History of Homosexuality: Antique versus Modern

 

Modernity is a word populated by people who define themselves as gay, lesbian straight, bisexual, bi-curious, exhibitionist, submisives, dominatrixes, swingers (people who engage in partner exchange), switchers (people who change from being gay to being straight men), born-again virgins (people who technically lost their virginity but pledge to renounce sex until marriage), acrotomopiliacs (people who are sexually attracted to amputees), furverts (or furries) – people who dress up in animal suits and drive sexual excitement from doing so, or feeders (people who overfed their generally obese partners). The important point here is that we draw on these categories in order to make sense of who we are: We define ourselves in part through sexuality (Mottier 2008: 1).

Perhaps, one would find it quite reasonable to claim that the work of Michel Foucault on ‘History of Sexuality’ is influential in queer theory and sexuality studies. In this text, Foucault provides a historical narrative of the emergence of modern identities that are primarily constructed – at least huge in part- along the lines of sexualities. Here, he convincingly argues that, unlike in pre-modern times, hetero/homosexuality is no longer just about what we do but also emerged as identities through which we identify ourselves.  Homo/heterosexuality is not only concerned about the question of with whom we are sleeping with, but also answers the questions of who we are and how we relate to the society we inhabit.