“The Love for Young Men Shifted to Girls”: Cevdet Pasha’s Account of Istanbul’s Sexual Culture in the Mid-19th Century
How the Crimean War and the foreign gaze changed the romantic customs of the Ottoman elite.
Literature
LGBT Chastushkas from 20th-Century Collections
Lesbian, gay, erotic, obscene, and satirical.
The Same-Sex Attraction of 15th-Century Turkish Official and Poet Ahmed Pasha to a Sultan's Page
How a scandal at the court of Mehmed II destroyed the career of an Ottoman Empire vizier.
Three Ottoman Homosexual Miniatures from the Manuscript of Atâyî's Poems
An 18th-century Ottoman manuscript: how love between men was judged, mocked, and celebrated in the empire.
Aleksey Apukhtin: Homosexual, Poet, and Friend of Tchaikovsky
Also the author of popular romances and poems that do not indicate the addressee's gender.
The Story of a Medieval Arabic Source in Which the Women of the 'Rus' Were Called the World's First Lesbians
It was all a translation error. The original text refers to a mythological people from the Quran.
How Duke Xian of Jin Sent a Beautiful Youth to Another Ruler to Weaken His Court and Then Conquer His Country
A historical episode about diplomacy through a favorite at the court in Ancient China.
“The Bitten Peach”: Duke Ling of Wei and Mizi Xia as One of the Earliest Same-Sex Court Tales in Chinese History
How a Legalist parable about favoritism turned into a metaphor for same-sex love.
Ivan Dmitriev, Young Favourites, and Same-Sex Desire in the Fables 'The Two Doves' and 'The Two Friends'
A friend of Karamzin and Derzhavin, minister of justice, and a fable writer where friendship turns into male love.
Homoerotic Themes in Taşlıcalı Yahya Bey’s Ottoman Poem “Shah and the Beggar”
A rare example of 16th-century Turkish literature in which a man falls in love with another man.
A Homoerotic Plot in Ancient Egyptian Literature: Pharaoh Pepi II Neferkare and General Sasenet
And their secret nighttime meetings.
Uncensored Russian Folklore: Highlights from Afanasyev’s “Russian Secret Tales”
“Sowing Dicks,” “The Fool,” and “The Soldier and the Priest.”
The Cross-Dressing Bogatyr: A Russian Bylina About Mikhailo Potyk, Who Disguises Himself as a Woman
Why does the hero put on “women’s clothing”?
