Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence (Studies in the History of Sexuality) - Softcover

Rocke, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195122925 ISBN 13: 9780195122923

Publisher: Oxford University Press USA, 1996

Synopsis

In 1432, the Office of the Night was created specifically to police sodomy in Florence. Seventy years of denunciations, accusations, interrogations, and sentencings left an extraordinarily detailed record, which Rocke uses to its fullest in this richly documented portrait. He uncovers a culture in which sexual roles were strictly defined by age, with boys under eighteen the 'passive' participants in sodomy, youths in their twenties the 'active' participant, and men in their thirties marrying women, their days of sexual frivolity over. This richly documented book paints a fascinating picture of a vibrant time and place and calls into question our modern conceptions of gender and sexual identity.

About this title

Review:

Rocke does a brilliant job of teasing out this wealth of material, and of presenting the complex relationships which underlie the criminal statistics ... this book makes a substantial contribution to the history of homosexuality. (Tim Hitchcock, Urban History)

remarkable ... Forbidden Friendships is a study of considerable importance. (Times Literary Supplement)

Synopsis:

In 1432, the Office of the Night was created specifically to police sodomy in Florence. Seventy years of denunciations, accusations, interrogations and sentencings left an extraordinarily detailed record, which the author utilizes in this portrait. He uncovers a culture in which sexual roles were strictly defined by age, with boys under the age of 18 the "passive" participants in sodomy, youths in their 20s the "active" participants, and men in their 30s marrying women, their days of sexual frivolity over. The book paints a picture of a vibrant time and place and calls into question our modern conceptions of gender and sexual identity. It is primarily intended for scholars and students of early modern European history and gender studies.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press USA
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0195122925
• ISBN 13: 9780195122923
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384