ONE: The First Gay Magazine in the United States
ONE is a vital archive, but its focus on citizenship and “rational acceptance” ultimately blocked it from being the safe home for all that it claimed to be.
In Han Dynasty China, Bisexuality Was the Norm
So tender was Emperor Ai’s love for his "male companion" that, when he had to get up, instead of waking his lover, he cut off the sleeve of his robe.
On the History of the Artificial Womb
Will outside-the-womb gestation, increasingly viable for animal embryos, lead to a feminist utopia? Or to something like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World?
The Stonewall Riots Didn’t Start the Gay Rights Movement
Giving Stonewall too much credit misses the movement’s growing strength in the 1960s, sociologists note.
Why Did the Victorians Harbor Warm Feelings for Leeches?
Medical authorities wrote about leeches as if they sucked blood out of the goodness of their hearts.
“No Unescorted Ladies Will Be Served”
For decades, bars excluded single women, claiming the crowds were too “rough” and “boisterous” and citing vague fears of “fallen girls.”
What Reformers Learned When They Visited 1830s Brothels
Middle class members of the New York Female Moral Reform Society visited brothels to save women from sin. What they actually encountered surprised them.
The Night They Drove Disco Down
On July 12th, 1979, a promotional event turned into a violent fracas, marking the beginning of the end of disco. Some say it was fueled by anti-gay anger.
Who Gets To Speak Publicly About Sex?
Frederick Hollick's case involved not only his controversial sex-positive arguments, but also the question of who should be privy to medical knowledge about sex.