Discuss Homosexuality in the Beat Generation

2109 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The study and analysis of literature

"In the age that coined the word "togetherness" as a synonym for family values, the Beats, each in his own style mounted the first open, sustained assault in American history on the masculine role as heterosexual spouse, father and grown-up provider. In the midst of the Cold War crusade against all deviations from the masculine norm, in the era that could almost be said to have invented the idea of classified information, they openly addressed homosexuality, bisexuality, and masturbation in their work, declassifying the secrets of the male body, making sexuality as complex as individual identity and pushing their chosen forms to new limits in the process" (Ann Douglas)

Discuss with reference to one or more authors.

At the end of the `Cold War', the early years of the 1950's represented all that was wholly good and traditional about family life. Women were homemakers, men lived up to the expected strong masculine role of the provider and a conventional family with children, was normality. Morality and values were of key importance and were inbuilt and represented through family life. Therefore it is imperative to examine the social history of post World War II America, to understand and emphasise the impact of the Beat Generation writers on this era at that time. It is then possible to see the acute disparity of style and attitude between the Beats and that of the 1950's "family values" epoch. Oliver Harris argues that the fundamental reason Beat culture "seized centre-stage in the theatre of early Cold War America...is because its major figures worked on a very particular range of margins." The contentious question, however is where does the margin of homosexuality stand in relation to Cold War ideology and Beat Cultural po...

... middle of paper ...

...er, "Queer Shoulders, Queer Wheel: Homosexuality and Beat Textual Politics

Stimpson. Catherine R, "The Beat Generation and the Trials of Homosexual Liberation

Dollimore. Jonathan, Sexual Dissidence: Augustine to Wilde, Freud to Foucault, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991

Corber. Robert J, Homosexuality in the Cold War: Resistance and the Crisis of Masculinity (Durham N.C Duke University Press 1997

Senate Report "Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in Government," cited in John D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States 1940-1970 (Chicago: University Press, 1983

Charters, Selected Letters

Ginsberg, Collected Poems

`The Knitting Circle:Movement, Mattachine Society' http://myweb.lsbu.ac.uk/~stafflag/mattachine.html

Show More
Related

  • The Stonewall Riots

    1946 Words  | 4 Pages

    Life for most homosexuals during the first half of the Twentieth century was one of hiding, being ever so careful to not give away their true feelings and predilections. Although the 1920s saw a brief moment of openness in American society, that was quickly destroyed with the progress of the Cold War, and by default, that of McCarthyism. The homosexuals of the 50s “felt the heavy weight of medical prejudice, police harassment and church condemnation … [and] were not able to challenge these authorities.” They were constantly battered, both physically and emotionally, by the society that surrounded them. The very mention or rumor of one’s homosexuality could lead to the loss of their family, their livelihood and, in some cases, their lives. Geanne Harwood, interviewed on an National Public Radio Broadcast commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, said that “being gay before Stonewall was a very difficult proposition … we felt that in order to survive we had to try to look and act as rugged and as manly as possibly to get by in a society that was really very much against us.” The age of communist threats, and of Joseph McCarthy’s insistence that homosexuals were treacherous, gave credence to the feeling of most society members that homosexuality was a perversion, and that one inflicted was one to not be trusted.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Don T Step On It Make You Cry

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 1960’s changed the world in an explosion of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, for the first time women and men where declaring freedom and free love. The sexual revolution of the 1960’s saw changes in the way the world saw its self, and the way we saw each other. It changed what we wanted to buy, how we bought it and how we sold it to each other. Artistic free thinkers began to push boundaries everywhere they could. This is reflected in the music of the times, the notable events and the fashion.

    Read More

  • Stonewall Riots: Birth of the Modern Gay Rights Movement

    1772 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the year of 1969, the Greenwich Village section of New York City had an abundance of gay and lesbian bars created by mafia bosses or their gay relatives. Despite there were no illegal malpractices taking place, the New York City Police Department felt they had be involved. Most bar goers were often targeted by detectives and uniformed officers due to the accused’s sexual identity; from harassment for identification to violent quarrels and bodily

    Read More

  • Trials and Tribulations of a Homosexual

    1582 Words  | 4 Pages

    As generations proceeded, institutions such as the American Psychiatric Society began to classify homosexuality as a disease, which was later retracted in the 1970’s and was no longer considered a mental disorder. At this time many homosexuals decided to start “coming out”, a process in which people talk freely about their sexual orientation to family and friends. Then in the1980’s new adversary for the gay community became the forefront of debates worldwide. The AIDS crisis, which seemed to be only contracted in the gay male population, paved the way for brutalizing words such as “queer” that was used to describe all sexual minorities. In the 1990’s where the gay rights movement saw more victories with the United States military instituting the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy.” This policy gave homosexuals the right to serve within the military. Then in the year 2000, Vermont became the first state to allow same sex civil unions (Pitas).

    Read More

  • Don't Ask, Don't Tell

    1437 Words  | 3 Pages

    Walke, Jacob, and Chuck Goodwin. “Point: America Cannot Afford to be Weakened by Homosexuality.” Points of View: Homosexuals in the Military. 2009: 2. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 31 Mar 2011.

    Read More

  • The Spark of the Stonewall Riot

    1756 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the early 1950s and throughout the 1960s, in an attempt to “control” sexual behavior, law enforcements would raid gay bars as means to show them that their way of life was deemed as “inappropriate” in the eyes of society, and harass them because of their sexuality. On June 27, 1969, the New York Police Department went on their nightly routines of raiding bars, that night they raided the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich (Goldstein). Usually, when law enforcements would raid these locations, the patrons would oblige to authority. On this night however; in the first time in history, the occupants of the ba...

    Read More

  • Sexual Orientation Discrimination in the Military

    1873 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rich, C., Schutten, J., & Rogers, R. A. (2012). “Don't Drop the Soap”: Organizing Sexualities in the Repeal of the US Military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” Policy. Communication Monographs, 79(3), 269-291. doi:10.1080/03637751.2012.697633

    Read More

  • Jack Kerouac’s On The Road - The Impact of Dean on Sal's Identity

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tytell, John. Naked Angels: the Lives and Literature of the Beat Generation. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976.

    Read More

  • The Lavender Scare

    1627 Words  | 4 Pages

    Prior to the 1950’s, society had already formed the foundation of its bias towards gay men. Scientific and social studies executed by famous scholars, such as Freud and Kinsey, suggested not only that homosexuality is abnormal, but it is prevalent among society (Johnson). Correspondingly, Washington began to grow, which gave way to new government positions, ranging from the lowest corporate level to the highest corporate level; thus, paranoia, regarding homosexual men in the White House, dispersed

    Read More

  • The acceptance of “abnormal” sexualities

    1300 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1950, a homosexual man named Harry Hay and a group of homosexual activists decided that they were tired of being treated unequally just because of their sexual orientation (Mattachine Society Today 3). They started the Mattachine Society where they could begin acting and organizing against this type of oppression. They wanted to give male homosexuals support and the sense of pride for being who they were. The main goals were to unify isolated homosexuals and to encourage them to fight for their rights while providing a society of safe and social activities (Mattachine Society Today 9). The group was in for a struggle though: their conservative ways did not satisfy many. The problem was not in their efforts and intentions, but in the fact that their society was politically weak,...

    Read More

  • A History of Sexuality

    1957 Words  | 4 Pages

    Halperin, David. "Is There a History of Sexuality?." The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Ed. Henry

    Read More

  • All Shook Up: How Rock 'n' Roll Changed America

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    Music can be traced back into human history to prehistoric eras. To this day archeologists uncover fragments of ancient instruments as well as tablets with carved lyrics buried alongside prominent leaders and highly influential people. This serves as a testament to the importance and power of music, as well as its influence in society. Over its many years of existence, music’s powerful invocation of feelings has allowed it to evolve and serve many purposes, one being inspiring change. American journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson once said, “Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of fuel. Sentimental people call it inspiration, but what they really mean is fuel.” This fuel is the very things that powers the influence of Rock ‘n’ Roll on American society, that author Glenn C. Altschuler writes about in his book, “All Shook Up – How Rock ‘n’ Roll Changed America.” Between 1945 and 1965 Rock ‘n’ Roll transformed American society and culture by helping to ease racial integration and launch a sexual revolution while most importantly developing an intergenerational identity.

    Read More

  • Bebop In Leland's Kafka Was The Rage

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Kafka Was the Rage, Broyard described his life as a hipster. It was 1947, after the world war II. Brossard chose to live in Greenwich Village with Sherri Donatti, who was an abstract painter, rather than to live with his parents in Brooklyn. The Greenwich Village at that time presented the freedom and new ways of thinking, which was the world of artist and writers. There was peace and prosperity and a bright new world for the young. He insists that he is not the voice of the beat generation, however, his behavior can be regarded as the beat generation. He likes going to clubs and having sex with various girlfriends. “I say that sex used to be more individual, more personally marked, than it is now”(Broyard, p141). He thinks that the topic of sex is much different from the past and there is no shame to talk about the sex. Another hipster, Peggy Guggheim, has many common features with Broyard, since she admits that she has many sexual relation with many artists and writers. From my perspective, Broyard and Guggheim are beatnik since they both being free, believe the sexual liberation and being creative, which match the philosophy of beat generation which is conducting of oneself to reject white society, combining experimentation of using drugs and sexual liberation. Beat is the mindset of the beatnik subculture, which related each other. As Leland mentioned in the book, “The beats prescribed an ethos of lifestyle change”(Leland, p153). Beats generation changed a lot and even can easily tell from the clothing.They prefer to wear unusual or exotic dress. Social responsibility for them means nothing and they hate work and study. They disdain social order, against any stereotypes. Chasing freedom, using drugs and having sex is gradually becoming part of their life. Leland described them in this way, “The beats romanticized black life at the margins, imaging it as

    Read More

  • How Sexuality is Socially Constructed

    2048 Words  | 5 Pages

    Somerville, Siobhan. "Scientific Racism and the Invention of the Homosexual Body." Gender, Sex, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University, 2009. 284-99. Print.

    Read More

  • Beat Countercultural Movement

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    To say that the Beat generation has affected modern culture seems at first to be no great revelation; it is inevitable that any period of history will affect the time that follows. The Beat generation is especially significant, though, because of its long lasting impact on American culture. Many aspects of modern American culture can be directly attributed to the Beat writers, primarily Allen Ginsburg, William Burroughs, Neal Cassady, and Jack Kerouac. (Asher) Their influence has changed the American perception of obscenity, has had profound effects on American music and literature, and has modified the public’s views on such topics as sex and drug use.

    Read More

More about Discuss Homosexuality in the Beat Generation

Open Document