First of all, the readings showed that the understanding of same-sex relations were completely different in the United States and European countries. Rupp presents more tolerant attitude to romantic and intimate relations of same-sex people. In the article, the author provides an insight to a historical phenomenon of romantic friendship and the peculiarities of its development with time. He describes how the “sexual system” worked and provided some factors that can be a reason for it transformation. One of the most vital points was that the family’s role as an economic unit became less important. The other was that urban families tended to have fewer children due to economic reasons; the contraception and abortion became successful tools for the limiting the number of children. Moreover, same-sex relations were non-productive; therefore, engaging in this kind of relations could not demand financial investments in children. However, the author highlights the fact that the decline of birth rate was not universal since “African American slave women, southern white women, white women on the frontier of white settlement, and immigrant women continued to bear large numbers of children” (Rupp 40). As a result, the trend for having fewer children and taking part in same-sex intercourse begun widespread in the urban zone society. According to the Rupp, “in the settled Northeast, the ideology of sexual difference between women and men flourished among the urban middle class” (43). The author points out the possibility that even when a man and a woman are married, they are not alike and may strive for relations with those of the same sex in order to reach deeper level of understanding. As a result, married people could have romantic friendship with the representative of the same sex as well as the unmarried ones. Further, since males usually had similar experience only before marriage, woman could have same-sex relations alongside marriage.
It is worth mentioning that the author provides excerpts from the correspondence of the most interesting relations that help him to support the given idea. Moreover, he provides distinction between romantic friendship for men and women showing the examples of female correspondence between Molly and Helena, Sarah Butler Whister and Jeannie Field Musgrove, famous poet Emily Dickinson and Sue Gilbert, Rebecca and Addie – the author shows the intensity and importance of their relations with partners. The communication between men was given in less sensual but also very striking way – the author mentioned the writings of Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville and others. It is worth mentioning that, for example, Herman Melville dedicated his Moby Dick to his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the story, the author mentioned same-sex relations of some characters that may characterize his own friendship with Hawthorne.
The city played in vital role in the development and appearance of the same-sex couples. The expansion of employment opportunities in cities made it possible for the same-sex partners to live together (Rupp 45). They couldn’t take an official marriage since similar relations were not yet approved by the state, however, they were not prohibited as well. Such romantic friendship became known as “Boston marriages” since it was widespread in old cities. On the other side, homosexual relations were widespread in single-sex communities in non-urban areas such as colonies, at the frontier, in communities of miners, sailors and others where lack of representative of the other gender was experienced.
Urbanization provoked the wave of same-sex relations both in women and men. The urban society was developed enough to accept similar behavior, however, the understanding had its limits as well. First of all, men with the experience of same-sex friendship were supposed to proceed with marriage later, nevertheless whether they wanted in or not. Rare partners went on with their relations or habits till old age. Women had more freedom, since being treated as more weak and controllable, they could continue leading romantic relations alongside marriage.
Tamagne describes completely different situation with same-sex relations in Europe. His article is devoted to the analysis of homosexual relation in 19-20th centuries. First of all, he provides some the medical and psychiatric theories showing that Europeans treated the desire for same-sex relations as unhealthy and “perverse” one. Therefore, the attitude towards same-sex partners was negative and later, they were punished for being not like others. A special classification of homosexuality was developed in order to understand whether a person can be treated or not. It was also of a great use for the judges who were supposed to sentence the homosexuals according to the degree of “crime”. Nevertheless, it was very difficult for the prosecutors to find evidence strong enough to accuse those involved in homosexual relations and receive a positive trial outcome.
In Germany, the society was full of homophobic and anti-Semitic prejudices, and the accusations of same-sex relations were more than enough to put a person into danger of social rejection. In England, according to the author, homosexuality was labelled as a criminal offence but also became popular between artistic and intellectual elite (Tamagne 177). This was explained as a result of prevalence of single-sex institutions (public schools, universities) that became a fertile ground for homosexual relations. It is worth mentioning that large European cities turned into hosts for certain homosexual subcultures (178). It happened due to vast possibilities in providing personal space for personal meetings since urban zone gave a temporal attraction for people that provided temporal escape for homosexuals. Moreover, the same-sex relations in cities could continue being hidden since a special system of signs, colors and argot language had been elaborated. The author argues that London, Paris and Berlin happened to be capitals of homosexual subcultures for the period between 1870 and 1940; however, those subcultures remained under constant surveillance of the police. During the period of the II World War, the homosexuals were put under repressions, sent to concentration camps and had no value as people.
The homosexual context became the main theme in a range of texts completed by Marcel Proust (Sodom and Gomorrah), Thomas Mann (Death in Venice), Virginia Woolf (Orlando) and many others. Therefore, we can see that homosexual relations became an inalienable context gained by literary works of that time.
On balance, I would like to stress on the importance of cities in the development of same-sex relations since they provided vast possibilities for homosexuals to meet and not be blamed for their actions. The attitudes in European countries and United States, as showed both readings, towards homosexual relations were completely dissimilar that lead to different understanding of the phenomenon. In the Unites States the same-sex relations were treated as a temporal event, seduction that will disappear with time, therefore, those blamed in such relations were not punished. On the contrary, in European cities similar behavior could have negative consequences, trial and even death sentence.
Work Cited
Rupp, Leila J. "Worlds of Men, Worlds of Women: Sex and Romantic Friendship in an Industrializing and Expanding Nation." A Desired Past: A Short History of Same-sex Love in America. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1999. Print.
Tamagne, Florence. "The Homosexual Age, 1870—1940." In Gay Life and Culture: A World History. Ed. Robert Aldrich. New York, NY: Universe, 2006. Print.
