Norman Rockwell, Part Three Contrary to what many Americans assumed, Norman Rockwell was a very modern and forward thinking artist. Far from being old-fashioned, the artist moved with the times and was able to follow the nation from the sleepy fifties to the turbulent...
WHAT IS “HOMOSEXUAL ART?” Part One Once again, the question arises. Like the questions of what is “Black Art?” What is “Chicano Art” What is Women’s Art?’ the query demands a neat definition that is impossible to give. Is...
LESBIANS IN CULTURE In itself, homosexuality is as limiting as heterosexuality: the ideal should be to be capable of loving a woman or a man; either, a human being, without feeling fear, restraint, or obligation. Simone de Beauvoir There is a historical coincidence...
OUT OF THE CLOSET From the end of the nineteenth century on, homosexuals were put firmly “in the closet.” The “Closet” is a metaphor for “silence” about one’s forbidden sexual identity and one’s forbidden sexual longings. Fear of social disapproval and, perhaps even...
WHAT IS “QUEER?” “Queer” was once an insulting term of scorn and distaste applied to homosexuals and the aggressive appropriation of this term by the homosexual community as a defiant positive identification signaled a change from the meaning of the term...