Forbidden words: taboo and the censoring of language
A sentence of two years hard labor all but killed Wilde.
He was released in May 1897 and died in Exile in November 1900,
at the age of forty - six.
His mortification is expressed in Ce Profundis and the Ballad
of Reading Goal. The biography of Oscar Wilde is a tragic story,
and many less celebrated homosexual men have suffered almost as much.
He was released in May 1897 and died in Exile in November 1900,
at the age of forty - six.
His mortification is expressed in Ce Profundis and the Ballad
of Reading Goal. The biography of Oscar Wilde is a tragic story,
and many less celebrated homosexual men have suffered almost as much.
Buggery is penile - anal intercourse. In Middle English buggery originally
meant heretic after a Bulgar sect (bugger - budgar). Buggery, colloquially browning, is a heretical practice because, in the eye of the church and state, it is an abomination. The last man to be hanged for buggery in Britain died in 1835; but until the second half of the twentieth century, homosexuality was very secretive. Like Oscar Wilde, many middle and upper class male homosexuals has affairs with people of their own class, but also engaged in casual encounters with rough trade. It was a way for the lower class to earn a bob or two and experience some of the benefits of a richer life. In 1967, homosexual acts in private between consenting men were decriminalized in the UK. Nonetheless, the numerous convictions for gross indecency (which excludes buggery) have barely dropped off. Entrapment is common for gays and cruising for trade on streets and in cottages 'public toilets '. Men accused of soliciting in bars and theaters may merely have been construed as procuring. Section 28 of Local Government Act 1988 explicitly forbids promoting homosexuality or presenting it as an established family relationship; this has led to the banning of books, plays, school discussion, and gay and lesbian youth groups. The 1988 Act also mentions spread of disease, apparently a euphemism for concern about the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Themes of indecency, corruption, buggery and a phobic threat to the sanctity of family values - based on a heterosexual family - put queers under a cloud in the eyes of government agents. Queers are thoughtlessly and wrongfully assumed to be pedophiles with a preference for rape, and it is felt that society should protect young people rather than champion abstract liberties.
meant heretic after a Bulgar sect (bugger - budgar). Buggery, colloquially browning, is a heretical practice because, in the eye of the church and state, it is an abomination. The last man to be hanged for buggery in Britain died in 1835; but until the second half of the twentieth century, homosexuality was very secretive. Like Oscar Wilde, many middle and upper class male homosexuals has affairs with people of their own class, but also engaged in casual encounters with rough trade. It was a way for the lower class to earn a bob or two and experience some of the benefits of a richer life. In 1967, homosexual acts in private between consenting men were decriminalized in the UK. Nonetheless, the numerous convictions for gross indecency (which excludes buggery) have barely dropped off. Entrapment is common for gays and cruising for trade on streets and in cottages 'public toilets '. Men accused of soliciting in bars and theaters may merely have been construed as procuring. Section 28 of Local Government Act 1988 explicitly forbids promoting homosexuality or presenting it as an established family relationship; this has led to the banning of books, plays, school discussion, and gay and lesbian youth groups. The 1988 Act also mentions spread of disease, apparently a euphemism for concern about the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Themes of indecency, corruption, buggery and a phobic threat to the sanctity of family values - based on a heterosexual family - put queers under a cloud in the eyes of government agents. Queers are thoughtlessly and wrongfully assumed to be pedophiles with a preference for rape, and it is felt that society should protect young people rather than champion abstract liberties.
By Keith Allan, Kate Burridge