tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1081854755492444172.post491301363184225185..comments2024-03-09T09:33:00.697-08:00Comments on Imp of the Diverse: His Excessive Passions Were Unlike Those of Other MenJohn Dumashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08908646219266836986noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1081854755492444172.post-77710638056402270372014-11-29T10:26:38.664-08:002014-11-29T10:26:38.664-08:00Thanks. There was certainly a time before gay iden...Thanks. There was certainly a time before gay identity. I know that Wilde appreciated being a case study in Kraft-bbing's "Psychopathia Sexualis," because it gave a name to his experiences.<br /><br />My thought was simply, if we could hop into a time machine and have a chat with James Chesser and George Burton, how would they describe themselves?<br /><br />Thanks for the book recommendation.John Dumashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08908646219266836986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1081854755492444172.post-64887907043679524282014-11-29T09:14:05.947-08:002014-11-29T09:14:05.947-08:00Great research, thanks for posting this interestin...Great research, thanks for posting this interesting item, and the one about the two men married in Ft. Smith. But I have to say I believe you are badly mistaken if you think "gay identity" somehow spontaneously arose in the mists of small-town America in the 1880's. Michel Foucault started that nonsense a couple of decades back, and lots of people have parroted his harebrained ideas. But there is plenty of solid documentary evidence that what you are calling "gay identity" has always existed. I'm not going to debate it here but if you are sincerely interested in gay history, I urge you go read Louis Crompton's monumental survey, <i>Homosexuality and Civilization</i> and look at the facts of gay people down through the centuries, in their own words, instead of some philosopher's crank notions.<br />Russ Manleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05722260145543178087noreply@blogger.com