Having constructed a nuanced understanding of the cultural meanings of the "
sodomite" and explored the ideas and institutions that sustained those meanings in the first half of the book, Cocks turns in the later chapters to explaining the persistence of those understandings into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The origin of this word, if he wishes to carry out the most basic of research, is "
sodomite", i.e.
The narrative kicks off with Wilde filing a defamation suit against the Marquis of Queensbury for calling him a
sodomite. But the brilliant defense lawyer, played by Sunit Tandon turns the tables, launching criminal proceedings against Wilde under Section 377 of the British Penal Code.
Author Gladfelder (English, University of Manchester) begins the book with Cleland's Bombay years, when he wrote Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, then examines his many personas as a novelist, critic, translator,
sodomite, atheist, and agent for the East India company in Bombay.
Neanmoins, la repression penale demeure extremement rare et les poursuites surviennent generalement lorsque d'autres crimes violents s'ajoutent au delit sexuel, auquel cas le chatiment exemplaire du fautif contribue a la demonisation du
sodomite. La necessite de passer sous silence ce crime juge innommable, car sa seule mention risquerait de scandaliser, d'inciter au peche, expliquerait l'ecart entre la severite doctrinale et l'application des lois.
A distinct feature of the
Sodomite relationships, one that allows the narrator to label them as "werkes contrare again kynde" (10) is that at least one of the parties involved acts in a female fashion ("on females wyse"), taking up the role of the female lover.
The accompanying text identified "the
Sodomite" as "womanish, playing the part of a woman, he merits being committed to flames, burned, consumed by fire, he burns." The active partner apparently went unpunished.
The third chapter addresses the vastly heterogeneous and transgressive social, economic, and generational composition of the
sodomite constituency, which "set the basis for a system of sexuality in which any man [...] could potentially engage in the penetrative act" (p.
In the memoir, Pomfret described himself as "a happy, porn-writing
sodomite."
The Admiral ordered Juan de Luxan's throat slit because Luxan was called a traitor and a
sodomite. When "
sodomite" was pronounced, Luxan remained quiet, but when "traitor" was pronounced, he said it was a lie.
The elaborate ritual that takes place in the pillory suggests a collapse of this distinction: the
sodomite is a threat that comes from both without and within, and that is what makes his presence so uncannily tormenting.