A collection of notes, titles, citations, thoughts, images, acknowledgements, etc. relating to a senior thesis on the intellectual history of male homosexuality in the 19th century.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Spencer, Wilson, and Ostrander are three of the four casual pickups that Whitman’s diary notes he “slept with.” Although nineteenth-century males often casually shared beds, Whitman’s bedding down for a night with men met, by chance, in the city streets, certainly revealed an active search for short-term, male bed mates. It also most probably expressed his desire for whatever sort of bodily coupling seemed possible with each, whether hugging, kissing, or some act more genitally or orgasmically oriented.
Katz, Love Stories, p. 149. Which brings me to a thought: it is entirely possible, within the confines of a pre-homosexual world, that Whitman had a greater erotic affinity for men. That does not suggest, however, that “Children of Adam” or any of his other stated expressions of man-woman love/eroticism are invalid, or (most especially) are code for expressions of man-man love/eroticism. Whitman’s campaign for universal bisexuality can be taken on its face, especially given the different taxonomy of identity categories in the 19th century. He is neither homosexual nor heterosexual nor even really bisexual, as he predates all these categories.
