ABSTRACT
The latter half of the nineteenth century was an especially interesting time in the evolution of what Michel Foucault (1978) describes as the modern homosexual, conceived as a totalizing identity. This transformation in the social construction of homosexuality was brought about by a variety of material and discursive developments. In terms of material culture, rapid industrialization led to mass migration to urban centres, where young, unmarried men and women lived often communally in boarding houses or workers’ dormitories, making it possible if not to pursue a homosexual lifestyle, then to conduct homosexual liaisons on a regular basis. Queer cruising grounds and meeting places emerged in most large European cities at this time. At the same time, the emergent science of sexology, as well as legal discourse, meant to regulate behaviour and social roles in the modern city, contributed to the discursive construction of a homosexual identity.
