Historical Homos

"All male, all-whale orgies"...need I say more?We're back with another extra special episode for Pride Month 2024! And this one is a DOOZY, my little Hormones.First of all, let me just say..."You know you're gay right?"That's my impression of me talking to every living animal on this good, green Earth.Because it turns out animals have been gay for millennia (stop copying me, guys!), and human animals have known about it forever.Not least my new best friends, Laine and Owen, who are the hosts of the about-to-be-mega-hit podcast, A Field Guide to Gay Animals.Like many scholars who have come before them, Laine and Owen are fascinated by the queer natural world. Tune in to the episode to hear us discuss who the gayest animals are, where they come from, and which intrepid souls first outed them.We talk cock-chafing beetles, big gay sheep with really big...horns, and of course THE Havelock Ellis (you know the one).When you're done, go listen to Laine & Owen's premiere episode, which contains so many more incredible stories on this fascinating subject. I kid you not, it made me rethink my homosexuality...top to bottom. (No seriously I'm thinking of topping...halp.)For more from Historical Homos, you can join our cult at www.historicalhomos.com and follow us on Instagram and TikTok.If you like what you hear, please leave us a five star rating on Apple or Spotify. Do it. Yeahhhhhh just like that.This episode was written and researched by Bash, hosted by Bash, and edited by Alex Toskas. Guest hosts: Laine Kaplan-Levenson and Owen Ever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Gay didn't always exist, but 'bottom' kind of did!"How did people douche back in the day? Did they have lube? And how'd they find other gays to get off with?In a turn of events that will shock absolutely no one, history is FULL of queer men doing the deed.We boinked, we douched, we lubed, we bathed, and we cruised – long before today's modern luxuries, like running water...or Gun Oil.Join me and my fabulous guest, Alex Hall, creator of The Bottom's Digest, on this magical tour of history's bottoms, bottoming procedures, and bottom cultures.Tune in for Mesopotamian shame, ancient Roman twerking, medieval Japanese lubes (there were many to choose from!), and of course, Renaissance cruising bars in 1400s Florence.The history of bottoming is anything but straight.forward. Every land and every era has dealt with its bottoms in its own unique ways. And Bottom History © has so much to teach us about our own bottom culture today.You can follow The Bottom's Digest on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for more of Alex's hilarious, amazing work.And check out all the bottom-y treasures we mentioned in this episode:Greek vase of man wiping with pessos (MFA Boston)Ancient Roman tersorium aka sponge stick (Wikipedia)Chugi aka Japanese "shit sticks" (Wikipedia)Ancient enema syringe with bone nozzle (Science Museum)Chigo no soshi aka "Book of Acolytes" (British Museum)For more from Historical Homos, you can join our cult at www.historicalhomos.com and follow us on Instagram and TikTok.If you like what you hear, please leave us a five star rating on Apple or Spotify. Do it. Yeahhhhhh just like that.This episode was written and researched by Bash, hosted by Bash, and edited by Alex Toskas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"And what we have to get into our heads, although it is difficult, is that [the] glamour of love, odd as it may sound, is just as much present between two homosexuals as it is between a man and a woman."- Lord Brabazon of Tara, House of Lords, December 1957What was it like to be a (practicing) gay man in London after the Second World War? I thought you'd never ask...The short answer: not great! But like everything in life, it wasn't all doom and gloom OR butterflies and rainbows. It was a dangerous time to be queer, but there was also a thriving subculture of artists, MPs, writers, drunks, criminals, Guardsmen, and working class queers – in short, a bit of everyone – who managed to live their gay lives in one way or another.Our guest this week, Peter Parker, has collected their diaries, court cases, bitchy theatre reviews, puff pieces (or is it poof pieces?), and more in what is only the first volume of his incredible time capsule detailing queer life in London before the decriminalization of homosexuality (partial and tentative thought it was) in 1967.When I read Peter's book, I laughed, sobbed, screamed, and gasped. I could not put it down for hours. It's a reminder that real history is not a story of politicians and battles. It's the stories of real people. People who loved, suffered, lived, and died in a world that, only 80 years ago, was vastly different than ours.I hope you enjoy this chat with Peter as we uncover the dirty deets of life for gay men in London between 1945-1959: which parks to cruise in, who the best rent boys were, which gay soirées to meet John Gielgud and Michael Redgrave at, and of course, the real reason Noel Coward never revealed his BLATANT homosexuality to his adoring public.Make sure you pick up a copy of the book, which is out today! It is a vivid and singular experience – we all owe Peter Parker our gay gratitude for this feat of loving research and magisterial curation.For more from Historical Homos, you can join our cult at www.historicalhomos.com and follow us on Instagram and TikTok.If you like what you hear, please leave us a five star rating on Apple or Spotify. Do it. Yeahhhhhh just like that.This episode was written and researched by Bash, hosted by Bash, and edited by Alex Toskas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucy and Bash discuss Leonard Bernstein's scandalously gay affairs, political activism, and personal struggles in the film 'Maestro'. They touch on LB's drug stash, standing ovulations, and societal pressures faced due to his identity and image.

"Saint Sebastian is really just a Bored Office Twink." – R. Eric Thomas (April 2024)Welcome to the wildly erotic, superheroic world of Saint Sebastian, who was initially martyred as a rugged Roman soldier before he blossomed into the lithe, Lana-Del-Rey-loving twink we cherish today.Scientists now know it was the extremely gay Italian Renaissance that decided Saint Sebastian should ALWAYS be painted with skimpy loincloths and penetrative arrows, leaving 80% of any canvas to be devoted entirely to his exposèd flesh.Along the way, Saint Seb – and the name Sebastian itself – has become a byword for "definitely gay maybe also kinky vibes" (a clunky phrase that needed a byword – thanks for that, Seb!). But how did this association with homosexuality develop?Join our hysterically homosexual guest, R. Eric Thomas, as we uncover the truth about the OG Sebastian; his Middle Age superpowers that totally didn't stop the plague; making the career jump from Patron- to Pin-Up Saint; and finally, his reception amongst modern gays today.Click on the paintings we discuss to follow along:7th century Saint SebastianGiovanni del Biondo - Sebastian (1350s)Saint Sebastian praying to Jesus (1490s)Andrea Mantegna - Saint Sebastians (1450s)Sandro Botticelli - Saint Sebastian (1474)Il Sodoma - Saint Sebastian (1525)Guido Reni - Saint Sebastian (1615)Gianlorenzo Bernini - Saint Sebastian (1618)Nicolas Regnier - Saint Sebastian (1620)Keith Haring - Saint Sebastian (1984)For more from Historical Homos, you can join our cult at: www.historicalhomos.comAnd follow us on Instagram and TikTok. Do it. Yeahhhhhh just like that.If you like what you hear, please give us an extremely high rating on Apple or Spotify (FIVE STAR ONLY). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"And it is well-known that the King of England f*cks the Duke of Buckingham." – Theophile de Viau (1628)If you've been watching Mary & George on STARZ, then you must be desperate to know how much of it is true. And the answer, my curious queers, is: a lot!George Villiers, the scheming twink who dominated King James I's court, was hot and 100% DTF. He won titles, land, and money for himself by sacrificing these gay virtues at the altar of the king's pleasure.But who was George the man? Was his royal boyf really in love with him (or indeed George with James)? And were George's narcissistic antics responsible for driving the country into the ground, laying the path for King Charles I's beheading in 1649?Join me and my fabulous, hilarious, and shockingly erudite guest, Guy Branum, to steep yourself in the deeply queer historical tea.For more from Historical Homos, you can join our cult at: www.historicalhomos.comAnd follow us on Instagram and TikTok. Do it. Yeahhhhhh just like that.If you like what you hear, please give us an extremely high rating on Apple or Spotify - FIVE STAR ONLY. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Long live Queen James I of England!James, as our guest Guy Branum notes this week, was always a little “dyke-y”.Obsessed with love and relationships, she ruled Scotland and England entirely from her heart – and through her loins. James was known above all for promoting his male favourites to intolerable positions of power and wealth.The rest of the court loathed these scheming twinks. But George Villiers, the most successful of them all, was particularly devastating to James’ credibility.Tune into Part One to learn about James I's sleazy Scottish beginnings, and prepare for our next episode on George Villiers, his faggiest favourite!For more from Historical Homos, you can join our cult at: www.historicalhomos.comAnd follow us on Instagram and TikTok. NOW. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to our queer book club! Here's your cat and gluten-free martini, please have a seat.This week we're discussing Virginia Woolf's suicide (it's my Roman Empire), giant red leather dildos, and the realization that sex between women may be the greatest threat to masculinity in 10,000 years.You'll find it all and more, you greedy guts, in our hilarious and fascinating interview with Kirsty Loehr, the author and queer historian behind A Short History of Queer Women.Kirsty's 2,500-year romp through lesbian, bisexual, and trans history will grab you by the mind-pussy (WITH CONSENT) from start to finish.Featuring more than 100 overlooked queer women and trans men from all over the world, Kirsty's wry and witty tome shows us that queerness has reared its bedazzled head in every era before our own.For more from Historical Homos, sign up for our newsletter at: www.historicalhomos.comAnd follow us on Instagram and TikTok.Episode Credits:Writing & Research: BashEditing: Alex Toskas Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Historical Homos is back! This week we cover George Sand, who was, get this, a woman! And a writer! And queer!George wrote over 70 novels and plays between 1804 and 1876, during which she witnessed the rise and fall of SEVEN political regimes in France. When she wasn't busy writing about women's oppression and worker's rights, she was actively rubbing shoulders (and genitals) with Paris' liberal media elite.And she did it all traipsing around in men's clothes, bedding a hot actress named Marie Dorval, and falling in love with luminaries like Frederic Chopin and Alfred de Musset.Which begs the question, what have you ever done?Our guest this week is the brilliant playwright and actress Léa Des Garets, whose new play GEORGE portrays our heroine in all her queer glory. Catch it in London at the Omnibus Theatre this June.For more, sign up for our newsletter at:www.historicalhomos.comYou can also follow us on Instagram and TikTok.This episode was written and researched by Bash, hosted by Bash and Lea Des Garets, and edited by Alex Toskas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Season 3, Hormones!Bash is thrilled to be sharing the mic this week with a dear friend and hysterical comedia, Rachel Joravsky, to talk about a fascinating and oft-overlooked group: Ancient. Jewish. Lesbians.Rachel is a TV writer, comedian, activist, educator, and self-acclaimed "power Jewess," so naturally we took a gay look at The Book of Ruth together (shout out to all the Ketuvim) to uncover what is so "queer" about two women living together and raising a baby on their farm. (Hint: a lot.)We also delve into the medieval Rabbinic scholars' views on how to deal with lesbians (hint: flogging), and we cap it all off with the story of a modern day Ruth and Naomi in honor of our guest's Jewish Socialist tendencies.Pauline Newman and Frieda Miller raised their daughter together in Greenwich Village in the 1920s and were fundamental to the US Labor movement's inclusion of women's rights. As always, come for the fabulously sexy history and stay for the jokes about Jewish pu$$y ("It's Chosen," says Rachel.)For more, follow us at:www.historicalhomos.comwww.instagram.com/historical.homoswww.tiktok.com/@historicalhomosThis episode was written, researched, and hosted by Bash, and edited by Alex Toskas.