> I just found this and it's thrown me for a
> loop. There's doesn't seem to be room for interpretation here:
>
>
> http://www.iheartmyart.com/post/76651233/surrealists-and-homophobia
>
>
> It is strange that surrealism which was one of
> the most avant-guard and experimental movements
> had a strong undercurrent of homophobia that tore
> through its ranks. While the group had an openly
> gay member, René Crevel, this did not influence
> the views of other members, and most pointedly
> the main founder of surrealism, André Breton.
> Breton was unabashedly homophobic and openly
> condemned it. Upon review of many of the
> surrealists works, it is clear that their
> revolutionary tone has a compulsive tendency
> towards heterosexuality and reiterated
> conventions of male domination and sexual domination.
>
> Surrealists adamantly documented all of their
> discussions and their homophobia is superbly documented accordingly.
>
> On January 27, 1928 they met in Paris for the
> first session of the “Researches sur la
> Sexualite”. The tone of the gathering resembled ,
> “those excited gatherings of public-schoolboys,
> masturbating over their collective sexual
> experiences and fantasies.” Contrary to popular
> thought that sees surrealism’s views of sexuality
> as progressive and revolutionary, it becomes
> clear that most of the surrealist’s beliefs
> reiterated conventions of the time that
> objectified woman and her body as the central and
> concentrated object of lust and masculine desire.
> Masturbation and sodomy (of the female body) were
> acceptable but homosexuality was condemned.
>
> At the “Researches” session the following conversation took place:
>
> Pierre Unik: From a physical point of view I find
> homosexuality as disgusting as excrements and
> from a moral point of view I condemn it.
> Raymond Queneau: It is evident to me that there
> is an extraordinary prejudice against homosexuality among the surrealists.
> André Breton: I accuse homosexuals of confronting
> human tolerance with a mental and moral
> deficiency which tends to turn itself into a
> system and to paralyze every enterprise I respect.
>
> The debate continues until Breton makes a final threat of leaving:
>
> André Breton: Do people want me to abandon this
> discussion? I am quite happy to demonstrate my obscurantism on this
> subject.
>
> Although there were protests from some members of the group.
>
> Bejamin Peret: What do you think of homosexuality ?
> Raymond Queneau: From what point of view? Moral?
> Bejamin Peret: If you like?
> Raymond Queneau: If two men love each other, I
> have no moral objections to their physical relations.
>
> The session and the resulting document for
> surrealist records was signed by fifteen male
> members of the group; women and gay men
> associated with surrealism were absent from the
> proceedings. It is possible that they were intentionally excluded.
>
> “Andre Breton exemplifies the pervasive social
> attitude towards homosexuality in our culture, an
> attitude which violently suppresses and effaces
> homosexuals. He was obsessively anti-homosexual,
> and refused to include the subject of
> homosexuality in surrealist research, on the
> grounds of its moral incorrectness.”
>
> Excerpts from Canonical Criminalizations:
> Homosexuality, Art History, Surrealism, and Abjection
>
>
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
>