ABSTRACT
In British culture homosexuality was for long an excoriated experience or, in the case of lesbianism, ignored or silenced, severely socially condemned at various periods, and even in more liberal times seen as a largely unfortunate, minority form by a large percentage of the population. In England and Wales before 1885 the main legislation which directly affected homosexual behaviour was in fact that referring to buggery or sodomy. The 'Three Trials' of Oscar Wilde in 1895, and his subsequent spectacular fall from grace, created a public image for the male homosexual transgressor, and a terrifying moral tale of the dangers that trailed closely behind unorthodox sexual behaviour. Although the theorising of homosexuality applied indifferently to males and females, it is striking that it was male homosexuality that was chiefly subject to new regulation. Social regulation provided the conditions within which those defined could begin to develop their own consciousness and identity.
