The Exceptions of Male Homoeroticism

Despite the fact that the conversation is focused on a young female prostitute, this print is focused in on the two men. Note their body positions: their arms are linked as they walk down the street, and their heads are quite near each other. The angle at which the figure on the right leans in to talk to his friend is close, reminiscent of whispering in someone’s ear. The body language is intimate--and the conversation is intimate. By all accounts, there is something queer and provocative about their interaction regarding sex here. 

Yet the strange "queerness" of their interactions is subverted by use of a woman in between. The man "in the know" knows about sex by and between his male friends--with implications of sex together--but his knowledge of the female prostitute allows for this. By placing a woman in the context of the scene, male sexuality among men loses the possibility of taboo. It, in fact, becomes allowable for men to be intimate with one another, since their interaction goes beyond "men having sex with men." This isn't restricted to a historical place and time of "liberated" France prior to gay codification: this trend continues, following the protocol of "it's not gay if it's in a three way"¹ that allows men currently to have sex with one another without breaking social norms. 

"One of these men, descended from an elevated position to the last degree of depravity, attracted to these sordid street children, kissed their feet with passionate submission."

In contrast to the above, the male sexual contact in this image is both more explicitly open and far more taboo. The older man has fallen from his position of status to "the last degree of depravity" (au dernier degré de la dépravation) for what he is doing. He kisses the feet of a boy (far younger than he, as "pederastes" in the title should suggest) with submission, finding beauty in these dirty street urchins. At this time in history, "no one thought it at all odd if a gentleman took an interest in a young lad, the presumption [being] that his motives were philanthropic."² But this image shows the explicit queerness and deviance that happened behind closed doors, making explicit the homosexual tones. 

Everything about it is forbidden: submitting to someone younger³, submitting to one with such lower status, someone dirty, and submitting to a man. While the homoeroticism alone may not be enough to condemn the subjects, the combination of traits is. Particularly, the older man is condemned--despite his submission, he is the "active" figure in the print, and he is the one debasing himself (according to the caption). While there is little judgement on the boys, passive in the background, the fact of a grown and statused man engaging with another man--a boy⁴--is so against norms that it cannot be excused.

^{1. Ward, J. (2015). Not gay: Sex between straight white men. United States: New York University Press.↩}

^{2. Minichiello, V., Scott, J., & Scott, V. (2014b). Male Sex Work and Society. United States: Harrington Park Press p. 25.↩}

^{3. Historically, male sexual relationships have involved an older man mentoring and/or dominating a younger man, as in the παιδερᾰστίᾱ this print draws its title from. Minichiello and Scott, 2014, pp. 4-25. ↩}

^{4. In Ancient Greece, "[y]ounger and older males were linguistically separated within their relationships, subject to differentiation by both age and desire" which is true in French as well, the separation between hommes and garçon. Minichiello and Scott, 2014, p. 4.↩}