"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...
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...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
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.
A main theme in this small town’s culture is the issue of gender and the division of roles between the two. Not uncommon for the 1950’s, many women were taught from a young age to find a good man, who could provide for them and a family, settle down and have children – the ideal “happy family.” As Harry states after singing the showstopper “Kids,” “I have the All-American family: A great wife, 2 wonderful kids and a good job.”
Carter, David. Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution. New York: St. Martin's, 2004. Print
“The unprecedented growth of the gay community in recent history has transformed our culture and consciousness, creating radically new possibilities for people to ‘come out’ and live more openly as homosexuals”(Herdt 2). Before the 1969 Stonewall riot in New York, homosexuality was a taboo subject. Research concerning homosexuality emphasized the etiology, treatment, and psychological adjustment of homosexuals. Times have changed since 1969. Homosexuals have gained great attention in arts, entertainment, media, and politics. Yesterday’s research on homosexuality has expanded to include trying to understand the different experiences and situations of homosexuals (Ben-Ari 89-90).
After reading Richard Dyer’s “In Defense of Disco” I began to think about disco as a product of capitalism. This is something that I had never really thought of before. When I think about the hip-hop industry I think capitalism, but not necessarily disco. In this article Dyer goes on to defend disco by identifying its key characteristics, and relating them to ways in which these characteristics allow gay men to escape the pressures of the dominant heterosexual society. Characteristics such as eroticism, romanticism, and materialism are outlined within Dyer’s article. Even though Disco may have been driven in capitalistic ways, I think that it has created an environment that helps to redefine gender and sexuality. Disco, like many other genres of music, has allowed for the creation of many dynamic cultures. These various sub cultures continue to evolve and flourish over time.
McGowan, Jeffrey. Major Conflict: One Gay Man’s Life in the Don’t-ask-don’t-tell Military. New York: Broadway, 2005. Print.
In 1950, President Harry S. Truman implemented discharge policies for homosexual service members in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This would allow military leaders to discharge any service member who was thought to be homosexual. In 1992, during President Bill Clinton’s campaign, he promises to lift that ban. Not being able to do just that, President Clinton issued a directive referred to as ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’. This stated that no service member should be asked about their sexual orientation. Mackubin Thomas Owens wrote the article “Gay Men and Women in the Military Disrupt Unit Cohesion” in 2009 right after President Clinton was again calling for the end of forcing homosexuals to live in secret. In his article he states that homosexuals living openly in the military will take away from military effectiveness and put the other service member’s lives in danger. Throughout most of the article he uses other resources, polls and opinions on the matter verses clearly stating his own. Most of the resources he uses are military connected or
The military and many citizens condemned, humiliated, and sought to isolate homosexuals from being involved in the military or within their public life. The Second World War provided the opportunity for homosexuals to work together in order to have a plan for retaliation towards their persecution. Although the persecution was not easy, Berube argues that these past events forced lesbians and gays to come together which gave them the ability to develop a nationwide community for all homosexuals. Forced into the spotlight by the oppressive and fearful military apparatus and the unsure public, allowing them not to be hidden by this society anymore, homosexuals began to fight for equal rights in America and embrace who they really
Tytell, John. Naked Angels: the Lives and Literature of the Beat Generation. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976.
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
The persecution of homosexuals during this age of McCarthy proved exactly how vulnerable they were to attack and discrimination. Out of those persecutions came some of the first organized “gay rights” groups, known as Homophile organizations, the first two being the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilibis (who focused their efforts on Lesbian rights). Founded in 1950 by Harry Hay, the...
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
From the outside, the 1950’s was a great time for America. Society revolved around the idea of America being a middle-class nation. Americans worshipped conformity, and materialism satisfied the need to conform. However, the prosperity of materialistic America hid the growing, numerous problems. Dissent in any way was not tolerated; all injustice was stifled by a fear of difference. In “Fifties Society,” Alan Brinkley discusses the truth of the era; that the fear of nonconformity was hidden by the seemingly prosperous middle-class nation. Brinkley argues the Beat movement and “feminine mystique” show that the people who did not fit in reveal the true colors of 1950’s society.
...s, it was a time of great turbulence from start to finish. Protests, assassinations, war, pacifists; they all played a major role in the United States during this time. Something substantial had to happen to help relieve some of the on going woes. It was the British music. Not once, but twice, within a span of ten years were the British the influence that helped get us over those times. It may have been in a more positive way in the first wave, and maybe in a more negative way in the second, introducing an entire drug culture, but either way it made an impact. I have always viewed the 60’s as one of the most intriguing decades to live in, because of its culture shock that occurred during this time. It was the decade of peace, love and drugs; it would have been great to be there to experience these things. Nevertheless, in the research I have done, I have realized the importance of not only the British music on this decade, but all of the feelings behind the music, all of the meanings and emotions and social change which it encouraged. It was the decade with the highest highs and the lowest lows in the last half-century. It was the time when British music saved America from itself.
Wilton, Tamsin. "Which One's the Man? The Heterosexualisation of Lesbain Sex." Gender, Sex, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University, 2009. 157-70. Print.