The Boundaries Between Romantic Friendship and Erotic Love...

The Boundaries Between Romantic Friendship and Erotic Love A man who kissed or embraced an intimate male friend in bed did not worry about homosexual impulses because he did not assume that he had them. In the Victorian language of touch, a kiss or an embrace was a pure gesture of deep affection at least as much as it was an act of sexual expression, says Anthony Rotundo, attempting to define the boundaries between romantic friendship and erotic love, in relation to same gender friendships, in the late nineteenth century (Miller 4). Same gender relationships could exist on a physical level, expressing affection, without bringing up questions of sexual preference. Further, F.S. Ryman, a gentleman in his twenties, wrote of the very†¦show more content†¦Culturally, this type of behavior had no definite wrong or abnormal connotation strapped to it. As Neil Miller describes, In the 1870s, a concept of homosexual identity--or of gay and lesbian community--was barely articulated (Miller xvii). In America, the idea of homosexual love was beyond societal understanding. Prior to the introduction of homosexuality people were free to care about each other on levels without the constraints of any insecurity base on a the possibility of getting a label. While the concept of homosexuality did not exist in the United States, changes were happening in Europe with the issue. Right around the 1870s affectionate relationships between males acquired a label. It was the sexologists#8230; who were to define same-sex love, to give it a name. The term homosexuality was actually used for the first time in 1869 by Karl Maria Kertbeny, a German-Hungarian campaigner for the abolition of Prussias laws that criminalized sexual relations between men. Homosexuality was not the only term that the late nineteenth century found to describe sexual relations between persons of the same sex. The term inversion was even more widely used. And in 1870, the German physician Karl Westphal invented the phrase contrary sexual feeling, in detailing the history of a young lesbian. These expressions all had aShow MoreRelatedThe Rights Of Female Sexuality1626 Words   |  7 Pagesstrict morals that defined the Puritan Commonwealth, and his court became characterized by its licentiousness and extravagant spending. While men during the period enjoyed the libertine culture that was introduced, women continued to be restrained by boundaries that had constricted their s ocial and sexual freedom for centuries. Aphra Behn, the first woman in England to identify as a professional writer, challenged sexual inequality by reforming the female image through literature. 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