Forbidden Desire in Early Modern Europe: Male-Male Sexual Relations, 1400–1750

Noel Malcolm. Oxford Univ., $32.99 (608p) ISBN 978-0-198-88633-4

Historian Malcolm (Useful Enemies) offers an accessible and novel account of male same-sex relationships across the early modern Western world, spanning from the Ottoman Empire to the American colonies. Squaring off against philosopher Michel Foucault’s assertion that homosexual “identity” did not exist before the modern era (gay sex was instead thought of as an act anyone could perform, according to Foucault), Malcolm claims the evidence points to a widespread pre-19th century recognition of the existence of men who only engaged in samesex relationships. Moreover, he illuminates the degree to which persecution of homosexuality was overtly identity-based, noting that “built into the cultural and moral self-image of Western Christians was the idea that sodomy was prevalent in, and characteristic of, Muslim society,” thus making the policing of sexual behavior “something that significantly distinguished ‘them’ from ‘us.’ ” Malcolm convincingly argues for the strength of this belief among ecclesiastical and civil authorities, for whom “disloyalty, unnatural sexual interest, and Islam were all combined.” (This kind of sexual identity politics was not confined to anti-Muslim sentiment; Malcom notes the popularity of a story in Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron that alleges “the Pope and the Cardinals” were “all committing sins of Lust” with one another.) Marshaling an impressive array of sources, Malcolm’s lucid prose conveys a vivid sense of the lived realities of his subjects. It adds up to a landmark volume of social history. (Apr.)