HOMOSEXUALITY

A Cross Cultural Approach

edited by Donald Webster Cory Julian Press, New York, 1956, 440 pp.

If there are those among us who are looking for signs of greater understanding and hope for the future in this "gay" world of ours then this book will be a comfort to them. Before this misleads anyone, it should be explained that this comment is based on a historical comparison of the earliest with the most recent writings on homosexuality as published in this book. This comparison points up the greater understanding and acceptance of homosexuality now common. There is no question that our times are much more liberal in thought on the whole subject. of sex. This may not be a comfort to those who wish for the moon, but realistically much progress has been made in the last fifty years. The Kinsey revolution and the general increase of research in the field of sexuality, this reviewer feels, will bring about proportionately greater acceptance in the next fifty years.

Donald Webster Cory is the editor of this reprint work. All of the selections reprinted here have been available in the past, though some were limited editions. The selection of articles according to the title represent a cross cultural approach to attitudes on homosexuality. The title seems presumptuous, however, on reading the book. The writings are too literary and the ideas too singular for the scientifically flavored sociological title. Cory is saved in his use of the word "approach."

The book's real worth is in making some hard-to-get early articles on the subject available today. This is true with the first

one

John Addington

of the selections. Symonds' A Problem in Modern Ethics was first published in 1896 in a limited printing and Symonds' name on the title page. It's still a question whether or not Symonds was the actual author. The treatment Symonds, an Englishman, gives homosexuality is truly remarkable considering its Victorian period. It's notable that one man could have such an understanding free of the accepted prejudice which is still so common. Symonds gives an excellent historical review of the theories and writings on the subject up to his time. He ends with a practical consideration: "The points suggested for consideration are whether England is still justified in restricting the freedom of adult persons, and rendering certain abnormal forms of sexuality criminal, by any real dangers to society."

One of the most interesting articles of this collection is entitled Defensive Homosexuality

Homosexuality As A Defense Against Incest by Gilbert Hamilton. This paper is the result of research pointing to fear of incest as an important determinant of human homosexuality. However, incest is not presented "as a specific or essential 'cause. The study concludes, nonetheless, that "the homosexual tendencies that are a normal component of the human bisexuality are apt to be overdeveloped as a defense against incest toward the end of infancy by males who have been too erotically loved by their mothers or mother surrogates."

28