'Los Invisibles': A History of Male Homosexuality in Spain, 1850-1940

Iberian and Latin American Studies

by Richard Cleminson, Francisco Vázquez García

Gender studies of Spain has thus far focused almost exclusively on women, leaving the social and political history of male homosexuality virtually untouched. 'Los Invisibles' fills this significant gap in the study of Spanish culture by analyzing the effects of medical and legal regulation on male homosexuals. Drawing from the discourse of medical history, Richard Cleminson and Francisco Vázquez García evaluate the impact of psychiatry, education, race, and the growth of gay subcultures on cultural representations of homosexuality in this pioneering study. A PDF version of this book is available for free in open access via the OAPEN Library platform, www.oapen.org It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license and is part of the OAPEN-UK research project.

311 pages, Hardcover

First published July 15, 2007

Reviews

[T. Frohock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well worth the money I spent for my copy. 'LOS INVISIBLES' is an in-depth cultural look at male homosexuality in Spain through several lenses (medical, legal, and social). Following historical documents, Cleminson clearly defines the shift between late nineteenth century and early twentieth century concepts about sexuality. I used this book for research for a novel set in Spain during the early twentieth century and I found it invaluable.

[Barbara Oudová Holcátová · Rating 4 out of 5]

The name is a bit misleading - it's much more a history of the 'scientific' treatment of male homosexuality in the given period. Only one chapter (ch. 6) of the book actually touches upon what gay lives in Spain in that period were like, which was rather disappointing.
On the other hand, much of the other stuff in there was extremely interesting. Chapter 5, for example, had nothing to do with gay men at all, but was a fascinating insight into the gender discourse related to the birth of Spanish fascism. The introduction, too, is very well written and does a great job of summing up the issues with this field of historical study.
I'm not sure the author really achieved his goal of showing how Spain was different when it came to development of gay identity from countries like Britain. There weren't quite enough comparisons for that, and I don't know the situation in other countries in enough detail to make them myself.
And one last irritant, sometimes it seemed like the author fell into the trap of thinking like the people he wrote about, like when he talks of what the 'real inverts' of the time thought. Would the men identify that way? If not (and it seems from the book it was mostly a medical term), it seems really unfortunate to use the name. Saying 'gay' might be an anachronism, but still with less problematic implication that using a pathologising term, I'd say.
But all in all, it was an extremely interesting read and definitely worth it, just don't reach for it if all you are interested in are the lives of gay men (or, alternatively, read only chapter 6).