G. Hekma

Imams and Homosexuality: A Post-gay Debate in the Netherlands

In a new departure for Sexualities, this article focuses on a topical issue. It describes a growing conflict between Muslims and gays in the Netherlands, which is currently being mirrored in many places throughout the world. Highlighting the denunciations of gays by the Rotterdam-based imam Khalil El Moumni in May 2001, the article examines how the issue appeared and the key elements of the debate it generated. Just how this debate fits into the wider contexts of modernity and postmodernity is also examined.

‘As long as they keep away from me’: the paradox of antigay violence in a gay-friendly country

Considering the tolerant and gay-friendly image of the Netherlands, antigay violence is a remarkably grave problem. By combining a broad survey of Amsterdam youth with in-depth interviews with smaller groups and individual attackers and reviewing recent cases, we conclude that traditional norms of gender and sexuality present in broader society form the breeding ground of the violence. The gay-friendly narrative that dominates discussions on citizenship in the Netherlands – opposing the liberal ‘Dutch’ to the Muslim ‘Other’ – coexists next to traditional norms of gender and sexuality, thereby not challenging the roots of homonegativity. Even perpetrators duplicate the prevailing gay-tolerant rhetoric of Dutch society, but do not refrain from all sorts of violence as soon as they are confronted with aspects of it that collide with traditional norms of gender and sexuality. Peer pressure and the fear of seduction often function as triggers of the violence. However, these situational factors can only be understood in a larger macro-sociological framework, showing the necessity of a multilevel approach in coming towards a comprehensive understanding of antigay violence.

Queer Netherlands: A puzzling example

Ever since the ‘sexual revolution’ of the 1960s, the Netherlands has been at the forefront of championing erotic freedoms. Amsterdam became internationally renowned as a city of sex, drugs and rock & roll – the gay and sex capital of the world, wide open to the celebration of erotic pleasures. The change for the Netherlands was dramatic: from a society ruled by Christian political parties and a conservative morality to a nation where sex could be enjoyed by locals and foreigners alike. The sexual revolution had far-reaching effects on Dutch society. While surveys show that most Dutch until the late 1960s were opposed to homosexuality, prostitution, pornography, abortion, divorce and preand extramarital sex, the majority a decade later claimed to accept such behavior. Stimulated by the NVSH (Dutch Society for Sexual Reform) and the COC (Center for Recreation and Culture, a code name for what would be baptized in 1971 the ‘Dutch Society for Integration of Homosexuality’), as well as by numerous social changes, the Dutch in the 1970s emerged as the most liberal nation in the world on issues of sexual morality (see Hekma and Duyvendak, 2011). This gave the Netherlands, and especially the city of Amsterdam, a worldwide reputation as a place of sexual freedom. Amsterdam became a magnet for foreign tourists, particularly its Red Light District and its gay scene. Sexual emancipation was a watershed for women and even more so for gay men – they were no longer seen as sinners, criminals or psychopaths. This narrative of sexual liberation continued with twists and turns until 2001, when the Netherlands reached the pinnacle of its erotic freedoms with the legalization of prostitution in 2000 and the opening of marriage to same-sex couples in 2001 (being in both cases the first country to do so). In the eyes of the law, homosexuality and heterosexuality were now nearly equal, though legal equality did not mean social equality. While gay and straight alike saw these legal victories as the end of a long struggle for equal rights, the media began to report on regular incidents of queer bashing, gay and lesbian teachers and students remaining closeted in schools, and LGTB people being chased out of their homes. Social problems

Als ze maar van me afblijven: een onderzoek naar antihomoseksueel geweld in Amsterdam

Geweld tegen homos is een veelvoorkomend en structureel verschijnsel in Nederlands gay capital. Ondanks de liberale reputatie van Amsterdam zijn vooroordelen over mannelijkheid en (homo)seksualiteit wijdverspreid. Dat leidt, voornamelijk bij jonge mannen, tot het plegen van geweld. Als ze maar van me afblijven is een studie naar de motieven van daders van geweld tegen homos in de hoofdstad. De studie werd verricht in opdracht van de gemeente Amsterdam en de resultaten zijn op donderdag 20 november 2008 gepresenteerd. De auteurs presenteren unieke en nooit eerder gepubliceerde gegevens over antihomoseksueel geweld. Door het gebruik van aangrijpende citaten uit interviews met daders laten zij overtuigend zien hoe de heersende vooroordelen leiden tot geweld. Zo schetsen zij een boeiend maar verontrustend beeld van de situatie in Amsterdam. Het is voor het eerst dat er een compleet overzicht wordt gepresenteerd met gegevens over de omvang van het geweld en over de daders ervan. Bovendien zetten de auteurs het beeld dat veel mensen hebben over acceptatie van homoseksualiteit in Amsterdam op zijn kop. Ze laten zien dat de veel geprezen Nederlandse tolerantie in veel gevallen slechts schijn is. Om het tij te keren is daadkrachtig beleid van de lokale overheid dringend gewenst.

Sade, Masculinity, and Sexual Humiliation

During the eighteenth century, new ideals, theories, and practices of masculinity and sexuality developed in the countries of Northwestern Europe. This article discusses these ideals mainly using the example of the life and the works of the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814). While old ideals of Christian or noble masculinity demanded chastity or restraint and new Enlightened ones vigor and control, Sades perspective that stressed sexual humiliation was in stark conflict with both the old and new ideas on male honor, masturbation, and same-sexual acts. The article discusses his life and some of his works before reviewing his philosophy and his views on masculinity and sexuality. It ends with the importance of Sades work for his own times and for contemporary discussions.

A cultural history of sexuality in the modern age

Preface Series Acknowledgements Illustrations 1 Introduction Gert Hekma, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2 Heterosexuality Francis Ronsin, University of Bourgogne, France 3 Homosexuality Florence Tamagne, University of Lille, France 4 Sexual Variations Gert Hekma, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands 5 Sex, Religion, and the Law Daniela Danna, Universita degli studi, Italy 6 Sex, Medicine, and Disease Alain Giami, French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, France 7 Sex, Popular Beliefs, and Culture Franz X. Eder, University of Vienna, Austria 8 Prostitution Marie-Louise Janssen, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands 9 Erotica Kelly Dennis, University of Connecticut, USA Notes Bibliography Contributors Index

Kinderen, seks en zelfbepaling: praten over pedofilie

Na de hoogtijdagen van de seksuele revolutie heten kinderen weer onschuldig te zijn en stuiten hun seksuele gevoelens op ontkenning en verbod. Hoe is deze omslag van seksuele zelfbepaling van jongeren naar juist bescherming tegen seksuele wensen van henzelf of derden te begrijpen?

New Histories of Masculinity

Masculinities have become an area of growing historical interest in the wake of women’s and gay and lesbian history: if there is a history of women, there must be one of men as well and where homosexuality has a history, so too must heterosexuality. What makes the field especially fascinating is that all these topics strongly overlap with each other and are, of course, closely connected to most other historical issues. Hence, the titles under review not only discuss histories of sexualities and gender, but also those of politics, war, friendship, family and emotions – to mention only the most obvious themes. Wolfgang Schmale’s recent work begins with a social-constructivist overview of the burgeoning field of the history of masculinities in his Geschichte der Männlichkeit in Europa (1450–2000) [A History of Masculinity in Europe, 1450– 2000]. The study mainly discusses the formation of ‘new men’ at various periods european history quarterly 

A radical break with a puritanical past: the Dutch case

The sexual revolution in the Netherlands took place, as elsewhere, over an extended period of time. Several dates can be indicated but the apex was undoubtedly in the late 1960s and early 1970s. AIDS definitively put an end to the era of hope and sexual optimism. Some historians point to its beginning in the immediate post-war years when the Dutch witnessed a short phase of erotic openness after the German occupation (1940–1945). Others place it in the late 1950s and early 1960s when the dark and oppressive cover of religious morality — both Protestant and Catholic — was removed and spectacularly so by the Christians themselves. Yet this opening was more than the removal of something negative; it was also an explosion of a liberating sexual energy into the public arena. In this revolution, the Netherlands arguably experienced the most radical change of all Western nations. It had been one of the more conservative European states before 1960 and after this time became well known as a tolerant and free country. Important changes of the 1960s included liberation of heterosexuality from bonds of wedding and reproduction, especially for women. A growing acceptance of extramarital sex eroded marriage. Both heterosexuality and homosexuality radically changed in the way they were perceived and experienced.1

[Review of: G. Willett, Y. Smaal (2013) Intimacy, violence and activism: gay and lesbian perspectives on Australasian history and society]

chapter is worth reading alone for his recollection of Bob Dylan’s April 1966 Brisbane concert. It came in the midst of a world tour during which scandalised folk purists harassed Dylan over his electric turn: a reaction that reached its apotheosis with the notorious ‘Judas’ cry at a concert in Manchester a month later. Evans describes Brisbane audience members jeering Dylan when he launched into his electric set only for him to retaliate with a sneering version of ‘Ballad of a Thin Man’: ‘You KNOW something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is, DOO-OO You, Mr Jones?’ Later that evening Evans recorded in his diary, ‘Dylan was MAGNIFICENT ... The audience was PUTRID’ (17–18). Having commenced at John F. Kennedy’s assassination of November 1963, the narrative closes ominously with Joh Bjelke Petersen’s ascension to the premiership in August 1968 which heralds an intensification of political and cultural repression. These bookends illustrate a subsidiary theme of the volume: that the 1960s had many different beginnings and endings. There are other highlights. Seamus O’Hanlon explores the phenomenon of the surge in flat and apartment construction and residency during the 1960s, in particular the ubiquitous villas and ‘six-pack’ apartment blocks. He skilfully connects that development to changing social mores (gender, sexual and otherwise), as well as to popular culture (television soap opera ‘Number 96’, obviously enough). Despite being scorned for their aesthetics, O’Hanlon suggests these dwellings ought to be recognised as artefacts of their time. My only quibble with the chapter is that it would have benefited frommore and better photographs. I was also drawn to Frank Bongiorno’s vignette on themid-1963 visit to Australia of the British politician and writer, Anthony Crosland. A torchbearer of the ‘first’ New Left, Crosland advocated that left-of-centre parties dispense with their traditional preoccupations with state centralism and class-based privation and refocus upon the ‘deficiencies of the affluent society’ (188). Bongiorno notes (too acceptingly, I suspect) Gough Whitlam’s claim that Crosland’s ideas exercised ‘bugger all’ influence on him (191), but a related brand of social democratic revisionism made headway in the Labor Party from the second half of the 1960s. While these did not forge fresh ground, the volume also contains well informed and admirably economical accounts of Australia’s experience of the counter culture, the nation’s involvement in the Vietnam War and the local anti-war and anticonscriptionmovements, and the emerging Aboriginal rights movement, by Shirleene Robinson, Jason Flanagan and Sue Taffe respectively. On the other hand, some contributions to the collection overstrain for alternative perspectives or stray into portentous and opaque cultural history, while other essays are likely to have limited appeal. In addition, a more general criticism is that the organisation of chapters into bite-size sub-sections diminishes narrative fluency. For the most part, however, the volume succeeds in bringing together thoroughly researched, varied and nuanced historical insights into the sixties. The decade’s mythology, if not punctured, emerges a little deflated.