Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female.[2] The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homosexuality" implies a more permanent state of identity or sexual orientation. It is a much older concept than the 19th-century idea of homosexuality, and is depicted or manifested throughout the history of the visual arts and literature. It can also be found in performative forms; from theatre to the theatricality of uniformed movements (e.g., the Wandervogel and Gemeinschaft der Eigenen). According to Oxford English Dictionary, it's "pertaining to or characterized by a tendency for erotic emotions to be centered on a person of the same sex; or pertaining to a homo-erotic person."[3]

This is a relatively recent dichotomy[4] that has been studied in the earliest times of ancient poetry to modern drama by modern scholars. Thus, scholars have analyzed the historical context in many homoerotic representations such as classical mythology, Renaissance literature, paintings and vase-paintings of ancient Greece and Ancient Roman pottery.

Though homoeroticism can differ from the interpersonal homoerotic — as a set of artistic and performative traditions, in which such feelings can be embodied in culture and thus expressed into the wider society[4] — some authors have cited the influence of personal experiences in ancient authors such as Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius in their homoerotic poetry.[5]

Arguments over classifications and labeling

The term "homoerotic" carries with it the weight of modern classifications of love and desire that may not have existed in previous eras. Homosexuality as we know it today was not fully codified until the mid-20th century, though this process began much earlier:

Following in the tradition of Michel Foucault, scholars such as Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and David Halperin have argued that various Victorian public discourses, notably the psychiatric and the legal, fostered a designation or invention of the "homosexual" as a distinct category of individuals, a category solidified by the publications of sexologists such as Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1840–1902) and Havelock Ellis (1859–1939), sexologists who provided an almost-pathological interpretation of the phenomenon in rather Essentialist terms, an interpretation that led, before 1910, to hundreds of articles on the subject in The Netherlands, Germany, and elsewhere. One result of this burgeoning discourse was that the "homosexual" was often portrayed as a corrupter of the innocent, with a predisposition towards both depravity and paederasty—a necessary portrayal if Late-Victorian and Edwardian sexologists were to account for the continuing existence of the "paederast" in a world that had suddenly become bountiful in "homosexuals." (Kaylor, Secreted Desires, p. 33)

Despite an ever-changing and evolving set of modern classifications, members of the same sex often formed intimate associations (many of which were erotic as well as emotional) on their own terms, most notably in the "romantic friendships" documented in the letters and papers of 18th- and 19th- century men and women (see Rictor Norton, ed., My Dear Boy: Gay Love Letters through the Centuries, Gay Sunshine Press, 1998). These romantic friendships, which may or may not have included genital sex, were characterized by passionate emotional attachments and what modern thinkers would consider homoerotic overtones.


For Sigmund Freud, "rather than being a matter only for a minority of men who identify as homosexual or gay, homoeroticism is a part of the very formation of all men as human subjects and social actors."[6] Freud's point of view is embedded in his psychoanalytic studies on Narcissism and Oedipus complex.


Thomas Mann published an essay, "Über die Ehe" (On Marriage), written in 1925, where he states that homoeroticism is aesthetic, while heterosexuality is prosaic.[7]

Notable examples in the visual arts


Male-male examples, in the visual fine arts, range through history: Ancient Greek vase art; Roman wine goblets (The Warren Cup). Several Italian Renaissance artists are thought to have been homosexual, and homoerotic appreciation of the male body has been identified by critics in works by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. More explicit sexual imagery occurring in the Mannerist and Tenebrist styles of the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in artists such as Agnolo Bronzino, Michel Sweerts, Carlo Saraceni and Caravaggio, whose works were sometimes severely criticized by the Catholic Church.[8]

Many 19th century history paintings of classical characters such as Hyacinth, Ganymede and Narcissus can also be interpreted as homoerotic; the work of 19th-century artists (such as Frédéric Bazille, Hippolyte Flandrin, Théodore Géricault, Thomas Eakins, Eugène Jansson, Henry Scott Tuke, Aubrey Beardsley and Magnus Enckell); through to the modern work of fine artists such as Paul Cadmus and Gilbert & George. Fine art photographers such as Karl Hammer, Wilhelm von Gloeden, David Hockney, Will McBride, Robert Mapplethorpe, Pierre et Gilles, Bernard Faucon, Anthony Goicolea have also made a strong contribution, Mapplethorpe and McBride being notably in breaking down barriers of gallery censorship and braving legal challenges. James Bidgood and Arthur Tress were also very important pioneers in the 1960s, radically moving homoerotic photography away from simple documentary and into areas that were more akin to fine-art surrealism.

In Asia, male eroticism also has its roots in traditional Japanese shunga (erotic art), this tradition influenced contemporary Japanese artist, such as Tamotsu Yatō (photography artist), Sadao Hasegawa (painter) and Gengoroh Tagame (manga artist).





Notable examples in writing

There is also a strong tradition of homoeroticism in poetry.

The most prominent example in the Western canon is that of the sonnets by William Shakespeare. Though some critics have made assertions, some in efforts to preserve Shakespeare's literary credibility, to its being non-erotic in nature, no critic has disputed that the majority of Shakespeare's sonnets concern explicitly male-male love poetry. The only other Renaissance artist writing in English to do this was the poet Richard Barnfield, who in The Affectionate Shepherd and Cynthia wrote fairly explicitly homoerotic poetry. Barnfield's poems, furthermore, are now widely accepted as a major influence upon Shakespeare's.[9]

The male-male erotic tradition contains poems by major poets such as Abu Nuwas, Walt Whitman, Federico García Lorca, Paul Verlaine, W. H. Auden, Fernando Pessoa and Allen Ginsberg.




In cinema

Most notable are positive portrayals of homoerotic feelings in relationships, made at feature length and for theatrical exhibition, and made by those who are same-sex oriented. Successful examples would be: Mädchen in Uniform, Germany (1931); The Leather Boys, U.K. (1964); Scorpio Rising, U.S.A. (1964); Death in Venice, Italy (1971); The Naked Civil Servant, U.K. (1975); Sebastiane, U.K. (1976); Outrageous!, Canada (1977); My Beautiful Laundrette, U.K. (1985); Maurice, UK (1985); Summer Vacation 1999, Japan, (1988); Mulholland Drive, U.S.A (2001); Brokeback Mountain, U.S.A. (2005); Black Swan, U.S.A. (2010); Carol, U.K./U.S.A (2015) and most recently Call Me by Your Name, U.S.A./Italy (2017). Also of note is the 1999 feature-length BBC adaptation of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit.

See: List of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related films.

Key introductory books

Classical and medieval literature:

  • J. W. Wright. Homoeroticism in Classical Arabic Literature (1997).

Literature after 1850:

  • Gregory Woods. Articulate Flesh – male homoeroticism and modern poetry. (1989). (USA poets).
  • Joe Dowson. Past Thoughts and Precognition: Eroticism Through My Eyes (Self Published, co-author by D.Cameron, 2013)

Visual arts:


See also


  1. glbtg: an encyclopaedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer culture Archived September 1, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Younger, 2005, p.80.
  3. Quoted by Flood, 2007, p.307.
  4. Flood, 2007, p.307.
  5. Younger, 2005, p.38.
  6. According to Flood, 2007, p.308.
  7. Quoted by Kontje, 2002, p.327.
  8. John Berger, Caravaggio, Studio International, p.1983, Volume 196 Number 998.
  9. Daugherty, Leo (2001). "The Question of Topical Allusion in Richard Barnfield's Pastoral Verse". In Boris, Kenneth; Klawitter, George (eds.). The Affectionate Shepherd: Celebrating Richard Barnfield. Pennsylvania: Susquehanna University Press. p. 45.


  • BURGER, Michael. The Shaping of Western Civilization: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment (University of Toronto Press, 2008), 308 pages. ISBN 1-55111-432-1, ISBN 978-1-55111-432-3
  • YOUNGER, John Grimes. Sex in the ancient world from A to Z (Routledge, 2005), 217 pages. ISBN 0-415-24252-5, ISBN 978-0-415-24252-3
  • FLOOD, Michael. International encyclopedia of men and masculinities (Routledge, 2007), 704 pages. ISBN 0-415-33343-1, ISBN 978-0-415-33343-6
  • HEILBUT, Anthony. Thomas Mann: Eros and Literature (University of California Press, 1997), 638 pages. ISBN 0-520-20911-7, ISBN 978-0-520-20911-4
  • KONTJE, Todd Curtis. A companion to German realism, 1848–1900 (Camden House, 2002), 412 pages. ISBN 1-57113-322-4, ISBN 978-1-57113-322-9

Further reading

  • FALCON, Felix Lance. Gay Art: a Historic Collection [and history], ed. and with an introd. & captions by Thomas Waugh (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2006), 255 p. ISBN 1-55152-205-5