Colonialism and Homosexuality

Rating:
Summary: Argh! Someone stole my idea for a dissertation!
Review: It's about time someone wrote this book. In this historical text, an Australian scholar details how colonial travels affected what we would now call gay men and how gay men affected colonialism. In the first half of the book, Robert Aldrich how this phenomenon occurred for painters, poets, businessmen, and political activists, and men in other professions. In the latter half of the book, he discusses this phenomenon region by region (Papua New Guinea, North Africa, South Asia, etc). Included in this book is a whole chapter dedicated to the ultimate gay European colonizer, E. M. Forster.

This book is a stellar example of gay studies and historical research coming together. It is immediately obvious to the reader how much work the author had to put into writing this. As a large history text, this book takes FOREVER to read! Undergraduate students assigned this book could get away with just reading the first two chapters and the conclusions, as the author's point becomes obvious and may feel repetitive to some readers after awhile. Still, given that this book is much-needed and superb, all will benefit from reading it cover to cover.

For gay activists who mention famous historical figures who were gay as a way of combating homophobia, this book will be a useful tool. Just as Marjorie Garber in "Vice Versa" demonstrated how many of these figures who are labeled gay could more accurately be labeled bisexual, Aldrich shows that many famous gay Westerners either came out, had their first homosexual experience in, or were influenced by the developing world. This book will be a certain wake-up call for those who falsely assume that Stonewall is the be-all to end-all of gay history.

To be honest, I think many straight readers will be frustrated at how speculative some of Aldrich's allegations about famous Westerners are. However, the author is fair-minded in stating his claims. For readers of all sexual orientations, the discussions about taboo topics like rape, pedophilia, incest, etc. mentioned in this book may be unsettling. Still, even for gay readers, the discussions of famous gays who hated themselves, chose celibacy, or married women to whom they were not attracted will feel sad as well.

Most importantly, this book was very disturbing, at times, for me to read as a gay man of color. It comes as no surprise that for centuries, some white men have had sexual fetishes for men of color. No one really has to read an academic work to find out that myths about black men's sexual organs, Asian men's submissiveness, or Arab men's exotic sexual activities are nothing new. In the interracial sexual affairs detailed here, the perspectives of men of color consistently are marginalized to that of white men's feelings. Further, the author admits that many of these Westerners who had sex with men of color abused them, degraded them, or acted in other racist fashions. Still, the author could only work with the historical evidence available to him, most often the writings of the white men. Additionally, this book does mention that it took traveling outside of the West that allowed many Westerners who only got involved with other Westerners to explore their gay desires. The author mentioned that he wrote a book on how Northern European gay men have treated Southern Europeans, paralleling the First World-Third World dynamic. In fairness, the author also spells out how tolerance to homosexuality outside of the West encouraged some white men to fight imperialism. Some anti-imperialists were subjected to homophobia solely because others wanted to silence their anti-colonial protests.

Aldrich does a fantastic job of discussing how Australian white men played a part in this history. Not only were Australians colonized by Britain, but also they had a colonial relationship with New Guinea. Being that most gay books focus on Europe and Anglo-America, this was quite novel. Still, I find it odd that while Aldrich conducted extensive research on Africa, Asia, and Oceania, he hardly mentions Latin America. Garcia Lorca's autobiographer stated that the poet become more openly gay after visiting Latin America, so there is much reason to include this region in the analysis. It's obvious that the author speaks many languages, so I am sure that not knowing Spanish or lacking a Spanish translator could not have been a barrier for him. I think this must illustrate how Americans think of Latin America as strongly black and Native and part of their Third World whereas Europeans and Australians think of it as an extension of Spain and therefore highly Westernized. (For that matter, the author never discussed how gay white Americans were influenced by Native American tribes that tolerated same-sex activities or gender-fluid individuals.)

Along these lines, the author labels the last part of the book, "The End of Empire," yet the chapter here is nothing more than another discussion of French gay men in North Africa just like the chapter before it. Aldrich mentions that some post-colonial governments had a backlash against what they viewed as Western perverted corruption. (I'm thinking of Cuba as an example and this is another reason why a discussion on Latin America would have been helpful to the book.) I wish he had expanded upon that idea. The fact is, several men in the developing world have cited homophobic persecution as a reason for seeking political asylum in the developed world, including Australia. Thus, nowadays, the phenomenon that Aldrich details is occurring in reverse, though he makes little note of it. Perhaps by giving more attention to men of color he could have achieved that.

Despite my critiques, I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Robert Aldrich should receive as much praise as George Chauncey has for his book "Gay New York." This text was a vital addition to gay history and gay studies.

Rating:
Summary: Argh! Someone stole my idea for a dissertation!
Review: It's about time someone wrote this book. In this historical text, an Australian scholar details how colonial travels affected what we would now call gay men and how gay men affected colonialism. In the first half of the book, Robert Aldrich how this phenomenon occurred for painters, poets, businessmen, and political activists, and men in other professions. In the latter half of the book, he discusses this phenomenon region by region (Papua New Guinea, North Africa, South Asia, etc). Included in this book is a whole chapter dedicated to the ultimate gay European colonizer, E. M. Forster.

This book is a stellar example of gay studies and historical research coming together. It is immediately obvious to the reader how much work the author had to put into writing this. As a large history text, this book takes FOREVER to read! Undergraduate students assigned this book could get away with just reading the first two chapters and the conclusions, as the author's point becomes obvious and may feel repetitive to some readers after awhile. Still, given that this book is much-needed and superb, all will benefit from reading it cover to cover.

For gay activists who mention famous historical figures who were gay as a way of combating homophobia, this book will be a useful tool. Just as Marjorie Garber in "Vice Versa" demonstrated how many of these figures who are labeled gay could more accurately be labeled bisexual, Aldrich shows that many famous gay Westerners either came out, had their first homosexual experience in, or were influenced by the developing world. This book will be a certain wake-up call for those who falsely assume that Stonewall is the be-all to end-all of gay history.

To be honest, I think many straight readers will be frustrated at how speculative some of Aldrich's allegations about famous Westerners are. However, the author is fair-minded in stating his claims. For readers of all sexual orientations, the discussions about taboo topics like rape, pedophilia, incest, etc. mentioned in this book may be unsettling. Still, even for gay readers, the discussions of famous gays who hated themselves, chose celibacy, or married women to whom they were not attracted will feel sad as well.

Most importantly, this book was very disturbing, at times, for me to read as a gay man of color. It comes as no surprise that for centuries, some white men have had sexual fetishes for men of color. No one really has to read an academic work to find out that myths about black men's sexual organs, Asian men's submissiveness, or Arab men's exotic sexual activities are nothing new. In the interracial sexual affairs detailed here, the perspectives of men of color consistently are marginalized to that of white men's feelings. Further, the author admits that many of these Westerners who had sex with men of color abused them, degraded them, or acted in other racist fashions. Still, the author could only work with the historical evidence available to him, most often the writings of the white men. Additionally, this book does mention that it took traveling outside of the West that allowed many Westerners who only got involved with other Westerners to explore their gay desires. The author mentioned that he wrote a book on how Northern European gay men have treated Southern Europeans, paralleling the First World-Third World dynamic. In fairness, the author also spells out how tolerance to homosexuality outside of the West encouraged some white men to fight imperialism. Some anti-imperialists were subjected to homophobia solely because others wanted to silence their anti-colonial protests.

Aldrich does a fantastic job of discussing how Australian white men played a part in this history. Not only were Australians colonized by Britain, but also they had a colonial relationship with New Guinea. Being that most gay books focus on Europe and Anglo-America, this was quite novel. Still, I find it odd that while Aldrich conducted extensive research on Africa, Asia, and Oceania, he hardly mentions Latin America. Garcia Lorca's autobiographer stated that the poet become more openly gay after visiting Latin America, so there is much reason to include this region in the analysis. It's obvious that the author speaks many languages, so I am sure that not knowing Spanish or lacking a Spanish translator could not have been a barrier for him. I think this must illustrate how Americans think of Latin America as strongly black and Native and part of their Third World whereas Europeans and Australians think of it as an extension of Spain and therefore highly Westernized. (For that matter, the author never discussed how gay white Americans were influenced by Native American tribes that tolerated same-sex activities or gender-fluid individuals.)

Along these lines, the author labels the last part of the book, "The End of Empire," yet the chapter here is nothing more than another discussion of French gay men in North Africa just like the chapter before it. Aldrich mentions that some post-colonial governments had a backlash against what they viewed as Western perverted corruption. (I'm thinking of Cuba as an example and this is another reason why a discussion on Latin America would have been helpful to the book.) I wish he had expanded upon that idea. The fact is, several men in the developing world have cited homophobic persecution as a reason for seeking political asylum in the developed world, including Australia. Thus, nowadays, the phenomenon that Aldrich details is occurring in reverse, though he makes little note of it. Perhaps by giving more attention to men of color he could have achieved that.

Despite my critiques, I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Robert Aldrich should receive as much praise as George Chauncey has for his book "Gay New York." This text was a vital addition to gay history and gay studies.

Rating:
Summary: excellent considering the little information available
Review: once upon a time, two countries, england and france, became soooo powerful that they decided to create empires stretching from one end of the globe to the other, and who better to do some of the grunt work than gay men, who were unable to live their lives freely in mother countries which shunned and repressed them, who were much more interested than their heterosexual counterparts in learning about new languages, religions and cultures and who had a whole new world of sexual opportunity opened up to them by mingling with peoples who didn't suffer from the sexual constraints that moralistic european society had been confining them with since christianity took hold?...

this book is the best i have read among those which tell the life stories of both men who were definitely gay and others who very probably were, despite the lack of totally conclusive evidence (we are reminded that most of these men would have gone to any lengths to hide their homosexuality and cover their tracks, which is why we have very few historical documents to work with)... the author is forced to draw some possibly erroneous conclusions and take a leap of faith or two in positing that certain personages were homosexuals, but unless you are naive and/or a skeptic, he proves to be very perspicacious in singling out colonial gays of the stature of lyautey and stanley...

for me the book was a huge discovery, since, for instance, after traveling to morocco over ten times, i had never once heard that lyautey had possibly been gay, and the book gives quite a convincing argument that he was... the way the author demonstrates this for each historical figure described is interesting, informative and new...most of all, it merits endless praise, because he has done an amazing job of bringing together all of the very little information which exists and is truly intelligent in pointing out other factors which hint at the homosexuality of the subjects that others have rarely or never mentioned in biographies and studies...

as some other reviewers have mentioned, my only disappointment (living in spain and being immensely interested in the colonial period in latin america) is that there is not one mention of homosexuality in the hispanic colonial world, so i think a more appropriate title of the book might be "french and british colonialism and homosexuality" (though one russian and some dutchmen and germans are also described)...

this book is highly recommendable either to read straight through as a general history book on gay life during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century in europe, africa, asia and the pacific islands, or to read in parts when you become interested in a specific country, region, writer, artist or other historical figure... it is definitely worth having for some of the individual chapters alone... for instance, if you are interested in french northern africa, you can read just 3-4 chapters of the book and it thoroughly describes all of the most important writers, artists and historical figures, as well as providing a general overview of the situation there throughout the french colonial period...