Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World 1890-1940

Content Warning: This section of the study guide contains descriptions of anti-gay bias. In addition, the source text contains sexually explicit descriptions and outdated and offensive language, which is replicated only in direct quotes.

Gay New York focuses on the development of gay subcultures. Chauncey’s throughline in the book is that gay subcultures have existed in New York City since at least 1890, and Chauncey suggests that future research might reveal that such subcultures were around even earlier, at least in other areas. The text argues that urban environments help enable gay subcultures since people are free from monitoring and controlling by their families and communities. Such subcultures evolve under various social, political, and economic pressures. For example, the “fairies” culture existed as a result of the cultural view that men sexually attracted to other men were naturally effeminate, World War I brought more gay men away from their rural and small town homes to cities, and Prohibition gave rise to speakeasies and the involvement of organized crime in New York nightlife, which benefited and helped protect openly gay people. These cultures may have been driven further out of public view by the decline of New York City’s