This thesis explores the forms of movement and modes of perception of men seeking sex with other men along a stretch of canal, approaching the city centre of Manchester in the UK. It deals with two types of activity that were colloquially known as ʻcruisingʼ, a term which refers to the seeking of anonymous public sex by men wishing to meet other men and ʻbusinessʼ which describes a variety of exchanges of intimacy, for money, goods and/or services. My study incorporated a variety of places along the banks of the Rochdale Canal, including Manchesterʼs ʻGay Villageʼ. The Manchester Gay Village is well known locally, nationally and internationally for its late night hedonistic party scene and the annual Gay pride celebration that brings thousands of tourists to the city. However cruising and business were less well known, occurring in the out of sight corners of the village and sections of towpath along the canal. This research explores the forms of mobility by which these activities took place and through which the men made sense of their interactions. The first aim of this thesis is therefore to create an ethnography of these under- researched activities. A critical secondary contribution is the use of a combination of drawings, photography and text as an ethnographic novella integrated into the text. These ethno-graphics incorporate testimony from informants, experiences of fieldwork and recounted stories from informants. In addition to respecting the need to anonymise the identities of informants, they are particularly useful for revealing the qualities of uncertainty and of ʻflowʼ in the experiences they describe. A third and final aim of the thesis is to create an ethnography that could be useful to policy makers, outreach workers and informants. As such, these are forms of ethnographic representation and a means of collaborative intervention that can be the basis for considerations of how informants may change their lives and how their lives may be made safer.

This thesis is the first detailed academic study of non-metropolitan men who desired other men in England during the period 1895-1957. It places issues of class, masculinity and regionality alongside sexuality in seeking to understand how men experienced their emotional and sexual relationships with each other. It argues that fluid notions of sexuality were rooted in deeply embedded notions of class and region. The thesis examines the six decades from 1895 to 1957 in an attempt to explore patterns of change over a broad period and uses a wide variety of sources such as legal records, newspapers, letters, social surveys and oral histories to achieve this. Amongst northern working men, 'normality' and 'good character' were not necessarily disrupted by same sex desire. As long as a man was a good, reliable worker, many other potential transgressions could be forgiven or overlooked. This type of tolerance of (or ambivalence to) same sex desire was shaken by affluence and the increased visibility of men with a clear sexuality from the 1950s and into the era of decriminalisation. The thesis analyses patterns of work, sex, friendship and sociability throughout the period to understand how these traditions of tolerance and ambivalence were formed and why they eventually came to an end. Although the impact of affluence and decriminalisation had countless positive effects both for working people in general and men who desired other men specifically, the thesis will acknowledge that this impact irrevocably altered a way of life and of understanding the world.

This thesis explores issues of subjectivity, collective identity, relatedness and class among young men on Cairo’s underground gay scenes. My thesis, based on 18 months of ethnographic research (November 2009-March 2011) among in Cairo, focuses on the diversity of ways in which ‘gay’ identities are embraced, questioned, and critiqued through the day to day activities of life in the city, and the construction of spaces in which the men move. The thesis analyzes various forms of instability and ambiguity relating to men’s sexuality both on the individual and scene levels. I argue that while a sense of precarity and ambiguity permeates the scene because of security concerns, the elusiveness of recognition both in relation to the state and the family, as well as internal fragmentation along class lines, it allows for a certain creativity as men cultivate and continually invest in the sociocultural maintenance of a ‘gay scene’. Through an examination of performance styles that are heavily influenced by a scene-specific form of camp aesthetics as well as scene-level narratives, I argue that such efforts are attempts at creating a sense of collective identity and permanence on a scene that is all too often experienced as unstable and ephemeral. While this project addresses the very real difficulties men face as homosexuals in Egypt (prosecution, social ostracism and harassment) it illustrates how men take hold of the liminal positions they occupy and experience, and in the process raise important questions about articulations of sexuality, class, and national positioning vis-à-vis a global imaginary.

This thesis offers a close reading of Quentin Crisp’s auto/biographical representations, most particularly The Naked Civil Servant. Published in 1968, Crisp’s autobiography was dramatized for Thames Television in 1975, a film that would prove seminal in the history of British broadcasting and something of a ‘quantum leap’ in the medium’s representation of gay lives. As an interpretative study, it offers a scope of visual and narrative analyses that assess Crisp’s cultural figure – his being both an ‘icon’ in gay history and someone against which gay men’s normative sense of masculinity could be measured. According to particular thematic concerns that allow for the correspondent reading of the visual and the literary auto/biographical text, this thesis considers the reception of that image and the binary meanings of fashioning it embodies. It explores not the detailed materiality of Crisp’s figure but its effects – the life that his fashioning determined and the fashioning of that life in textual discourse and media rhetoric. Observing Crisp as a performer of the auto/biographical, the following themes are addressed: the biopic, its tropes and ‘the body too much’; desire, otherness and the ‘great dark man’; the circumscribed life of the art school model; the ‘exile’ of a Chelsea bedsit; and the drag of a queer dotage.

This thesis presents an analysis of lesbianism within a twofold perspective - the sociology of deviance (lesbianism as a 'counteridentity') and the sociology of female sexuality (lesbianism as it relates to the role of women in society). Throughout the text, I draw from both perspectives in order to present a contemporary view of lesbianism as a complex, social phenomenon. Traditionally, academics and others who were concerned with this area have advocated an individual or 'non-problematic' approach, or both. A major contention of this thesis is that prior theories have obscured important, it not necessary, social factors which are relevant to a full understanding of lesbianism. The methodology i. clearly outlined in terms of data collection (interviews, questionnaire. and participant observation), the purpose, goals and limitations of the research process. Three key sociological concepts are put forth and affect the direction of the analysis. They are: lesbian identity, lesbian role and lesbian social organisation. These concept. are drawn from a basic assumption of this thesis - Lesbianism, like sexuality, is a social construction. As the research process unfolds and the findings are revealed, we are continually confronted with lesbianism as a distinct, yet complex and changing social phenomenon which is directly related to objective social factors and subjective experience. A variety of relationships, organisational roles (of a political and non-political nature) and life-styles emerge from within the contemporary 'lesbian ghetto'. We observe how and why lesbians organise their social lives. It is hoped that a critical analysis of lesbianism will, not only challenge certain ideas about lesbianism and the lesbian role in society, but also, point out to the uninformed observer, academic and lay person alike, the complexities which are involved in the understanding of the contemporary lesbian experience, as well as the sociology of lesbianism.

This thesis analyses the ways in which histories of same-sex love are presented to the public. It provides an original overview of the themes, strengths and limitations encountered in representations of same-sex love across multiple institutions and examples of public history. This thesis argues that positively, there have been many developments in archives, museums, historic houses, monuments and digital public history that make histories of same-sex love more accessible to the public, and that these forms of public history have evolved to be participatory and inclusive of margnialised communities and histories. It highlights ways that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, Queer (LGBTQ) communities have contributed to public histories of same-sex love and thus argues that public history can play a significant role in the formation of personal and group identities. It also argues that despite this progression, there are many ways in which histories of same-sex love remain excluded from, or are represented with significant limitations, in public history. This thesis shows that the themes of balancing trauma and celebration, limited intersectionality, complex terminology, shared authority and the ghettoisation of same-sex love have emerged across a variety of public history types and institutions. It discusses examples of successful and limited representations of same-sex love in order to suggest ways that public history can move forward and better represent such histories.

The present thesis investigated how genetically identical twins with discordant sexual orientations differed in correlates of their sexual orientation in order to understand to what degree non-genetic factors affect the formation of sexual orientation. Because identical twins share 100% of their genes, factors other than genetics may contribute to any differences within these pairs. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the literature. Chapter 2 focuses on childhood gender nonconformity (femininity in males, masculinity in females), which predicts a non-straight (gay, lesbian, or bisexual) sexual orientation in adulthood. In order to avoid the limitations of self-report measures, gender nonconformity of these twins was assessed via observer ratings of their photographs from childhood and adulthood. In addition, although genetically identical twins can differ in their self-reported sexual orientations, it is unclear to what degree these self-assessments reflect observable differences in sexual arousal such as genital response or pupil dilation patterns while viewing sexual stimuli. Chapter 3 focuses on these responses in identical twin pairs with discordant sexual orientations. Finally, differing intrauterine environments during the early development could result in a discordant development of sexual orientation in identical twins. This includes varied prenatal hormonal exposures between twins. Chapter 4 highlights a putative biomarker of early hormonal exposure: the ratio of index to ring finger length (2D:4D), within these twin pairs In combination, findings suggested that these twins differed in many (but not in all) correlates of their sexual orientation, suggesting non-genetic influences. However, there were also subtle similarities within pairs that pointed to potential familial (e.g., genetic) influences.

Lesbian and gay people are more likely to experience long-term health problems and less likely to have relationships that typically provide informal care. Whilst some researchers have suggested that care is provided by family-of-choice relationships (i.e. a network of very close friendships), there has been no research looking at what determines the organisation of care. Grounded theory was used to explore what determines the organisation of informal care for older lesbian and gay people with health problems. Fourteen mid-later life lesbian and gay people were interviewed who had experience of providing/receiving care, or running groups for these populations. Findings suggest that this population experience losses to their network related to their sexuality as well as due to ageing and the impact of their health problem. This means that except for those living with others (partners, ex-partners or housemates), people often experience their care needs being “left to” them. In response, people seek connections or alternatives to support. Support arrangements developed for those living alone tends to be distributed across multiple people. Strategies and attitudes developed from managing being lesbian or gay influence choices and resiliencies in navigating these challenges. The results suggest that older lesbian and gay people have unique strengths and challenges in accessing care in the context of long-term conditions. Recommendations for research and practice are made, including the need for developing ways of working with distributed care networks and suggestions for supporting clients to use resiliencies developed from experiences of being lesbian and gay.

This thesis provides a sociologically informed understanding of the intersubjective meanings of historical and emergent transgender identities and practices in Scotland. An investigation of the social construction of gender variant identities was conducted by means of an interpretative analysis, developed out of theories of phenomenology, ethnomethodology, symbolic interactionism and performativity, applied to the formation of gendered subjectivities. Empirical data took the form of narrative histories gathered through 38 in-depth interviews with 28 transgender-identified participants currently living in Scotland. As the first exclusively qualitative sociological study of transgender conducted in Scotland, the thesis contributes towards: research examining the formative experiences of trans people; research recording the narrative histories of older trans people; research methods for recruiting small, hidden, hard to reach populations; and a sociological understanding of the social construction of transgender identities and practices, in the context of changing legislation and social attitudes in Scotland.

With this thesis on the aftermath of 1968 in France, I have recreated the moment and environment of the libertarian paper Tout! Usually associated in historiography with the birth of the gay liberation movement in France, my initial research revealed its influence as more penetrative and revealing of the diverse left and new, countercultural movements of the early 1970s. I sought the testimony of former militants, writers and artists to uncover historical detail and motivations, and consulted relevant textual archives, aiming to situate and examine the paper within a number of interrelated contexts. Results showed the paper's historical touchstones of scurrilous Revolutionary papers and 19th/20th caricature typified by L’Assiette au Beurre. The parallel paths of Dada, surrealism and situationism, and the Marxisant legacy of the Russian Revolution, foreshadowed the blend of cultural and political in Tout! May „68 was the crucible of militant, festive currents and speech, a time of rupture and reorientation for the various activists later at Tout!, the paper Action and posters of the Beaux-Arts inspiring new forms of agit-prop. In the aftermath of 1968, mao-libertarian current Vive La Révolution converged with an ex-Trotskyist, faculty-based group seeking cultural revolution. Figureheads Roland Castro and Guy Hocquenghem oversaw the merger of these groups and outlooks, coinciding with the launch of Tout! as a „mass‟ paper. With a new look and „new political attitude‟, influenced by Italian radicals and the US underground, Tout! challenged all forms of authority in Pompidou‟s France, climaxing with the eruption of gay liberation in no.12. It was Tout!‟s role in promoting „autonomous‟ gender, sexual and youth movements that led to the disaggregation of Vive la Révolution, and despite successful sales the paper came to a sudden end in the summer of 1971. Like the rest of the far left, Vive La Révolution and Tout! suffered State repression, but evolved from a „proletarian‟ Marxist critique of capitalism to attack the life routine of work, school and the family, judging the political Right and the Parti Communiste Français as equally reactionary. The paper testified to the importance of international, indeed transnational activities of the far left in the early 1970s. It provided a formidable impulse for the gay liberation movement FHAR, and foreshadowed the first feminist paper Le Torchon Brûle. As such it was a crucial press conduit for American radical left forms and practices, spearheading a shift from gauchisme to the growing counterculture. Tout! exemplified a brief, intense and fast-changing moment in French subcultural history and set new trends in left political journalism for the 1970s.