January 16, 2009

Presuming 'heterosexuality' to be majority and male to male desire to be minority

The nature of the problem to be discussed can be indicated by asking whether homosexuality and heterosexuality are biological categories that divide the world into a majority and a minority that can be found in all times and places. To such a question most western people today would reply yes. And while they would probably wonder why a minority should be homosexual, they would simply accept without question that most people are heterosexual. Since the 1970s, however, the work of some historians and sociologists has radically challenged these presumptions.

-- Randolph Trumbach, in the article
The third gender in twentieth-century America
published in:
Journal of Social History, Winter, 1996 by Randolph Trumbach

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