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scyllaya:

lushthemagicdragon:

renlyslittlerose:

lushthemagicdragon:

bookhobbit:

lushthemagicdragon:

I am so sure that the reason the word Uranian was used to describe homosexuals in the 19th century was because someone made a sly comment about someone being fond of Uranus and it caught on like wildfire. 

#I am so sure but I would be so happy for someone to tell me the truth if they know better

Standard non-notability disclaimer, but Wiki says “It is believed to be an English adaptation of the German word Urning, which was first published by activist Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825–95) in a series of five booklets (1864–65) which were collected under the title Forschungen über das Räthsel der mannmännlichen Liebe (“Research into the Riddle of Man-Male Love”).” There is some rather interesting information in the etymology section of the article.

But who knows, maybe a sly comment helped popularize it!

The miscommunications of translation strike again!  Ah well, the more you know.  

 Yep, I am pretty sure it’s a German translation. Germany was big into exploring male same-sex love and relationships in the late 1800’s and well into the 1900’s, and many of them drew upon Classical notions of male same-sex relations (which is why in a lot of German texts from this time the use of pederasts is common in reference to homosexuals, too).

 It wouldn’t be until 1869 that the Hungarian human rights campaigner, Kertbeny, would coin the term Homosexual in an attempt to get away from the use of pederast and sodomite in reference to homosexuals. He was writing around the time of Ulrichs. Ulrichs was a believer that homosexuals were sort of a third sex, with female and male attributes, but Kertbeny was of the mind that homosexual men were still men, they weren’t another separate sex. For a time Ulrichs’ views were more accepted, particularly in Germany where the famous sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld really pushed this notion of homosexuals being a third sex. But with this view came the idea that homosexual men were inherently effeminate, which caused the Nazi Party to crack down on a lot of homosexual magazine publications and the like, because the Nazi Party was very much in the frame of mind that men should be masculine and strong and virile, and not effeminate. The famous gay rights activist and openly homosexual man, Adolf Brand, actually blamed Hirschfeld for the Nazi Party crackdown because before the notion of effeminacy was equated with homosexuality, Paragraph 175 wasn’t as strictly followed (despite still being in effect and strengthened by the Nazi Party in 1933). Of course, this crack-down also coencided with the death of Ernst Rohm, so there was a lot going on there, too.

 And I’m getting off topic and going into homosexuality and masculinity in pre-war and wartime Germany so I wills stop. But yes, Uranian was used by some in reference to homosexuality, particularly in Germany, but it wasn’t the one that was favoured in the long run because it had some other connotations to it (like homosexuals being a third sex that were more female than male, etc.) Interestingly enough, it would be the Wehrmacht that would push the idea that men could be born with homosexual desires, just as men could be born with heterosexual ones in Germany.

These are mostly things I know (and am so happy to learn the things I didn’t) but its worth noting that you say used by some (particularly in Germany), it was a pretty damn popular term in France (at least in private letters and commentary) during the 19th century.  I would cite sections of Strangers by Graham Robb but it’s 3 am where I am and I am tired as fuck.

In his work in 1869, Kertbeny also stated that homosexuality was an innate, unchangeable characteristic aka not something you chose to be (sounds familiar?). He also stated that it was a private matter and the state had no right to interfere.

He also invented the word “heterosexual”.

He wrote all this down in 1869 and it’s still a debate! Some people still don’t accept it.