"Los Invisibles" : a History of Male Homosexuality in Spain, 1850-1939
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This is a repository copy of "Los Invisibles" : a history of male homosexuality in Spain, 1850-1939. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/43367/ Book: Cleminson, RM and Vazquez Garcia, F (2007) "Los Invisibles" : a history of male homosexuality in Spain, 1850-1939. Iberian and Latin American Studies . University of Wales Press , (311pp). ISBN 9780708320129 Reuse See Attached Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Iberian and Latin American Studies ‘LOS INVISIBLES’ A History of Male Homosexuality in Spain, 1850–1940 RICHARD CLEMINSON and FRANCISCO VÁZQUEZ GARCÍA University of Wales Press IBERIAN AND LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES ‘Los Invisibles’ Series Editors Professor David George (University of Wales, Swansea) Professor Paul Garner (University of Leeds) Editorial Board David Frier (University of Leeds) Lisa Shaw (University of Liverpool) Gareth Walters (University of Exeter) Rob Stone (University of Wales, Swansea) David Gies (University of Virginia) Catherine Davies (University of Nottingham) IBERIAN AND LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES ‘Los Invisibles’ A History of Male Homosexuality in Spain, 1850–1939 RICHARD CLEMINSON AND FRANCISCO VÁZQUEZ GARCÍA UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS CARDIFF 2007 © Richard Cleminson and Francisco Vázquez García, 2007 Reprinted 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without clearance from the University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff CF10 4UP. www.uwp.co.uk British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978–0–7083–2012–9 e-ISBN 978–0–7083–2469–1 The rights of Richard Cleminson and Francisco Vázquez García to be identified as authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Typeset by Columns Design Ltd, Reading Printed in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire Contents Series Editors’ Foreword vii Acknowledgements ix Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: The Birth of the ‘Invert’: a Truncated Process of Medicalization 29 Chapter Three: The Sexological Context, 1915–1939: Sexual Inversion, Marañón’s ‘Intersexuality’ and the ‘Social Dangerousness’ of the Homosexual 95 Chapter Four: ‘Quien Con Niños se Junta’: Childhood and the Spectre of Homoerastia 137 Chapter Five: ‘In Search of Men’: Regeneracionismo and the Crisis of Masculinity (1898–1936) 175 Chapter Six: Homosexual Subcultures in Spain: the Intersection of Medicine, Politics and Identity 217 Chapter Seven: Conclusion 265 Bibliography 281 Index 305 Series Editors’ Foreword Over recent decades, the traditional ‘languages and literatures’ model in Spanish departments in universities in the United Kingdom has been superceded by a contextual, interdisciplinary and ‘area studies’ approach to the study of the culture, history, society and politics of the Hispanic and Lusophone worlds − categories which extend far beyond the confines of the Iberian Peninsula, not only to Latin America but also to Spanish-speaking and Lusophone Africa. In response to these dynamic trends in research priorities and curriculum development, this series is designed to present both disciplinary and interdisciplinary research within the general field of Iberian and Latin American Studies, particularly studies which explore all aspects of Cultural Production (inter alia literature, film, music, dance, sport) in Spanish, Portuguese, Basque, Catalan, Galician and the indigenous languages of Latin America. The series also aims to publish research on the History and Politics of Hispanic and Lusophone worlds, both at the level of region and that of the nation-state, as well as on Cultural Studies which explore the shifting terrains of gender, sexual, racial and postcolonial identities in those same regions. Acknowledgements Francisco Vázquez would like to acknowledge the part played in this book by two people who are no longer with us: Jean-Louis Flandrin and Mariano Peñalver. What is of value in his contribu- tion to this book stems from the guidance of these two figures. J. L. Flandrin inspired his interest in the history of sexuality. M. Peñalver has been his intellectual mentor in all his undertak- ings. He would also like to mention his friend Andrés Moreno, who has accompanied his exploration of the sexual history of Spain, and Raphael Carrasco, of the University of Montpellier, a pioneer in the history of homosexuality in Spain. He would like to thank the librarians Ana Remón y Charo Gestido for their kindness and assistance when consulting the wonderful special collections of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Cadiz. His colleagues José Luis, Juan, Ramón, Rafael, Antonio, Cándido, Carlos and Cinta have provided a pleasant and stimulating place to work in and his development of a researcher would not have been possible without them. He has learned more from his doctoral students Pepe Moreno Pestaña, José Benito, Alfonso Marqués, Antonio Polo and Alejandro Estrella than he could ever have taught them. Finally, he would like to thank Oliva – without her love and support he would not have managed to summon the strength to finish this project. Richard Cleminson, for his part, would like to acknowledge the encouragement to research and write this book at different stages of this project, from a mere idea to completion, from Chris Perriam, Alison Sinclair, Julia Varela, Fernando Álvarez-Uría, Ángel Gordo López, Rosa María Medina Doménech, Paul Julian Smith and Jorge Uría. Colleagues at the University of Leeds and his previous institution have provided a stimulating background at different stages. His research into the medicalization of male homosexuality in Spain was made possible by a generous Award in the History of Medicine from the Wellcome Trust in 2002–3 and by being given an academic home in the Department of Patho- logical Anatomy and the History of Medicine, University of Granada, from 2003 to 2004. His invitation to speak at the x Acknowledgements University of Oviedo in 2002 turned out to be a life-changing event, as did his longer sojourn in Granada from 2002 to 2004. Many of the challenges and joyous moments of these places were faced accompanied by Fredy – to him my greatest thanks of all. Both authors would like to thank Sarah Lewis, of the University of Wales Press, for her encouragement and patience in the final stages of the delivery of the manuscript. Chapter One Introduction In Alexis o el significado del temperamento urano, published in 1932 in Madrid, the Uruguayan literary critic and homosexual rights advocate Alberto Nin Frías wrote that in his day like no other, the individual’s sexual life had gained a significance far above any other aspect of their existence.1 Nin Frías, whose book Homosexualismo creador was also published by the well-known Morata house,2 reflected the realities of a time which, despite considerable differences, strikes a chord in today’s world where sexuality is still claimed to be the driving force behind one’s character, feelings and actions. It is true that Nin Frías wrote his two books on the ‘homosexual question’ in a period that was in many senses exceptional. It cannot be denied that his books would have been published with difficulty even five years earlier, under the dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923– 30). The Spanish Republic (1931–6), emblem of modernity, opened up a political and cultural space which was, apart from the period from 1975 onwards, unrivalled in Spain’s contempo- rary history for its degree of openness and spirit of cultural experimentation.3 The homosexual question flourished under its aegis. However, despite certain parallels that can be drawn between the 1930s and the present day it is noteworthy that, in contrast to some other European countries, most of the now extensive work on sexuality and gender in Spain has been confined either to the Inquisition period or to more literary or sociological accounts of post-Franco times.4 Save the more accessible subjects of study from the early twentieth century such as the poet and playwright Federico García Lorca and literary figures in more present times such as Juan Goytisolo, Luis Antonio de Villena and Terenci Moix, 2 ‘Los Invisibles’ work on the contemporary history of male homosexuality in Spain has been minimal (it is even more sparse on female homosexuality), despite the large, although disparate, variety of sources readily available to the historian.5 It is, therefore, not surprising that in recent publications related to male homosexuality in literature or culture, to name two areas, the past really does seem to be a ‘foreign country’, with accounts rarely touching upon the pre-Transition period.6 There may well be, nevertheless, good reasons for this lack of historical emphasis. The conception that homosexuality was ‘repressed’ and therefore invisible before the ‘transition to democracy’ is a strong motif which still holds sway. The aura around famous homosexual figures, such as García Lorca, may have, paradoxically, obscured the very nature of homosexual subcultures in the 1920s and 1930s as well as their historical investigation.