Queer Youth Histories (genders And Sexualities In History)

This pioneering collection provides, for the first time, an international and transdisciplinary reflection on youth, history and queer sexualities and genders. Since the 1970s there has been an explosion in research focusing on LGBTQ history and on the lives of LGBTQ young people, but these two research areas have seldom been brought together explicitly. Bridging LGBTQ historical scholarship and contemporary queer youth cultural studies, this book marks out pathways for thinking more about youth in LGBTQ history and more about history in contemporary understandings of LGBTQ youth. Examining histories from the nineteenth century through to the recent past, contributors examine queer youth histories in continental Europe, Britain, the United States of America, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Ireland, India, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Acknowledgements 7 Contents 10 Notes on Contributors 13 List of Figures 17 Chapter 1 What Is Queer Youth History? 18 The Chapters 43 References 55 Chapter 2 Toward Psychosexual Development: Preliminaries to Queer Youth Prehistory 58 Becoming-Youth and Becoming-Queer: Shifting Contexts 60 Case-Studying Queer Developments 63 In Numbers: “Sexual Development” from Case Study to Survey 69 References 82 Chapter 3 G. Stanley Hall and Perverse Plasticity in Modern Adolescence 91 Tendencies and Lags in Perverse “Plasticity” 92 Gender Differentiation and Gradual Sexual Focus 100 Preventing Perversion 106 Hall’s Lasting Legacies 112 References 118 Chapter 4 Same-Sex Desire and Young New Zealanders Before 1950 122 Nineteenth-Century Beginnings 123 Labels in the Early Twentieth Century 130 Conclusion 140 References 145 Chapter 5 “We Will Never Betray You, Brothers and Sisters”: Queer Youth and the Intellectual History of Gay Liberation Across the Anglo-American World 149 References 178 Chapter 6 “Cherishing All the Children of the Nation Equally”: Gay Youth Organisation and Activism in Ireland 183 Introduction 183 The Foundation of the NGF Youth Group and the Importance of Youth Social Activities to Sexual Politics 187 Irish Gay Youths and Activist Parents 194 Conclusion 198 References 203 Chapter 7 The “New” Trans Child: Pioneering Families and Documentary Television 206 Introduction 206 Trans Youth Histories 209 Transgender Children in the Media 211 “It’s Not a Phase” and the Authenticity of Youth 213 Innocence and Narratives of Protection 217 Conclusion 219 References 230 Chapter 8 Between Norms and Differences: The Online Histories of Québec’s Queer Youth 238 Introduction 238 Digital Media Culture and Queer Youth Identities 240 The Vulnerability of Queer Youth?: A Quebecer History 243 “I Felt Different”: Between Norms and Differences 245 Conclusion 249 References 253 Chapter 9 The Print Culture of Bombay Dost: Engaging the “Recent Past” of Queer Sexuality in India 256 Globalization, Queer Youth, and the Recent Past 256 Bombay Dost 1990–2002: A Cautious Queer Pedagogy 259 Khush Khat: Queer Lives in a Time of Transition to the Internet 263 Postcolonial Vulnerabilities: Not Just Men Seeking Men or Indians Seeking Other Indians 268 Conclusion 271 References 275 Chapter 10 Tuning into Yourself: Queer Coming of Age and Music 277 Introduction 277 Coming to Terms 279 The Importance of Music in Everyday Life and in Our Youth 280 The Unique Importance of Music for LGBTQ Youths 281 Methodology and Background 282 Narratives of Musical Coming-of-Age: When Music Speaks for Itself 284 From “Something’s Not Quite Right Here” to Bonding with Lady Gaga 286 A Mix-Tape of Mixed Feelings 287 Crushing All the Way into an Emo-Identity 288 From “Secretly” to Sexual Awakening 290 An Ambiguous Trans* Idol 292 (No Music Involved) 293 Conclusion 294 References 300 Chapter 11 Escaping to a Digital Congregation: LGBTQIA Mormon Youth on Tumblr and the Rise and Decline of Queerstake 303 A Brief Introduction to Tumblr 304 A Brief Introduction to Mormonism 306 Queerstake and the Gradual Realization of a Community 309 Creation of #queerstake 309 The November Policy and Its Repercussions 311 “There Are No Homosexual Members of the Church” 312 A Fully-Realized Queer Stake 313 Queering Callings and Activities 314 The Queerstake Directory 315 Constructing Queer Identity 316 “No One Way” to Be a Queer Mormon 317 Community and Moral Support 318 The Slow Decline, and Conclusion 319 References 325 Chapter 12 Historical and Contemporary Silences: The Experiences of Queer Muslim Youth 328 Introducing a Different History of Islam 328 Muslim Identity and Queer Muslim Youth 330 Finding Queer Muslim Youth 331 Silencing Polemics at Work 333 Queering the Sacred 336 Queering Colonialism and Its Aftermath 339 The Problem of Access 343 Concluding Remarks: Who Speaks for Queer Muslim Youth? 347 References 353 Chapter 13 Schoolgirl Lesbians in Hong Kong: (A)Historicity, Temporality, and Survival 357 Isolation and Lineage 358 Boundaries, and the Absence of Them 362 Space Within Space, World Within World 364 Subversion, Negotiation, and Rules of Survival 369 Temporary Homosexuality and the Temporality of “Schoolgirl Romance” 372 References 378 Chapter 14 Coda: Growing Up Needing the Past—An Activist’s Reflection on the History of LGBT History Month in the UK 381 References 389 Chapter 15 Coda: Being a Young Gay Person in the 1970s—Reflections on Reading Young, Gay and Proud 391 References 401 Chapter 16 Coda: Small Histories 403 The Highschool 403 The Shop 404 The Drop-In 405 The Rainbow Room 406 The Café 408 The Pride March 408 The Book 409 Chapter 17 Afterword: Thoughts on “Queer,” “Youth,” and “Histories” 412 Words 412 Queer, Querying 413 Youth, Sexualities 414 History, Histories 415 Connections, Conjunctures 416 References 418 Index 419