A Scandal Without Precedent: Oscar Wilde, Heterosexism, the Social Purity Movement, and the Determination of Deviance (Standard Paper Presentation).

The criminalization of behavior, whether of an individual or a collective, often represents a conflict between the norms governing a polity and the deviations of one of a few. Perhaps nowhere else is the issue of behavior criminalization more fraught with controversy than within the realm of sexuality, particularly with regard to issues of privacy and personal morality. More precisely, the curtailment of civil liberties based on one's sexual orientation has long been, and continues to be, a significant source of debate, often blurring the line between law and morality; a line which is often upheld, contested, and redefined within the legal realm (West 1988: 181). In recent years, advanced industrial nations have become more accepting of consensual sexual acts in a private, as evidenced by the English Wolfenden Committee (Ibid) which ruled that private sexual relations (including prostitution and homosexuality) were not within the domain to regulate. However, only one century ago the English system was not as forgiving of "deviant" sexual identities as a dark coverlet of heterosexism and irrational medical fears gripped the commonwealth and permeated popular consciousness (Wiggins 2000). ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]