This recording contains two talks:

An Awful Lot of Casual Sex Going On: Working Class Men and the Landscape of Same Sex Desire in the North of England, 1945-1960, Dr Helen Smith (University of Sheffield)

‘Get Some In!’ Managing Queer Desire and National Service in Britain, 1945-1963, Dr Emma Vickers (Liverpool John Moores University)

Dr Helen Smith is inspired by reflections of working class gay men in Manchester on growing up in rural Lancashire. By focusing specifically on working class men in the north, she examines the importance of language in how same sex experiences were perceived. Smith notes that, with no language to describe sexuality or sexual experience, these men commonly took part in casual sexual experiences, which were not seen as important, or as changing their identity.

Sexuality was very fluid in this way, married men often sleeping with other men, but saying they did not think it was serious, and their wives or fiancés staying with them after they were released by the police. Setting was very important to this idea of fluidity, with most sexual experiences taking place in the workplace, local pub, or scrubland. Smith identifies how the masculine nature of these areas helped create an environment where queer sexual experience was normal.

Dr Smith also deals with the notion of class, and how ideas of sexuality changed when working class men had sex with each other, rather than with middle class men. Numerous case studies and court reports are cited as Smith concludes that queer sexual experience in this setting was both normal and casual, and that our ideas of historical sexual categories need to be reframed

Dr Emma Vickers focuses on the post-war years, as national service was introduced. The conscription of young men into the armed forces is portrayed as a useful intervention into the lives of British youth, however there were huge concerns about the introduction of queer men into the forces, who it was believed would use the setting to corrupt other men.

Vickers also talks about class, and how the notion of poor servicemen seducing wealthier counterparts for money was changing into a threatening idea of queer servicemen who were completing their national service having sex with other servicemen. This was seen as a threat, both to British society and reputation, and national security after gay men were equated to communist spies.

Vickers cites these concerns as the reason for the large shift in policy after the war – from no policy at all to one of constant vigilance and watch lists. She provides an insight into the effort expounded by the forces, especially the RAF, in identifying which men were likely to exhibit such behaviours and what to do with them. This research forms the basis for her exploration of how the introduction of national service led to the increased intolerance of queer men and same sex relations in the armed forces.