Volume 2, No. 3 – September 2001

Review Note: Henning Bech (1997). When Men Meet. Homosexuality and Modernity

Tilmann Walter (Germany)

Abstract: The Danish sociologist Henning BECH describes in his excellent study from 1997 the formation and phenomenology of a "homosexual form of existence". In the late 19th century "homosexuals" were the avant-garde of a modern, urban way of life. Nowadays this type of lifestyle is not typical just for "homosexuals" but it concerns both the "homosexuals" and "heterosexuals" alike: the social "gender conflict" has evolved under the conditions of the "Telecities" into a "gender game" by which men and women express themselves through their "cultural wardrobes". We find sexuality in the center of this game as it seems to be the only remaining way to experience "being a man or a woman".

Keywords: gay history, phenomenology of gender

This contribution is only available as a full text in the German language. German text

Volume 2, No. 3   Table of Contents

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