Customer Reviews

Infamous Desire: Male Homosexuality in Colonial Latin America

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Text is a basic source for students of Latin America or LGBT. The book brings together various colonial sources to highlight LGBT history in Latin America. Given is the description of cross dressing indigene priests in Peru, homosexuality within the Church in Brasil, and Sahagun's description of indigene LGBT in Mexico. Overall well-written and informative. This book should be on the shelf of any serious student of Mexico, Latin America or LGBT. Mark Piper, Instructor, History of Mexico. CCSF Ocean Campus

This is a (mostly) informative, well-researched group of essays focusing on new ideas of third genderism among pre-Conquest Americans. They are all pretty readable for the casual reader who knows something of history and queer theory. A caution to the casual reader (who may not care about the political fights in the field of Anthropology): the second essay is mean-sprited and strident, from a distinctly homophobic viewpoint. I'm not quite sure why it was included. So, skip it, and enjoy the rest.

Students who have taken high school and college history courses may recall their lectures and textbooks had huge voids in some areas. One of these gaps was usually sexuality, and probably none more so than that of same gender sexuality.

"Infamous Desire" goes a long ways towards filling this void in our education, especially as it pertains to Latin America.

The book is comprised of seven articles, mostly divided by geography and time.

"Infamous Desire" reveals the full range of male-to-male intimacy that is known to have existed in the colonial years. Special emphasis is given to what was felt about these practices from the point of view of the individual state, the Roman Catholic Church and popular culture. It also describes types of punishment, those meted by the state as well as the Catholic Church, particularly from the Holy Inquisition. The book is heavy in annotation and footnotes.

For those looking for sexual titillation, this book is not for you. The dry academic treatment of the material can make, at times, for boring reading. This work will be useful, however, to teachers and students alike who seek a more comprehensive picture of the Colonial era in Latin America.

Bruce Stores is author of "THE ISTHMUS, Stories from Mexico's Past, 1495 to 1995" iUniverse 2009, and "CHRISTIAN SCIENCE: Its Encounter With Lesbian/Gay America" iUniverse, 2004.