Historian uncovers the historical origins of the insidious gay suicide stereotype

Historian uncovers the historical origins of the insidious gay suicide stereotype

From films to literature, the stereotype of the suicidal gay or lesbian character is a common one in modern entertainment. In Michael Cunningham's novel The Hours, for instance, there are three gay and lesbian suicides and attempted suicides. In the Netflix series, House of Cards, the only openly gay character kills himself after just a few episodes.

Research by Stanford doctoral candidate Samuel Clowes Huneke traces the roots of this detrimental and pervasive cliché to its surprising origins in modern Germany. Huneke has discovered that gay is a historical phenomenon, one with a distinct and varied past.

"What my research shows it that a striking trend of gay suicide evolved in German culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries," he said.





Huneke said this group "pointed to a handful of gay suicides in order to claim that there was an epidemic of gay men killing themselves because of anti-sodomy laws and fear of exposure."

The dark side of gay identity

According to Huneke, 1920s Berlin is commonly remembered as a sexually open, experimental culture, "a gay mecca."






Huneke described how Mann chose to make the suicide appear romantic and gentle: The gay man committed suicide in the straight man's bed, in what Mann describes as a wedding-night scene.

"It's seen as a romantic fulfillment of life," Huneke said, also pointing out that "instead of depicting something like suicide as a brutal, tragic act, it is depicted as a grand capstone to a miserable life. As if the best thing this character has done with his life is to kill himself."



"When the Nazis took power in 1933, gay authors in Germany fled abroad, often to the United States, and may have taken the gay suicide trope with them," Huneke said.

Huneke also referenced the work of historian George Chauncey, who has noted that the early 1930s, when gay literature began appearing in the United States, "most ended with the death or suicide of the gay protagonist."


Reducing risk


"The emphasis on gay suicide in literary, medical and political literature ends up suggesting suicide as a reasonable option for gay men and gay women," Huneke said. His research challenges this method of depicting suicide as a natural part of the human experience.




"Discourse in general is extremely important in how minority groups reproduce their own identities," Huneke said. "The less that TV, film, and fiction rely on stereotype, the better it is for that community and for society at large."


"The more realistic portrayals of characters that exist, the less likely it is that a teenager will see a romantically depicted suicide and think it is a reasonable solution to a difficult life," Huneke said.

Explore further

German lawmakers debate assisted suicide regulation

Citation: Historian uncovers the historical origins of the insidious gay suicide stereotype (2015, November 20) retrieved 19 August 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2015-11-historian-uncovers-historical-insidious-gay.html

Feedback to editors

User comments

Nov 20, 2015

I think the more fundamental problem is that gays are, or are supposed to be, and are definitely willing to be very histrionic. Threatening with or committing suicide is simply part of that character.

It's a curious theme since female gays are more likely to be no-nonsense feet on the ground types, while male gays will often turn into little princesses and divas - or as put into the modern internet vernacular; drama whores. The more accepting the society is, the more obnoxiously they perform to get attention.
