Take the Young Stranger by the Hand: Same-Sex Relations and the YMCA (The Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society)

Gustav-Wrathall, John Donald

ISBN 10: 0226907848 / ISBN 13: 9780226907840

Editore: University of Chicago Press, 1998

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Riassunto:

Reveals the economic, emotional, and sexual attachments of men in the YMCA, from the nineteenth to the early twentieth century, and the impact of changing attitudes about gender and sexuality on the treatment of the organization's members. UP.

Product Description: The history of American gender and sexuality is examined here through a case study of the YMCA, the organization devoted to young men. The social history of the YMCA has been filled with strife, tragedy and irony, reflecting the struggle and shifting societal mores about masculine friendship and intimacy. In the 19th-century the YMCA was built on intense male friendships that involved economic as well as emotional independence. Some men found in the YMCA an alternative to mainstream patterns of heterosexual marriage and family life, choosing to live their lives as bachelors in community with other men. But with the turn of the century, social perceptions of gender and sexuality began to change and certain forms of male intimacy were regarded as deviant. The text argues that the YMCA grew more hostile to masculine love and sought to expand its control over the emotional and sexual lives of its members through programs in physical training, reinforcing new images of masculinity. Pointing out, ironically, that the YMCA's gymnasiums and dormitories became primary sites for illicit male sexual encounters.

Dati bibliografici

Titolo: Take the Young Stranger by the Hand: ...
Casa editrice: University of Chicago Press
Data di pubblicazione: 1998
Legatura: hardcover
Condizione: Good