Skip to main content
Log in

Southwest asian and North African terms for homosexual roles

  • Published:
Archives of Sexual Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Contrary to recent ethnocentric and contemporocentric claims that social categories for homosexual roles did not exist until late 19th-century northern European and North American medical discourse invented some, terms from a range of Islamic societies across a millennium are reviewed. Both age-stratified and gender-stratified sets of terms for male homosexual roles are discussed along with the problem of interpreting absence of evidence of lexemes for egalitarian homosexuality prior to the recent borrowing of “gay.”

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arboleda, M. A., and Murray, S. O. (1985). Lexical inferences and Maori homosexuality.J. Homosex. 12: 121–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berlin, B., Breedlove, D., and Raven, P. H. (1968). Covert categories and folk taxonomies.Am. Anthropol. 70: 290–299.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boswell, J. (1980).Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boswell, J. (1990). Concepts, experience and sexuality. In Stein, E. (ed.),Forms of Desire, Garland, New York, pp. 133–174.

  • De Martino, G. (1983). An Italian in Morocco. In Schmitt, A., and Sofer, J. (eds.),Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies Harrington Park Press, Binghamton, NY, pp. 25–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dynes, W. R. (1985).Homolexis: A Historical and Cultural Lexicon of Homosexuality Gai Academic Union, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elwell-Sutton, L. P. (1983). Luti. InEncyclopedia of Islam, Vol. 7, Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands, p. 839.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1978).The History of Sexuality Pantheon, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Janssen, T. (1992). Transvestites and transsexuals in Turkey. In Schmitt, A., and Sofer, J. (eds.),Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies Harrington Park Press, Binghamton, NY, pp. 83–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lacey, E. A. (1988).The Delight of Hearts: Or What You Will Not Find in Any Book. [Introduction to and partial translation of René Khawan's French translation ofNuzhat al-albab fima la yujadu fi kitab, allegedly compiled by Ahmad al-Tifashi during the 13th century], Gay Sunshine Press, San Francisco.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahfouz, N. (1992).Sugar Street Doubleday, New York. [Translation ofal-Sukkariyah; Maktabat Misr, al-Qahirah, 1962.]

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, W. M. (1953). Rowanduz: A Kurdish administrative and mercantile center. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, S. O. (1985). Remembering Michel Foucault.Sociol. Gay Caucus Newsletter 43: 9–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, S. O. (1989). Homosexual acts and selves in early modern Europe.J. Homosex. 16: 457–478.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, S. O. (1994). Subordinating native cosmologies to the empire of gender.Curr. Anthropol. 35: 59–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, S. O. (1995). Stigma transformation and relexification in the international diffusion of “gay.” In Leap, W. (ed.),Beyond the Lavender Lexicon: Gay and Lesbian Language Gordon & Breach, New York, pp. 295–313.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, S. O., and Gerard, K. (1983). Renaissance sodomite subcultures?Onder Vrouwen, Onder Mannen [Amsterdam University] 1: 182–196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nathan, B. (1994). Medieval Arabic medical views on male homosexuality.J. Homosex. 26: 37–39.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Necef, M. Ü. (1985). Turkey on the brink of modernity. In Schmitt, A., and Sofer, J. (eds.),Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies Harrington Park Press, Binghamton, NY, pp. 71–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pellat, C. (1977). Liwat. InEncyclopedia of Islam, Vol. 3, Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands, pp. 776–779.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérès, H. (1953).La poésie andalous en arabe clasique Adrian-Maisonneuve, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richlin, A. (1993). Not before homosexuality: The materiality of thecinædus and the Roman law against love between men.J. Hist. of Sexuality 3: 523–573.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, F. (1978). Ar-Râzî on the hidden illness.Bull. Hist. Med. 52: 45–60. [Reprinted, in Dynes, W., and Donaldson, S. (eds.),Asian Homosexuality, Garland, New York, pp. 159–174.]

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, A. (1985). Some reflections on male-male sexuality in Muslim society. In de Martino, G., and Schmitt, A.,Klein Schriften zu zwischmeannlicker sexualitat und Erotik in der muslimischen Gesellschaft Schmitt, Berlin, pp. 54–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, A. (1987). Arab terminology for male-male sex acts and actors. InHomosexuality, Which Homosexuality?: Social Sciences Free University, Amsterdam, pp. 175–183.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, A. (1992). Different approaches to male-male sexuality/eroticism from Morocco to Uzbekistan. In Schmitt, A., and Sofer, J. (eds.),Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies Harrington Park Press, Binghamton, NY, pp. 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sofer, J. (1992). The dawn of a gay movement in Turkey. In Schmitt, A., and Sofer, J. (eds.),Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies Harrington Park Press, Binghamton, NY, pp. 77–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Southgate, M. S. (1984). Men, women, and boys: Love and sex in the works of Sa'di.Iranian Studies 17: 413–452. [Reprinted, in Dynes, W., and Donaldson, S. (eds.),Asian Homosexuality, Garland, New York, 1992, pp. 287–326.]

    Google Scholar 

  • Tapinc, H. (1992). Masculinity, femininity, and Turkish male homosexuality. In Plummer, K. (ed.),Modern Homosexualities Routledge, London, pp. 39–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winkler, J. J. (1990).The Constraints of Desire: The Anthropology of Sex and Gender in Ancient Greece Routledge, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yüzgün, A. (1993). Homosexuality and police terror in Turkey.J. Homosex. 24(3/4): 159–169.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zarit, J. (1979). Intimate look of the Iranian male. In Schmitt, A., and Sofer, J. (eds.),Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies Harrington Park Press, Binghamton, NY, pp. 55–60.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Murray, S.O. Southwest asian and North African terms for homosexual roles. Arch Sex Behav 24, 623–629 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01542184

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01542184

Key words

Navigation