ABSTRACT
This chapter criticizes the same-sex desire is grounded in a defect of nature. Early modern constructions of effeminacy are centred, on the idea of deficient self-control and a lack of moderation, as in antiquity. James critics used his liability to same-sex desire as part of the explanation for why he failed to live up to Elizabeth. There are few explicit references in the sources to James same-sex physical intimacy with his favourites. This remark shows the complexity of seventeenth-century discourses about the relationship between effeminacy and political power. On one hand, effeminacy could be linked to poor government through the idea of effeminate statesmen preferring ‘bad’ policies dictated by fear. On other hand, effeminacy could be used as it is here to argue that effeminate statesmen could not do serious harm unless by falling prey to the wrong kind of influence. Buckingham put his words, ‘insolent, cruel and a monster’, these downplay the practical effect of ascendancy over James.
