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(Click on above photos for larger
image) When It Was OK to Show Affection By
Eric “Gumby” Anderson John Ibson, American Cultural Studies Professor at California State University Fullerton, has written a provocative pictorial history of the relationship between men and the modern construct of homosexual identity.
In contrast to a modern perspective, the male athletes, friends, servicemen, brothers, collegiate and prep school boys strike a strong, and often highly homoerotic pose. Ibson warns that, although it is impossible to know what the relationship of the men truly was, notions of male intimacy were markedly different 100 years ago than they were today. In such, Ibson provides photographic evidence for what Michele Foucault has described as the changing meaning of homosexuality from the sodomite (which was viewed as a temporary aberration) to the homosexual as a species. From an academic perspective, Ibson offers a fine critique of the restrictive gender roles that emerge with the modern version of our dichotomously oriented society, but from a more easily digested angle,. He clearly shows that prior to the increased awareness of homosexuality as a deviant identity, men were free to be intimate with each other. His photographs show men lavishly dressed, provocatively undressed, arms wrapped around each other, embracing, lying in piles, sleeping in the same beds, holding hands, and sitting on each other’s laps. From a modern lens it is easy to see how we would mistake the photographs for ancient photographic gay pornography, but they are not. Rather, Ibson’s collection shows that as American culture increasingly became aware of homosexuality, and particularly the notion of the homosexual as a distinct kind of person, that the resultant fear of being thought “one of those” (homophobia) put a wedge in-between the intimacy that men once used to cherish as the ultimate – fraternal bonding. Ibson’s photographs are compelling: Whole teams lying atop each other, sailors dancing arm-in-arm, men dressed in drag. But his convincing argument is synergized with the addition of literary proof of the bond that men used to share before homophobia hit American society hard at the end of World War II. He illustrates romantic, sexual, and endearing friendships and love between men. He references scholars in American masculinity to compliment his collection of photographs, to show that before the word “homosexual” maintained cultural currency, men were much more free to emote, be close to, and engage in sex with each other. His argument beckons the question of whether identity politics have truly helped liberate the modern day homosexual, or whether we would have been better off never classifying same-sex attraction in the first place. Holding Hands and Hugging From an athletics example, Chapter 5--“Straightening Up: The Evolution of the Team Portrait”--highlights the growing rigidity that athletes displayed in team portraits. Athletes prior to around the 1920s hugged each other, putting their heads in each other’s laps, holding hands, or draping their arms around each other. It wasn’t long after that the team photo took on the now familiar structure of rows, with men first standing with their hands at their side, and then across their chest. The photographs clearly show that “space” has been added between males, something that has continued into the 21st century. (Note the evolution of the team pose in the four photographs accompanying this review for an illustrative example of the affect that homophobia had on male intimacy.) Although Ibson’s book ends on a somber note, the loss of intimacy, he reminds us that things are again bound to change. In fact, my own work picks up on where Ibson leaves off. Although not represented through photographs, my research on masculine identity suggests that perhaps the worst is over. Where the symbolic space between men seems to have grown from the beginning of the century until the 1980’s, masculinity since the mid-1990’s seems to be softening. For example, while conducting research at a recent cheerleading competition, I watched teams pose for their portraits. The men would take to the back row (women in front) and put each other’s hands onto the shoulders of the men in front of them. They often mocked same-sex attraction by thrusting their hips into the guy in front of them, rousing laughter without the all-to-familiar retaliation of “knock if off fag.” But as these young men posed in this more intimate way, the photographer, in his mid-40s came by the men and prompted them to fold their arms across their chests, inflating their musculature. The boys, so trained in masculine demeanor, always immediately responded and imitated the elder male. Yet, after telling of the actions of the photographer to the team I was researching, the boys (all heterosexual) said, “No way.” When it was their turn to be pictured, they took to the back row, and put their hands across each other. When the photographer prompted them to “straighten up” they refused, flexing not their muscles, but their individual ability to change an ugly culture of homophobia. The photographer walked away visibly upset that the boys refused to pose in the hyper-macho style he desired, as a rather large smile cracked across my face. If these boys represent the future of American masculinity, we have much to look forward to. Eric "Gumby" Anderson is a longtime track coach and now teaches at the University of California Irvine. His last last article for Outsports was about a gay high school basketball player in Indiana. Order "Picturing Men" March 3, 2003 |
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