halperin powerpoint final

Slide1: 

Hidden From History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past Sex Before Sexuality: Pederasty, Politics, and Power in Classical Athens David M. Halperin Emily Buzzell and Ernest Baskin

Slide2: 

What is your definition of homosexuality?

Slide3: 

Prior to1892 Only the term 'sexual inversion' was used to describe individuals who had sexual relations with others of the same sex. Sexual inversion referred not only to sexual preferences for one’s own sex, but also to a departure from stereotyped gender behaviors.

Slide4: 

Examples of sexually deviant individuals: Men who preferred domestic roles Women who were desirous of power Men who liked cats Women who liked politics Prior to 1892

Slide5: 

'…sexual preference for a person of one’s own sex was not clearly distinguished from other sorts of nonconformity to one’s culturally defined sex role: Deviant object-choice was viewed as merely one of a number of pathological symptoms exhibited by those who reversed, or 'inverted,' their proper sex roles by adopting a masculine or a feminine style at variance with what was deemed natural and appropriate to their anatomical sex.' (Halperin, 38) Prior to 1892

Slide6: 

After 1892 Charles Gilbert Chaddock is credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with coining the term 'homosexuality.'

Slide7: 

'The differentiation of homosexual desire from 'deviant' gender behavior at the turn of the century reflects a major reconceptualization of the nature of human sexuality, its relation to gender, and its role in one’s social definition.' (Halperin, 38) 'The conceptual isolation of sexuality per se from question of masculinity and femininity made possible a new taxonomy of sexual behaviors and psychologies based entirely on the anatomical sex of the persons engaged in a sexual act…' (Halperin, 39) After 1892

Slide8: 

After the term 'homosexuality' was coined in 1892, sexuality became more based on an individual’s anatomy than his or her gender role behavior. Consequently, homosexuality was considered more of an innate characteristic and less under the individual’s control and less the result of cultural influences. After 1892

Slide9: 

The term 'homosexuality' was slow to take root. After 1892

Slide10: 

Until 1973, homosexuality was considered a disease according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. After 1892

Slide11: 

From Ancient Greece to 2006 Does the modern definition of homosexuality adequately describe same-sex relations in Ancient Greece?

Slide12: 

The idea of sexual preference did exist in Ancient Greece. 'That human beings differ, often markedly, from one another in their sexual tastes in a great variety of ways (of which the liking for a sexual partner of a specific sex is only one, and not necessarily the most significant one) is an unexceptionable and, indeed, an ancient observation…' (Halperin, 41) From Ancient Greece to 2006

Slide13: 

'Before the scientific construction of 'sexuality' as a positive, distinct, and constitutive feature of individual human beings—an autonomous system within the physiological and psychological economy of the human organism—a person’s sexual acts could be individually evaluated and categorized, but there was no conceptual apparatus available for identifying a person’s fixed and determinate sexual orientation.' (Halperin 41) From Ancient Greece to 2006

Slide14: 

Given the absence of a system for defining homo or hetero sexual orientation in Ancient Greece, the question up for debate is:

Slide15: 

Does the modern definition of homosexuality adequately describe same-sex relations in Ancient Greece?

Slide16: 

The Classroom As A Social Space

Slide17: 

Is The Symposium a dinner party or a classroom? How was Socrates’ use of questions a method for proving his arguments? What characteristics of The Symposium are similar to modern classrooms and social spaces? The Classroom As A Social Space