Steven Maynard

'Horrible Temptations': Sex, Men, and Working-Class Male Youth in Urban Ontario, 1890-1935

Intended as a contribution to the emerging field of Canadian lesbian and gay social history, this article explores sexual relations between boys and men in early twentieth-century urban Ontario. It is argued that sexual relations between boys and men were characterized by both danger and desire. Based primarily on criminal court records, the paper details the social and spatial settings of sexual danger and sexual possibility for boys. Exploring the subculture of homosexual exchange forged by boys expands our understanding of working-class survival strategies and the distinct moral economy of working-class male youth. The article concludes by suggesting that attention to the history of sexual relations between boys and men helps to dislodge current cultural associations of gay men with child abuse by illuminating how such meanings have been produced historically and have shifted over time.

“Without Working?” Capitalism, Urban Culture, and Gay History

Within the gay/lesbian historiography, there has been a long-running debate over the relative roles played by capitalism and urban culture in the historical formation of gay and lesbian identities and communities. The author argues that in recent years historians have come to favor the urban, both as a framework for inquiry and as an explanatory device. In view of this historiographical tilt toward the urban, the author goes on to suggest some ways to bring capitalism and the economic back into view.

Sex, Court Records, and Labour History

COURT RECORDS have proven valuable in researching and writing the history of numerous aspects of the past. Recently, feminist historians have used court records to explore a variety of subjects, including the history of womens crime and the historical meanings and experience of rape and heterosexual conflict Court records are also the primary source I have used to document the making of homosexual subcultures and identities in turn-of-the-century Ontario. In what follows, I want to draw attention to one particular, relatively-unknown set of court records, housed at the Archives of Ontario: the Crown attorney prosecution case files. I want to highlight the potential of these records as a source for Canadian labour history.