. Same-sex relationships still occurred, but the concept of these identities were not talked about. In the early republic (1790s) people would engage in same-sex relationships in a spectrum of intimacy. People would be punished for homosexual relationships, but also would be punished for extramarital relationships. Homosexual people were seen as unhealthy, mentally ill. In the 1870s and 1880s, the formation of middle-class women"s colleges led to intensely intimate relationships among girls. The assumption was that these relationships were not sexual, yet we do not know if this is true or not. Smashing: girls pursuing other girls, leaving notes, bouquets of flowers, intense relationships. In the 1920s, there was a slight rise in lesbian communities in the us. Not public because of the punishment that came with it. Very small lesbian communities in ny, chicago. Parts of the city called furnished room districts.
