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A review by ladydewinter
A Little Gay History: Desire and Diversity Around the World by R.B. Parkinson
4.0
I picked this up at the bookshop at the British Museum. It was a rather spontaneous purchase, seeing as I was hiding there from the masses. But it was a lucky find - in a way I had been looking for a book just like this the whole week I was in London.
It’s a very short overview of “desire and diversity across the world”. With the help from artifacts collected in the museum, we travel through history and all over the world. Since it is a slim volume, there’s no space to delve very deeply, but I appreciated the way the author shows how there have been diverse forms of love, identity and desire at all times and everywhere. I also liked how he made a point to say it’s not helpful to judge people in other times and cultures according to our concepts of sexuality and gender, but at the same time we have to be aware a lot of what is preserved was preserved by a “heteronormative” society, so a lot of what didn’t fit their values was destroyed.
It’s a very short overview of “desire and diversity across the world”. With the help from artifacts collected in the museum, we travel through history and all over the world. Since it is a slim volume, there’s no space to delve very deeply, but I appreciated the way the author shows how there have been diverse forms of love, identity and desire at all times and everywhere. I also liked how he made a point to say it’s not helpful to judge people in other times and cultures according to our concepts of sexuality and gender, but at the same time we have to be aware a lot of what is preserved was preserved by a “heteronormative” society, so a lot of what didn’t fit their values was destroyed.