Amanda H. Littauer
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469623788
- eISBN:
- 9781469625195
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469623788.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
This chapter analyzes the prevalence of homosexuality in the 1950s and how this was considered to be a sign of immaturity. Psychologists claimed lesbians were psychologically immature, frozen in a ...
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This chapter analyzes the prevalence of homosexuality in the 1950s and how this was considered to be a sign of immaturity. Psychologists claimed lesbians were psychologically immature, frozen in a state of permanent adolescence. This contributed to the portrayal of female homosexuals as sinful, immoral, and disgraceful. As a result, they were isolated, shamed, and punished by the decade's social forces and institutions. However, there are also accounts of same-sex-desiring girls and women experiencing the decade as dynamic, navigable, and even pleasurable. Many teens and young women pursued their interests and created a place for themselves in postwar society. Lesbian couples managed to articulate subjectivities as women-loving adolescents on the path toward satisfying, mature, lesbian adulthood. They connected through intimacy and sexuality, and were successful in crafting a sense of lesbian identity.Less
This chapter analyzes the prevalence of homosexuality in the 1950s and how this was considered to be a sign of immaturity. Psychologists claimed lesbians were psychologically immature, frozen in a state of permanent adolescence. This contributed to the portrayal of female homosexuals as sinful, immoral, and disgraceful. As a result, they were isolated, shamed, and punished by the decade's social forces and institutions. However, there are also accounts of same-sex-desiring girls and women experiencing the decade as dynamic, navigable, and even pleasurable. Many teens and young women pursued their interests and created a place for themselves in postwar society. Lesbian couples managed to articulate subjectivities as women-loving adolescents on the path toward satisfying, mature, lesbian adulthood. They connected through intimacy and sexuality, and were successful in crafting a sense of lesbian identity.
