“Illegal Loves and Sexual Deviancy: Homosexuality as a Threat in Cold War Canada”

Authors

  • Erin Gallagher-Cohoon

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/cons19672

Abstract

This paper analyzes the criminalization and medicalization of homosexuality during the early twentieth century in Canada. Through court records and medical texts the discourse of homosexuality as a threat to the family unit and to the nation is contextualized within Cold War rhetoric. A Foucaultian conceptualization of power and discipline helps frame questions regarding homosexuality as a criminal offense and as a mental illness. It is argued that both state control and societal pressures constructed the homosexual as criminal, the homosexual as mental patient and, as a result, the homosexual as Communist threat.

Downloads

Published

2013-05-28

How to Cite

Gallagher-Cohoon, E. (2013). “Illegal Loves and Sexual Deviancy: Homosexuality as a Threat in Cold War Canada”. Constellations, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.29173/cons19672

Issue

Section

Articles