A Queer Wall in the Head: Using Oral Histories to Map Gay Desire Across Cold War Germany

Date

2022-10

Authors

Huneke, Samuel Clowes

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Johns Hopkins University Press

Abstract

This article uses oral histories to examine divergences in how gay men from East and West Germany remembered the sexuality of their youths. Finding that East German men recalled their sexual exploits in far more detail than did West German men, the article argues that this divergence is the result of a complex interlacing of factors. Ultimately, the article contends that these factors reveal a queer wall in the head that continues to delimit how gay German men understand their actions, their pasts, and their identities.

Description

This document is the accepted version of the manuscript that was published in German Studies Review, vol. 45 no. 3, 2022, p. 495-515. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/gsr.2022.0049.

Keywords

LGBTQ+

Citation

Huneke, Samuel Clowes. "A Queer Wall in the Head: Using Oral Histories to Map Gay Desire Across Cold War Germany." German Studies Review, vol. 45 no. 3, 2022, p. 495-515. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/gsr.2022.0049