Historians disagree a great deal about homosexuality. Some argue that what we now call homosexuality has always been around, and that it stems from an essential difference between homosexuals and heterosexuals--that it's a "natural fact" like blue eyes or height. Others agree that you can find evidence of "homosexuality" throughout human history. But they point out that both the term itself and the meanings that we give to it are entirely new. They suggest that only recently has the range of human sexual practices been organized and classified into rigid scientific, medical and moral catagories. Dr. Flint's (1895) article, reproduced here, is an example of the explosion of medical/scienific studies of human sexuality that began roughly near the turn of the century. In the summer of 1895, on a visit to Bellevue Hospital in New York City, Flint noticed a young man "affected with sexual abnormity." The man had been arrested in Central Park for masquerading in feminine dress and had been sent to the hospital for examination into his mental condition. When I saw him he was dressed as a boy; but in a hand bag belonging to him were found a woman's gown, corsets, a skirt, women's drawers, long stockings and garters, and women's shoes, in which clothing he was attired when arrested. I was then visiting at what is now [1911] called the Psychopathic Ward, and I directed that he be sent there for examination. The general appearance of this individual, in his woman's dress, is shown in Fig. I [apparently taken in the summer of 1895]. The facial expression is certainly somewhat peculiar. He had a very scanty beard and it seemed that the hairs had been habitually plucked out. His manner was that of a silly girl, with certain assumed "airs and graces" more or less characteristic. His voice was high pitched and feminine in quality. He gave the following account of himself, but this, of course, must be taken with due allowance for mendacity, as it was not confirmed He said that he was twenty-one years old, which probably was true: that he always had preferred women's dress and occupations and usually dressed as a woman; that he had acted for a long time as a domestic servant and that his last place was as ladies' maid in a family in Boston. While acting in this capacity he attended his mistress in her bath and slept in a bed with the other girls, by whom his sex was not suspected. On close questioning he denied that he had any sexual feeling or inclination, either for men or women; denied lascivious dreams and nocturnal emissions and said he had never had an erection. Fig. 2 shows an entirely masculine conformation, with full developed external sexual organs. This information was about all that could be obtained from him that seemed trustworthy. The peculiarity of his voice was very striking, and this point of interest in the case may serve as an excuse for its presentation. He said that he liked music and sometimes sang; but when he was requested to sing, said he "had a cold" and made various trivial excuses of rather a feminine character and in a decidedly feminine manner. However, he finally asked if he should sing "Annie Laurie," which he sang in a high key and a perfect woman's voice. One would say it was a high soprano; and he sang with correct intonation and fairly well. I think I am sufficiently familiar with the human voice to be able to say that his was not the voice of a boy or of an adult male soprano but a pure woman's voice. I intended to have made a laryngoscopic examination on the following day: but before I could do so he was sent to his home in the West. It is chiefly the voice in this case that is interesting. All the physical characters of this individual were distinctly masculine, and his external genitals were even generously developed. It is also interesting‹if true‹ that there was absolute sexual anaesthesia..."[1111-12] From Jonathan Katz ed., Gay/Lesbian Almanac: A New Documentary(NY 1983) p. 275