Stefan Nikolic
Post 4 of 5
Often times in history the mistreatment of large groups of people is left out. The book Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 by George Chauncey plans to restore the world of homosexuality to history, and make it more known to people. It challenges three myth about the history of gay life. He does so by challenging three common misconceptions about the gay social life, that he calls the myth of isolation, invisibility, and internalization.
Myth of isolation, anti-gay hostility prevented gay subculture from spreading and made gay men live their lives in secret. There were anti-gay laws which caused police and vigilantes to openly prosecute gay men. These laws facilitated this oppression because it set up an anti-gay climate, meaning that it was acceptable for people to prosecute gays without and backlash. Despite this, the culture still survived. Their society was so exclusive that, “Gay men developed a highly sophisticated system of subcultural codes—codes of dress, speech, and style—that enabled them to recognize one another on the streets, at work, and at parties and bars, and to carry on intricate conversations whose coded meaning was unintelligible to potentially hostile people around them.” The myth of invisibility states that the gay world was kept secret and hidden, or invisible, which made it harder for isolated gay men to join the secret world. The last myth, the myth of internalization states that gay men internalized society’s view of them and led them to reject their lives and live false lives. The book reveals the true nature of the secret gay world and its influences on the culture of New York City. The history of homosexuality is often hidden because it has been frowned upon by society or any years. It wasn’t until recently that it had become widely accepted. The oppression of society not only kept people from coming out about their sexuality, but it also kept the history and culture of it separated from others. This hidden gay society directly influenced lives for gays today. The widespread culture of homosexuality in the city exposed people to a whole new lifestyle, which over time became more and more normal. This underground hub of homosexuality normalized this lifestyle in the cities, making society more and more socially acceptable throughout the years. The hidden lifestyles of gays in New York city created a new enclave in the city which is widely supported and celebrated, with events such as the annual Gay Parade. This hidden society allowed for exposure, which made their lifestyle more culturally acceptable.
