context of homosexuality

until end of WW2, homosexuality almost completely invisible to mainstream media

national silence first broken in late 1940s

• homosexuality condemned fully

all major religions considered it sinful n immoral

nearly every state had laws criminalising it

1948: alfred kinsey published ‘Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male’

• concluded from his research that homosexual behaviour is not restricted to homosexuals

• 37% of men have experienced homosexual activities at least once, he found

• whilst psychologists n psychiatrists in the 1940s considered homosexuality a form of illness, the findings surprised many conservative notions of sexuality