Discussion on Davidson’s The Greeks and Greek Love
Posted on | January 2, 2010 | No Comments
Don’t miss the recent discussion in Bryn Mawr Classical Review on James Davidson’s book The Greeks and Greek Love: A Radical Reappraisal of Homosexuality in Ancient Greece (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2007):
- Original review by Eric C. Brooks (2008.07.20)
- Supplemental review by Beert Verstraete (2009.09.61)
- Response to Mr Verstraete by James Davidson (2009.11.03)
- Response to Mr Davidson by Kirk Ormand (2009.11.15)
- A referred review by Thomas K. Hubbard (February 2009)
Destroyer printed a review of Davidson’s book in issue 08 - the reviewer Eva-Carin Gerö was critical. A few quotes:
In his monograph The Greeks and Greek Love, ancient historian James Davidson sets out to do justice to Greek same-sex love the way he sees it, as a complex, multi-faceted phenomenon, polemicizing against the “twisted” theories of Dover, Foucault and followers as marked by “sodomania” – an obsession with issues of sexual dominance and anal penetration. Davidson argues that this is a one-sided, anachronistic view only based on the idiosynchrasies of modern scholars.
Instead, he coins the term “homobesottedness,” defined as a passion and a strong interest between men, in particular for younger men. This permeated Greek culture, though he stresses it was not necessarily sexual, and certainly not necessarily so in the terms of “power penetration” of Dover and Foucault. Davidson wants to show that ancient same-sex love could be both tender, mutual and lasting, even resembling marriage.
[...]
And entertaining as Davidson’s marathons are, his arguments are often highly speculative.
[...]
Davidson sees his research task as as a sort of “archaeology,” but sometimes his interprations get so aery and maverick that one wonders if he’s really serious. Parallels can be drawn to the debate over how to interpret the archaeological findings in Hisarlık/Troy, which raised the question: How freely can you speculate in the fields of history and archaeology, and how do you separate the serious interpretations from Schaumschlägerei designed for controversy?
How to become a boy
Posted on | December 20, 2009 | No Comments
We have all sympathy for those who are so obsessed with boys that they actually want to become one themselves.
One step closer to fulfilling this dream, if you have breasts, is a breast binder. T-Kingdom provides plenty of models, and although not all of you will end up looking as good as the model on this picture (but that’s true for all fashion retail), chances are you will feel as good.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Too gay to be gay
Posted on | November 28, 2009 | 1 Comment
This magazine has often remarked that the modern gay movement has shrunk the gay identity in order to make it easier for society to accept homosexuality. A brilliant example of how tight this straitjacket of an identity has become is provided by Abel Rodriguez:
Hundreds of members of the gay community are so upset with Adam Lambert’s sexually-charged gay orgy performance on the American Music Awards show that they want him banned from the gay community.
Mr Rodriguez reports that:
A spinoff group of GLAAD known as GLOCK or Gays and Lesbians Opposed to Constant Kissing stated that Lambert’s orgytorial performance set gay marriage back two years.
GLOCK spokesperson Bippy Bouquet said that watching Adam’s performance scared a lot of gay and lesbian couples who were going to tie the knot.
Yes, it’s satire of course. But to be frank I didn’t realize that until the end (I found the article through Google News so I didn’t see the source immediately) – I even googled GLOCK. 
And that just shows how spot on this satire is.
A joker in the David poll!
Posted on | September 5, 2009 | 6 Comments
To spice up the David poll (only 55 persons have voted as I write this), I decided to add a fifth combatant! I know it’s not really fair, but nevermind. Let’s see what the David of Rolf Biebl and Clemens Gröszer (East Germany, 1989) does for the poll action!
Tags: Antonin Mercié > boy statues > Clemens Gröszer > communist art > Donatello > Michelangelo > Rolf Biebl > Verrocchio
Strike a contrapposto!
Posted on | September 1, 2009 | No Comments
This might be the weirdest post ever on this blog and the most obscene photo, but I couldn’t help taking it today when I biked up a mountain and placed myself on the little pulpet that was the highest point (93 meters - wow).
When I saw my shadow I was reminded of the silhouette of the original Destroyer (described in Destroyer 04). So I placed myself as I remembered him and took a photo.
Pretending to be a god - a deadly sin! But why be so dead serious all the time. 
keep looking »
