Sir Kenneth Dover is dead
Posted on | March 11, 2010 | No Comments
The British scholar Sir Kenneth Dover died last Sunday (March 7, 2010), aged 89. He was the author of Greek Homosexuality, a groundbreaking work about same-sex sexual relations in the Classical period of Ancient Greece.
Destroyer wrote about Dover’s findings in issue 2 (”Heights of Civilization”), and criticized them, through Harald Patzer’s work Die griechische Knabenliebe, in issue 10 (”The Greek Myth”). In any case, his contributions to the understanding of Greek love among scholars are immense.
Obituaries:
Rest in peace, Kenneth.
(News found at this Swedish blog.)
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?
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.
Pirate Bay crew at Freedom not Fear demo in Berlin
Posted on | September 12, 2009 | 5 Comments
Like last year, the Freedom not Fear (Freiheit statt Angst) demonstration in Berlin attracted thousands of people (25,000 according to a press release found at Netzpolitik). Peter Sunde of The Pirate Bay was there, as well as Pirate Party supporter Oscar Swartz, and Claudia Roth of the German Green Party.
A few rainbow flags could be seen in the crowd. I think the gay movement in general has missed that the privacy issues that the Pirate Parties have put on the agenda are very relevant to gay people. For example, when the Berlin gay guide Siegessäule interviewed politicians about gay issues, the focus was mostly marriage and adoption - the traditional gay issues. But those fights are won; today politicians compete in offering gay people human rights. It’s time to look upon gay politics from another angle. If gay people knew their history, they would worry about excessive surveillance laws, since gays and just about anyone with a different lifestyle are common targets in a society that aims to control its citizens. Surveillance laws will be misused, period.
Peter Sunde and Oscar Swartz.
Pirate Party partying.
Claudia Roth.
Thilo Weichert speaks.
Tags: Berlin > Freedom not Fear > Freiheit statt Angst > Oscar Swartz > Peter Sunde > Pirate Bay > Pirate Party > Piratenpartei > Piratpartiet > The Pirate Bay
What teenage boys do when not having sex
Posted on | September 10, 2009 | 1 Comment
We have argued, for example in Destroyer 04, that the success of the gay identity is one of the reasons why men in general, and especially teenage boys, have stopped having sex with each other. What used to be referred to as “fooling around” up til about 40 years ago, suddenly became “gay”. Keep that in mind when you read this:
Teenage yobs strip and beat up lad, 13
Three teenage boys subjected a terrified youngster to a horrific torture ordeal, a court heard.
They laughed as they stripped, kicked and beat the 13-year-old lad with wire for “grassing” them over a stolen bike.
Their victim was ordered to climb a tall metal tower and jump off - then stoned when he refused.
Finally the two 13-year-olds and a 14-year-old put the boy in a metal drum and rolled it along.
He was left with head and facial injuries.
Before Stonewall, these boys would have let out their energy in other ways. (Full story here.)
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