Historical Homosexuality: Cowboys on Boys
Wednesday 25th June 2008
When I think of the manliest man possible to imagine, I generally think of a Clint Eastwood character.
These cowboys would have shared a bed with another man, possibly in more ways than one.
Eastwood’s gunslinger/cowboy characters were true icons, epitomizing the archetypal American ideals of masculinity through strength, perseverance and kicking some tail. For several decades the Western film fed viewers the myth of the strong, silent and violent man.
Millions of viewers were brought up thinking of cowboys and gunslingers as an untouchable masculine icon who, after killing the bad guys, generally bedded an attractive hooker with a heart of gold. Sure they sometimes made an honest woman out of her, but the basic point was cowboys kicked butt and then had sex with women.
So it might come as a shock to learn that homosexuality was not only present in the Old West, it was actually fairly common. From cowboys to Indians, these hyper-masculine men were hardcore and homosexual at the same time.
In Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America, John D’Emilio and Estelle Freedman take a look at sexuality throughout America’s rich history. According to D’Emilio and Freedman, homosexuality was fairly common.
They say: “The West provided extensive opportunities for male-male intimacy. Some men were drawn to the frontier because of their attractions to men.”
The demographics of the American West were heavily skewed. The majority of work was tough, physical labour that was deemed “unladylike” and given exclusively to men. Apart from prostitutes imported from the East, the West was generally a “bring your own women” type of place.
One common method of dealing with the lack of women was cross-dressing, which was widely condoned in the West in certain situations. Dee Garceau, an expert on the culture of manhood in the American West, wrote on the all male cross-dressing extravaganzas known as stag dances.
Garceau said: "Cowboys sometimes parodied gender identity with episodes of cross-dressing. Freedom from middle-class social convention was freedom to make ribald fun of Victorian gender norms. This lay at the core of cowboy cross-dressing. Occasionally, men would take the female role socially, in order to form couples for a dance where no women were present. At these times, a cowboy dressed normally, the only feminine marker being a scarf tied to his arm to signal his place in the dance as a woman."
Beyond the non-sexual relationships of the stag dances, many cowboys formed intimate emotional and physical relationships with their fellow men. Cowboy historian Jim Wilke said: “Many circumstances contributed to personal closeness on the ranch and trail. Cowboys commonly bedded in pairs, sharing bedrolls with their ‘bunkie’.” Homosexual acts between cowboys were euphemistically called “mutual solace”.
Cowboy homosexuality was also studied by the famed zoologist/sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. He found that homosexuality in the West was common even during his research in 1948, and he said that “there is a fair amount of sexual contact among the older males in Western rural areas.”
Kinsey thought this was a very Western type of homosexuality. He said: “It is a type of homosexuality that was probably common among pioneers and outdoor men. Today it is found among ranchmen, cattlemen, prospectors, lumbermen and farming groups in general. These are men who . . . live on realities and on a minimum of theory. Such a background breeds the attitude that sex is sex, irrespective of the nature of the partner.”
Interestingly, Kinsey found that having homosexual relationships rarely interfered with the cowboys’ heterosexual relationships. In fact most of the cowboys, even the ones who had homosexual experiences, were staunchly homophobic. While homosexuality may have been at least partially accepted, it appears that homosexuals were not.
Join us next week as we explore homosexuality in the West in even greater detail. We’ve covered the cowboys, but what about the Indians? Were the legendary conflicts between the two groups really just sexual tension spilling over? Well, no, but there is a long and interesting history of homosexuality and bisexuality in Native American culture which Historical Homosexuality will discuss in greater detail.
By Robert Knox
For sources and further reading on homosexuality in the Old West check out the books mentioned in the article or visit the links here, here, here and here.
For more articles on homosexuality throughout history check out these pieces from Pinke:
The Surprising True Story of the Gay Saints and their Holy Homosexual Marriages
Historical Homosexuality: The Real Way of the Samurai
Historical Homosexuality: Lesbians in Ancient History
Historical Homosexuality: Ancient Greece
These cowboys would have shared a bed with another man, possibly in more ways than one.
Eastwood’s gunslinger/cowboy characters were true icons, epitomizing the archetypal American ideals of masculinity through strength, perseverance and kicking some tail. For several decades the Western film fed viewers the myth of the strong, silent and violent man.
Millions of viewers were brought up thinking of cowboys and gunslingers as an untouchable masculine icon who, after killing the bad guys, generally bedded an attractive hooker with a heart of gold. Sure they sometimes made an honest woman out of her, but the basic point was cowboys kicked butt and then had sex with women.
So it might come as a shock to learn that homosexuality was not only present in the Old West, it was actually fairly common. From cowboys to Indians, these hyper-masculine men were hardcore and homosexual at the same time.
In Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America, John D’Emilio and Estelle Freedman take a look at sexuality throughout America’s rich history. According to D’Emilio and Freedman, homosexuality was fairly common.
They say: “The West provided extensive opportunities for male-male intimacy. Some men were drawn to the frontier because of their attractions to men.”
The demographics of the American West were heavily skewed. The majority of work was tough, physical labour that was deemed “unladylike” and given exclusively to men. Apart from prostitutes imported from the East, the West was generally a “bring your own women” type of place.
One common method of dealing with the lack of women was cross-dressing, which was widely condoned in the West in certain situations. Dee Garceau, an expert on the culture of manhood in the American West, wrote on the all male cross-dressing extravaganzas known as stag dances.
Garceau said: "Cowboys sometimes parodied gender identity with episodes of cross-dressing. Freedom from middle-class social convention was freedom to make ribald fun of Victorian gender norms. This lay at the core of cowboy cross-dressing. Occasionally, men would take the female role socially, in order to form couples for a dance where no women were present. At these times, a cowboy dressed normally, the only feminine marker being a scarf tied to his arm to signal his place in the dance as a woman."
Beyond the non-sexual relationships of the stag dances, many cowboys formed intimate emotional and physical relationships with their fellow men. Cowboy historian Jim Wilke said: “Many circumstances contributed to personal closeness on the ranch and trail. Cowboys commonly bedded in pairs, sharing bedrolls with their ‘bunkie’.” Homosexual acts between cowboys were euphemistically called “mutual solace”.
Cowboy homosexuality was also studied by the famed zoologist/sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. He found that homosexuality in the West was common even during his research in 1948, and he said that “there is a fair amount of sexual contact among the older males in Western rural areas.”
Kinsey thought this was a very Western type of homosexuality. He said: “It is a type of homosexuality that was probably common among pioneers and outdoor men. Today it is found among ranchmen, cattlemen, prospectors, lumbermen and farming groups in general. These are men who . . . live on realities and on a minimum of theory. Such a background breeds the attitude that sex is sex, irrespective of the nature of the partner.”
Interestingly, Kinsey found that having homosexual relationships rarely interfered with the cowboys’ heterosexual relationships. In fact most of the cowboys, even the ones who had homosexual experiences, were staunchly homophobic. While homosexuality may have been at least partially accepted, it appears that homosexuals were not.
Join us next week as we explore homosexuality in the West in even greater detail. We’ve covered the cowboys, but what about the Indians? Were the legendary conflicts between the two groups really just sexual tension spilling over? Well, no, but there is a long and interesting history of homosexuality and bisexuality in Native American culture which Historical Homosexuality will discuss in greater detail.
By Robert Knox
For sources and further reading on homosexuality in the Old West check out the books mentioned in the article or visit the links here, here, here and here.
For more articles on homosexuality throughout history check out these pieces from Pinke:
The Surprising True Story of the Gay Saints and their Holy Homosexual Marriages
Historical Homosexuality: The Real Way of the Samurai
Historical Homosexuality: Lesbians in Ancient History
Historical Homosexuality: Ancient Greece
